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Branson School News, Sports, Life and Opinion

The Blazer

Branson’s student-run newspaper
Branson School News, Sports, Life and Opinion

The Blazer

Branson School News, Sports, Life and Opinion

The Blazer

News

The Branson Singers carol during the Winter Arts Festival.

Community gathers for Winter Arts Festival

By Samara "Sam" Lehman 1 day ago

Students, faculty, family and even prospective parents gathered on Dec. 9 for Branson’s annual Tree Lighting and Winter Arts Festival.  The arts festival is a beloved Branson tradition. Head of School...

Commons cleanup advocate Jeff Symonds calls out students who fail to clean up during lunch. Symonds and other faculty have taken turns sitting in the newly implemented lifeguard chair to supervise the commons at lunch.

Commons’ uncleanliness takes dessert and threatens wing day

By Cecilia "CC" Brenner 1 day ago

Described as “the hill I’m gonna die on,” “one of the biggest bees in my bonnet” and “my albatross” by Branson faculty, commons cleanliness is a topic of strong tension between students and...

Spanish teacher Donatella D'Aguanno and Carl Smith '26 speak about language classes at Branson. The new format of open houses for prospective families highlights teacher-student collaboration at Branson.

Branson introduces new open house format

By Isabel Little 1 day ago

For the first time since the pandemic, Branson has changed the format of the presentations prospective parents receive at admissions open houses. The format has moved from teacher-specific presentations...

Students collaborate during peer tutoring office hours. Peer tutoring office hours after school are a new addition, alongside a student-created app that pairs students with peer tutors.

New app streamlines peer tutoring pairing process

By Will Zuercher 1 day ago

The addition of the student-created Branson peer tutoring app on campus this year provides students with an efficient and reliable method of getting academic assistance from their classmates across subjects. “The...

Classroom phone caddy, known familiarly as the "phone jail," holds students' phones during class. Currently, each teacher is responsible for their individual classroom phone policies.

Task force set to design schoolwide phone policy

By Gigi Hohenrieder October 22, 2024
Branson has made efforts to address the growing issue of phone usage on campus, beginning with a student-and-faculty task force.
Students participate in bonding activities and discussions on leadership during August retreat. The Student Leadership Institute was established by Whitney Livermore and JuanCarlos Arauz to orient leaders of student senate and affinity groups for the school year ahead. (Courtesy of Whitney Livermore)

Branson inaugurates Student Leadership Institute

By Alexa Warrin October 22, 2024
Student leaders convened in August for a two-day retreat, where they bonded, learned about leadership and constructed plans for the school year.
Branson classroom from last year. This year marks a change in the gradebook policy, wherein Blackbaud will no longer display students' grades.

Branson adopts new gradebook policy

By Hazel Levinson October 22, 2024

This year marks a change to Branson’s gradebook policy. Previously, Blackbaud calculated a student’s grade average, and that information was available to students. However, this year students will...

English Department Chair Giles Scott and Head of School Chris Mazzola at Convocation. Scott was nominated by the community to speak at Convocation this year.

Convocation features community-nominated faculty speech

By Olivia Ritter October 22, 2024

“The obvious thing to focus on would be the election, right? Yes? No? The adults are all ‘No.’ The students are like, ‘An election, what election? There was nothing about an election on TikTok...

The buffet-style Branson lunch in the commons. There are two major changes to school lunch this school year, including changed leadership and a new provider.

The kitchen’s changing

By Cecilia "CC" Brenner October 13, 2024

The Branson kitchen is getting two big updates this school year. Executive Chef Marcus Trigg is now officially a Branson employee and come spring semester, a new food provider will feed the Branson community.  Trigg...

Todd Fries of the Northern California Innocence Project speaks to the Branson community during special assembly. Fries visited Branson last week to discuss the mission of the Innocence Project, which works to exonerate falsely convicted individuals.

Innocence Project guest speaker shares mission to fight false conviction

By Barry Liu October 13, 2024
Todd Fries of the Innocence Project visited Branson last week to discuss the organization's work in exonerating the wrongfully convicted and fighting flaws in the criminal justice system.
Librarian and new Class Dean Charlotte King. King hopes to support the incoming students in adjusting to Branson.

Charlotte King appointed ninth-grade dean

By Sadie Winter October 13, 2024

Librarian and Digital Literacy Specialist Charlotte King has taken on the additional role of ninth-grade class dean.  This year, Branson welcomed 107 new ninth-graders to campus. As class dean, King...

Students in classroom during immersive course. Branson administration announced the school's break from AP courses March 12.

Symonds says end of APs at Branson is opportunity for ‘innovation’

By Olivia Ritter June 4, 2024

When the student body first heard about the clean break from the AP curriculum, every qualm circulating around campus centered on a perceived disadvantage in college admissions. In response, Jeff Symonds,...

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