FBRA Blog

Thoughts from Jen: Curiosity & Compassion

By Elizabeth Douglas / September 27, 2021 / Comments Off on Thoughts from Jen: Curiosity & Compassion

Jen Horschman, FBRA Girls Program Director   At FBRA we build character; it is part of our mission. However, it is one thing to state it and quite another to share the secret sauce, to explain how it’s really done. We know the teenage brain rewires during adolescence, making new synaptic connections all the time. […]

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Thoughts from Will, June 2021

By Will Yeiser / June 21, 2021 / Comments Off on Thoughts from Will, June 2021

Lessons Learned After Operating a School During a Pandemic Will Yeiser, FBRA Co-Founder & Executive Director   WE MADE IT!!!  As the last group of 8th grade students left campus with their families on the evening of June 4th, 2021 after our final graduation event, I finally was able to repeat these words and internalize […]

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Meet Dorrie Sieburg, FBRA Girls’ New Admissions & Communications Director

By Elizabeth Douglas / June 21, 2021 / Comments Off on Meet Dorrie Sieburg, FBRA Girls’ New Admissions & Communications Director

Welcome Dorrie Sieburg to FBRA as the new Admissions and Communications Director for the Girls School. Dorrie’s work and life experience over the last twenty years have pointed her toward FBRA all along the way.  After graduating from Penn State University with a BS in Education, Dorrie worked for the Student Conservation Association and Padilla […]

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Summer at FBRA

By Elizabeth Douglas / June 18, 2021 / Comments Off on Summer at FBRA

Empty, dark classrooms; four-square courts long for bouncing balls; and canoes lined up in storage. Summer at FBRA. However, while students and most staff take a welcome break from algebra and grammar lessons, some folks at FBRA are still hard at work over the summer. Most of what happens in the summer at FBRA focuses […]

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Development Update – June 2021

By John Douglas / June 18, 2021 / Comments Off on Development Update – June 2021

John Douglas, Development Director   The Maria Noakes Outdoor Center Construction of the Maria Noakes Outdoor Center is proceeding into the summer. The metal building was ordered from the manufacturer about a month ago. Some details added to the building include windows beneath the eaves, three glass panels in each of the garage doors, plumbing […]

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Student Livestreaming Through the Pandemic

By Elizabeth Douglas / June 18, 2021 / Comments Off on Student Livestreaming Through the Pandemic

Jen Horschman, FBRA Girls Director   Giving students the opportunity to speak, perform, and present in front of others is an important aspect of FBRA’s program. This COVID year propelled creative solutions for students to exhibit what they have learned through video recording and live streaming. While not quite the same as “in person” events, […]

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Alumni Update – Connor Schulz

By Elizabeth Douglas / June 17, 2021 / Comments Off on Alumni Update – Connor Schulz

“I didn’t realize that I was going to have to crawl through holes in the mud that were so small that we had to push our packs through ahead of us.” — Connor Schulz describing his sixth grade experience in Worley’s Cave A short conversation is all that is needed to realize that 2014 FBRA […]

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Overnight Canoe Trips at FBRA

By Elizabeth Douglas / June 17, 2021 / Comments Off on Overnight Canoe Trips at FBRA

Andrew Holcombe, FBRA Boys Director   For my final “Thoughts from the Director” I would like to take a moment to talk about a part of the FBRA program that is near and dear to my heart:  our overnight self-support canoe trips.  We have just completed three of these at the boys school along different […]

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Thoughts from Will, March 2021

By Will Yeiser / March 17, 2021 / Comments Off on Thoughts from Will, March 2021

Will Yeiser, Executive Director   The recent warm weather has been a welcome reminder that spring is just around the corner.  After a long, dark, and cold winter exacerbated by the isolation and the daily stress of trying to manage family and work under the “COVID clouds,” a short burst of sunshine and sixty-degree weather […]

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Girls Campus Update – March 2021

By Elizabeth Douglas / March 17, 2021 / Comments Off on Girls Campus Update – March 2021

Jen Horshman, FBRA Girls Program Director   We believe powerful learning and growth happens when our middle school students engage in regular outdoor programming. Our students gain important foundational skills and values that are transferable to the academic classroom and other life endeavors. These student outcomes happen only because of the talent and commitment our […]

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