News Archive

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).