A Historic Achievement for the Burke’s Community
Four years ago, we embarked on a transformational initiative bigger than anything the school had ever attempted.
We are delighted to announce the end of our campaign, that included a $1 million Campaign for Girls Endowment Challenge, which has put us far over the top of our original fundraising goal. We have brought Many Voices. Many Hands. All Burke’s.: The Campaign for Girls to a close with an overall total of $22 million — the greatest amount ever raised in Burke’s history.
What this success demonstrates is our community’s faith in the future of the Burke’s mission. We have been putting our reimagined classrooms and courtyards to work since last year, and are just starting to learn and play in the state-of-the-art Campus Center. The incredible results of the campaign are listed below, and we can’t wait to see how far we can take the power of a Burke’s education with all of these new tools and spaces at our fingertips.
- Our newly renovated Campus Center will enable our faculty and students to stage theatrical productions with professional-level lighting and sound.
- The performance space can be sealed off for multi-grade collaborative projects while lunch or other activities are happening in the same room.
- The $8 million raised through the campaign for endowment will provide us with more funds for financial assistance and other aid that open a Burke’s education to students from all backgrounds and help us retain the best teachers in the Bay Area with superlative compensation.
- The physical changes of our building project have softened the starkness of our main entryway, which now boasts native greenery and benches where members of our community can gather. The vibe extends down our main corridor, where trees and flowers rooted in our Lower School courtyards bring the natural environment right up to the classroom door and create cozy outdoor learning spaces.
- New movable furniture is giving teachers more options for creative lessons and group work— fourth graders are even working out on math problems on tables outfitted with white boards.
- Innovation Funds are providing seed money for unique programs across all grade levels, from expanded service learning in the seventh grade, growing computer science activities in each grade level, and enhancing our schoolwide cultural competency curriculum.
- Prolific professional development keeps our teachers on the cutting edge of what’s happening in education.
We are deeply grateful to Campaign Chairs Thesia and Ambiya Bowo and Annie Robinson Woods. We are also grateful to our Community Phase Chairs Leith Brooks Barry, Brian Davis, Lisa Farmer, and Yvo Smit for their tireless community outreach. Together with an incredible group of volunteer leaders and community members, we are truly transforming Burke's and continuing to be a model for girls' education.