Minan Osman, Class IV
Photo Credit: https://www.brooklynlatin.org/ourpages/auto/2015/10/17/60408571/brooklyn_latin_school_20151020_1115.jpg?rnd=1450451059452 https://www.brooklynlatin.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=288397&type=d
Community building and bonding are essential to any group of individuals, especially in high school. The Brooklyn Latin School has implemented several traditions into the curriculum that can be handed down from class to class and be the basis for long-lasting memories. These traditions include public declamation, Founder's Day, and our general school culture. This article will give background on some TBLS traditions and offer discipuli opinions on them, both positive and negative.
Liberal arts education nurtures the well-roundedness of a person. One way that TBLS sets itself apart is through its encouragement of public speaking. Evert year, TBLS holds four in-class declamations in English and History. Besides the mandatory declamations, there are four public declamations for discipuli who hope to declaim to the whole community. TBLS adopted this tradition from ancient Rome where public speaking was a core part of leading. It displayed Roman higher education systems at their finest. Declamation is a dramatic address designed to be conveyed through articulation, emphasis, and gesture. Is the intended outcome of these declamations getting across to discipuli though? Fatoumata Diallo, Class IV, said this in regards to her experience with declaiming, "I personally feel that declamation is a great way to encourage students to get out of their comfort zone and try something new, but it's hard to enjoy something when you are forced to do it. I have never had to do mandatory in-class declamations, it was only ever optional and hosted after school. So, having these huge adjustments can really make it hard to find these "traditions'' exciting and fun." Of course, one opinion isn’t representative of the entire school yet similar sentiments were shared among the Class IV discipuli enjoying their first year at TBLS. Paraphrased from the words of Rohait Basak, Class IV, declamation has negative effects on the mental health of students, especially the first time. It seems that to incoming discipuli, the stress of memorizing the piece outweighs the benefits of enhancing these skills.
Founder’s Day takes place annually in the month of May at the Brooklyn Latin School. According to the TBLS official website, “The Brooklyn Latin School celebrates Founders’ Day to recognize the hard work of those individuals and partners—teachers, students, staff, parents, support organizations—who have made and continue to make our school a success. Every year in May, guests are invited to school to visit the Visual Arts showcase, sit in on Socratic Seminars, and witness Prize Declamation. An awards ceremony follows to honor our highest achieving students. Founders’ Day not only reminds the school community of our roots and traditions of excellence; it’s also a great opportunity for guests to learn about and show support for our school and the work being done by our students.” But what did that day look like for discipuli? Class I discipulus Ethan Chu said, “I remember for the talent show/art showcase we used to have an acapella group sing a song for us and also Libellus do an open mic read aloud for one of their members' pieces. Additionally, all around the school, there were art showcases and we could see all the art around the classrooms up on the boards they put. It was a nice time and there was a lot going on.” Class I discipula, Radiah Jamil, added that there were raffles for a chance to pie a teacher and reiterated how fun the day was.
But what do discipuli think about community-building at TBLS? Class I discipula, Radiah Jamil, said this in response, “I think that the attempts at community building are very effective because we have two main traditions, you know? I think that when you think of TBLS, you think of public declamation…and before [covid], we had March Madness which was extremely fun.”
Pre-covid times, there were generally more grade-to-grade interactions and the entire school was able to fit in the auditorium. However, after lockdown, has there been a shift in dynamic? According to class IV discipula, Fatoumata Diallo, “I think they did pretty well [building a community] and I admire them because, for example, March Madness was a very nice tradition that they used to help classes learn to work together as a team. I also admire the teacher’s consistent switching of seats.”
From the collected student responses, it seems that through the lockdown and pandemic, sentiments have remained the same; TBLS continues to do a good job at building a tight-knit community!
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