October, 2007

Dear Alumni,

Here I am again trying to find the right words that capture BMA’s energy and spirit. I recently completed a three-year term on the BMA Board of Trustees. This experience was like being a Gatekeeper, Technical Delegate, Finish and Start referee all at a zero handicap ski race! Reconnecting with our school in this way left me recharged with motivation and focus in my present life.

The directions Burke is going are extremely energizing as the Board and Kirk Dwyer, our headmaster, plan for decades ahead. They are still keeping a balance of good ‘ol “Yankee ingenuity” and hard work at the core of the Burke spirit and mission. Burke keeps getting better. You would all be very proud of the extraordinary student /athletes our school is developing for the complex world we live in!

A balanced school budget for the 6th year in a row is allowing the Board and Kirk to plan strategically for the next 5 years. You are all to be thanked. The steady increase of alumni participation in our Annual Fund is laying the groundwork to establish an unprecedented financial foundation for BMA. We need to continually strengthen this great support.

Last winter, I had an opportunity to travel with my own children to many races throughout Vermont.  Every week, I saw Burke kids take the initiative to pick up trash in the base lodge after a race. As “Burkies” are inclined to do, they often made this into a competition of who could get more in 2 minutes! They thank race officials after tough days on the hill even if they have DNF’ed. They gate-keep all day long on their home hill for many of their peers while cheering them on. Most impressive, our kids have become famous for pulling up “B-netting” after races that are not on their home hill. At the same time they are doing their athletics with focus and class, I have seen them teaming up on laptops, finishing homework and tuning skis while away at multiple day events.

The most important message I can give you about Burke today is that it continues to be a reflection of every student’s spirit, hard work and leadership.  Parents, staff and alumni, with whom I speak often, share my faith that the school is the strongest it has ever been!

Please join me with your participation in the BMA Annual Fund for this 2007/2008 school year. No annual gift is too small (nor ever too large J). The Annual Fund closes the gap between tuition income and the real costs of running the school. This gap exists for each and every student/athlete today, as it has throughout our school’s history.

Every time I visit Burke, I see the positive results of our support through the strength of the whole school community. Whether we called Burke “home” ten, twenty or thirty years ago we can’t escape the fact that it is in many ways a part of all of us.

Your gift to the Annual Fund perpetuates the Burke experience for a new generation of student /athletes. Thanks again for your continued support!

With love,

“Whale”

Gayle Voelker Brown, Class of 1979

Development Committee

Current Parent, Makenzie, class of 2011