Traditions

List of 10 news stories.

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  Bonding Trips

  September: as the school year begins, 6th-11th graders disperse around the region for two days of community building. Most such “bonding trips” involve outdoor adventures and lakeside overnights, with the junior class traditionally heading to New York City to see the sites and sample the food. Students often point to these days as to when their friendships took shape.
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  Homecoming & Blackout

  October: No football team? No problem. On a fall Friday, students in every grade set up camp at UDC Fields for back-to-back girls and boys varsity soccer games, plus food from our parents' association and entertainment by our Dance Team. In the winter, the varsity basketball teams enjoy the same high-energy atmosphere during our annual Blackout Games.
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  Grandparents’ Day

  November: Our favorite cross-generational celebration occurs annually on Veterans’ Day, when we welcome grandparents and grandfriends to spend the morning at Burke. They enjoy breakfast together, attend a class with their grandchild, and experience a high-energy Burke assembly, including a dance with their grandchildren to some jazz standards.
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  Community Holiday Party

  December: Just before Winter Break, all members of our community – students, younger siblings, recent alums, parents, spouses, faculty, staff, and trustees – enjoy the evening at Burke, eating together at communal tables in the Commons, performing raucous karaoke in the Atrium, and busting out amusing holiday attire (ugly sweaters and full-on costumes welcome).
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  Alabama Trip

  February: Among numerous excursions, the Alabama trip stands out as the 8th grade capstone event. Building on an in-depth study of the Civil Rights Movement, the trip includes four days in Montgomery, Selma, and Birmingham, with a walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Past 8th graders still talk about the trip’s importance well into high school.
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  Culture Day

  February: Brightening up late winter, Culture Day invites students and Burke adults to celebrate the cultures of their family, hometown, state, country, and more. Students wear traditional clothes, make announcements in different languages, and share dance, music, and writing at assembly. Parents join in during lunch for our Taste of Culture market, where everyone can sample cuisine from around the world.
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  Founders’ Day

  April: Dreamed up in 1999, Founders’ Day celebrates our school's history and ushers in the end of the school year. Managed by 10th-12th grade Leadership Program students, the daylong celebration features lip sync battles, relay races, and creative competitions, tied together by a whimsical theme. Most crucially, each team includes students from every grade, building connections across divisions.
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  Spring Art Show

  May: In the penultimate week of school, Visual Arts students from every grade fill the school wall and display cases with their creative work – from mixed media on windowsills to ceramics in the library to paintings and photos in the stairwells. Families are invited to wander and peruse the wealth of art, followed by the spring Band Showcase.
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  Graduation

  May: Commencements are a near-universal right of passage at the end of high school. Burke’s Graduation is unique, however, because all speakers and performers are self-nominated. Any student who wishes to give a speech, perform a dance, play an instrument, or sing a ballad has that opportunity, so no two graduations are the same. Starting in 2022, we've held Graduation at UDC's Theatre of the Arts, which is large enough that graduates have no limits on guests (and underclassmen are welcome to attend).
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  Moving Up

  June: Before they cross the (literal and figurative) bridge into Burke’s high school, 8th graders plan their own Moving Up ceremony – from designing the invitation to ordering the food to serving as speakers, musicians, and MCs. Each year, the ceremony is a little different and reflects the character of that specific class.