Overview
Welcome Visitor!
What matters most? Sometimes the answer is easy: family, education, helping others. But sometimes the answer comes as a surprise: as it does to the student who had no idea, on entering third grade, that a year later learning to play the clarinet would be an exciting and fulfilling challenge.
Giving students a solid foundation from which to make these discoveries is what matters most at Bullis. Our community is grounded on a few basic principles:
- Challenge builds strength
- Integrity and respect are everyday practices
- Community inspires excellence
- Academics, arts and athletics teach vital lessons in teamwork, discipline and caring
- Participation is essential
- Diversity advances us all
- Service is the fullest expression of our humanity
Challenge builds strength
Challenge is a natural part of growth: Can you reach the top shelf? Can you reach an audience with your words? Can you reach a goal on the playing field? Having a stable structure on which to stand makes it easier to reach tough goals. And as each challenge is mastered, confidence grows—along with the strength to reach for the next. Students climb developmental steps every day at Bullis. Some days there are leaps, some days, falls. Learning to accept mistakes is part of the process. And everyone ends up further along than might have been possible. To succeed, students work with teachers to formulate goals and become better learners—from the Lower School’s innovative hands-on programs to senior-year independent study. It takes confident instructors to encourage intellectual risks. Bullis faculty members’ subject matter expertise is matched by their ability to engender honest rapport. The result: lively classrooms full of debate and an undeniable passion for learning.
Integrity and respect are everyday practices
Welcomed. Accepted on your own terms. Supported. This is how students say they feel at Bullis. We respect the right of each member of our community to pursue a well-rounded, fulfilling life. We support the personal integrity that results from hard, honest academic work. It’s there in our Honor Code. It’s there in classroom encounters every day, where students respect differing opinions and never discount an honest effort. Teachers show respect for students by holding them to high standards. Students respect their teachers and each other by meeting these with integrity. And administrators respect teachers’ judgment and expertise by being open to new ideas and methods. “Bullis is a traditional independent school, but we are welcoming,” says one teacher. Teachers and parents alike remark on the poise and civility that reign on campus. “If I had to profile a typical successful student here, I’d say he or she is a passionate, hard-working, socially conscious individual not afraid to roll their sleeves up,” says another teacher.
Community inspires excellence
During our weekly assemblies, students hear praise for their achievements—an “It’s Academic” success, a winning team, a vocal performance. But for each of these public celebrations, there are many more achievements, acknowledged quietly—among family, among friends and in the heart.
Bullis alumni continue this arc of individual achievement and community recognition. A distinguished tradition of Bullis alumni in military service has expanded to included alumni successes around the world in a wide array of fields: medicine, education, sports, theater, politics and policy, public service, business, science and economics.
Recognized with admiration on campus and beyond are the achievements of the Bullis athletics programs, which have produced championships in football, soccer, basketball, tennis and wrestling. Our Athletic Hall of Fame honors individuals, teams and coaches, standing as a strong repository of the school’s history.
Participation is essential
Everyone gets a turn at bat at Bullis—literally. We require Middle and Upper School students to participate in athletics—and with activities ranging from field hockey to varsity football to basic fitness workouts, it’s a requirement students of all abilities and interests can fulfill. Involvement isn’t optional here. Participation is part of our community’s ethic. Students know that a discussion is richer for their insight. A classmate is happier for their friendship. A class project is more successful for their leadership.
Parents don’t sit on the sidelines, either. They are vital partners in supporting students’ educational growth. Our teachers make sure they keep the lines of communication open—they are easy to contact and responsive to parent questions. Information is freely shared in conversation, in newsletters and on the Web site. And, a network of parents lends critical support to the school, with their time, expertise and enthusiasm enriching fundraising, cultural and athletic events. Alumni and community involvement and travel help complete the circle as students gain the confidence to reach out to diverse learning experiences.
With the plethora of resources in the Metropolitan Washington area, our school community has no patience for insularity. In exploring the natural world, attending theater events, playing away games, offering volunteer service and visiting the great museums, students learn to participate in the wider world—and to find their place in it.
Diversity advances us all
At any given time throughout Bullis’s 80-acre campus, you’ll see groups of students of all ages forming and re-forming: working in our half-dozen science labs or art studios, talking intently on the lawn, in the commons or following a teacher on a nature walk. And you’ll see that while these groups are close-knit, they’re not homogenous. Despite the broad scope and expansive opportunities here, students tell us they feel welcomed, protected, included and understood at Bullis—never “lost in the crowd.” They say they don’t worry about pretensions, cliques, bullies. Each student knows he or she is part of the community.
That’s the true meaning of diversity at Bullis—full support as you explore and express your individual path. Here, differences aren’t merely tolerated—they’re treasured. We know that living and working in a diverse community is an education in itself. As they try out their moves in every milieu we have to offer, students prepare themselves to provide leadership in an increasingly multicultural world. That’s why parents from all walks of life tell us they trust their children will be welcomed with caring and respect. And why a student coming back from a national diversity leadership conference said she felt “very lucky” to be at Bullis—a school that actually walks the talk.
Academics, arts and athletics teach vital lessons in teamwork, discipline and caring
It can come down to a fraction of a second: In competition, long hours spent in training, sharpening skills and struggling through slumps and errors can be decided in a single play. Our students are prepared to encounter that crucial win-or-lose moment with integrity and maturity. And that’s why athletics and arts aren’t extras here—they’re essentials for balance. The facilities at Bullis are key to student’s freedom to chose and explore in these realms. Our arts center, for instance, provides enough variety for students to try any medium—as well as professional-level quality necessary for advanced progress. Every classroom is a smart classroom. Our networks rival those of large universities or high-tech businesses in our area. The Marriott Family Library, designed with technological scalability in mind, is fully accessible throughout campus and presents the latest in online resources and databases. Our Athletic Center includes a brand-new stadium with an artificial-turf field and track.
Service is the fullest expression of our humanity
Community service at Bullis always comes from the hearts and actions of individual students. In the classroom, they learn about what it means to make a difference in our democracy and our world, and what happens when people fail to do their part. Through arts and athletics, they learn the importance of participation and connection.
Embedded in the Bullis School philosophy is the notion that through community service, students discover what matters most to them as individuals. They learn that the well-being of their local community is a shared responsibility which in turn enables them to explore their humanity and become active and responsible world citizens. Community service helps students at all grade levels learn to be leaders, to empathize and to apply moral principles to real life situations.
