2019-2020 ANNUAL REVIEW BRIDGING THE TUITION GAP THE STONY BROOK SCHOOL | 1 CHAPMAN PARKWAY, STONY BROOK NY, 11790 THE STONY BROOK SCHOOL Mission The Stony Brook School is an independent Christian roots, our students are free to main- college preparatory school (grades 7-12) that tain their own personal spiritual beliefs. exists to challenge young men and women to know Jesus Christ as Lord, to love others as While a Stony Brook education is about themselves, and to grow in knowledge and amassing knowledge and growing in skill, we skill, in order that they may serve the world believe that skill is never for oneself alone, and through their character and leadership. we teach our students to take what they learn and use it for the good of their fellow man. The Stony Brook School was founded in 1922 with the motto “Character Before Through mentoring, real-life experience, and Career.” Over the past 98 years we have meaningful leadership opportunities that sought to educate students in matters of the contribute to the wellbeing of the surround- mind, body, and heart. Those who attend ing community, Stony Brook students learn our School are not only challenged academ- the value and power of character. They learn ically, but challenged to become leaders of that it is more blessed to give than to receive, integrity and virtue, to develop their charac- that humility and service are the pathway to ter, and to know Jesus Christ as Lord. greatness, and that giving up one’s life is tru- ly the way to find it. Our hope is, through Our school has, and will always continue, their education, our graduates will serve to highlight the rich synergy between aca- the world with what they have learned here. demic inquiry and the Christian faith in the classroom. While we have stayed true to our Joshuaa message Crane, from Head of School he 2019-2020 School Year will not be soon forgotten. As Charles connect digitally. Indeed, it was the worst of times. TDickens wrote, “It was the best of times and the worst of times.” This year was a year of record achievements. Our seniors gained access to the top However, despite the challenges, we learned of The Brook’s resilience. colleges and universities in unprecedented numbers. Our Robotics, Eth- Teachers put our entire academic program online in the course of a ics Bowl and Mock Trial teams all secured regional championships. Vol- weekend to ensure academic consistency, students stayed connected with leyball, Boys Soccer and Boys Basketball made playoff runs. The Prefects each other through weekend activities like trivia nights and lip synch showed great leadership by facilitating conversations amongst students on contests, and administrators worked together to create the best possible the difficult topics of our world today through the launching of Meet Me ending for our Seniors. Even in the midst of challenge, SBS demonstrated Halfway. Our fundraising reached a new annual record and enrollment was its commitment to excellence, love, and care in a way few other schools the highest since the 1980s. It was indeed the best of times at The Stony were able to do. As The Stony Brook School embarks on its 99th year, it Brook School. embraces hardship as discipline in order to become more like its Savior. Even as storms rage, we know the God who has determined our steps and However, it was also the worst of times. In March, amidst a surging pan- will preserve and protect us as we submit to Him. demic in the New York metro region, we were forced to close the School and move our entire program online while actively managing the return Onward! home of over 100 students who were not able to leave when our physical doors closed. We experienced loss as we were not able to hold our tradi- Joshua Crane, tional commencement exercises, teams weren’t able to fulfill their national Head of School title ambitions, and students were separated from each other, able only to 2019-2020 SCHOOL YEAR highlights Driven, our on-campus youth group, hosts a retreat each year, which continues to be a spiritual life highlight for many students. In January 2020, 100 students and 12 faculty ACADEMICS traveled to Camp Spofford in New Hamp- At the start of the school year, class of 2020 shire to enjoy a restful spiritual retreat to- senior Wensan Jiachen was selected for Cold gether. Spring Harbor Laboratory’s prestigious Part- ners for the Future Program—a program During the month of April, a Tenebrae that selects only twelve students through- service was filmed and live streamed by staff, faculty, and students, incorporating out Long Island each school year to receive tournament-style games against other teams scripture reading, singing, and other per- a head start in the world of science research. across the island. After winning 2-1 in the formances that journeyed through the last semi-finals against a local rival, they rolled hours of Jesus’ life. In February, SBS won the Long Island High into the championship matches 2-0. In addi- School Ethics Bowl for the third year in a tion, students took home awards in all three row. Both of our teams went undefeated at engineering categories for Programming, the event, finishing first and second in the Design, and Innovation. opening rounds and qualifying for the semi- finals—setting up an unprecedented sweep of the event by a single school. SPIRITUAL The SBS Upper School Robotics Team com- FORMATION Christian life at SBS takes on many forms, peted in the FIRST Robotics Long Island including voluntary and involuntary events Regional Competition on February 2. In for students, programmed activities, order to compete, students were required organic and relationally-driven ministry, to build a robot that could participate in and both one-on-one and group fellowship. ATHLETICS Though the 98th year of Stony Brook Athlet- ics was cut short due to the pandemic, there was still much to celebrate from the fall and winter seasons. SBS students Lilly Jette ‘21 and Isabella Seminario ‘22 were named winners of the The Great South Bay Yacht Racing Associ- ation Season Championship for their joint performance on the 420 sailboat. As winter returned to Long Island, our wres- tling team turned in a historic season, winning The boys’ and girls’ cross country teams de- their first league title since 1972. Eze Barrah fended their Private Schools Athletic Associ- led the charge by becoming our school’s first ation (PSAA) Championships from 2018 by wrestling State Champion, taking the 195 lbs dominating the field at Van Cortlandt Park. class at the New York State Association of In- dependent Schools (NYSAIS) Tournament. The boys’ soccer team won the PSAA Eastern Division title with a thrilling 2-1 win vs. Knox In the pool, Hunter Markowitz capped a under the lights while the boys’ JV soccer memorable career by securing silver and team capped an undefeated season with the bronze medals at the NYSAIS Swimming PSAA Tournament crown. Championships. The girls’ tennis team swept their way to an 97 Bears earned All-League honors, Luqman undefeated East Division title and the girls’ Bare, Eze Barrah, Rebekah Detwiler, and volleyball team finished undefeated in league Sadhana Sridhar earned league MVP honors, play for the third straight year before securing and David Hickey, Alicia Brummeler, Mark the PSAA Tournament title. They have won 26 Maningo, and Joe Calabria (in his first sea- straight league matches dating back to 2016. son) earned PSAA Coach of the Year honors. COLLEGE CAMPUS LIFE Creating a close-knit community is one of PLACEMENTS the many attributes we strive for at SBS. The class of 2020 did outstandingly well with During the school year our advisory program college acceptances. 37% of our students were (weekly connection groups led by a faculty or accepted to at least one Top 25 school, as des- staff member) continued on strong, despite ignated by US News and World Report. Our the arrival of COVID, which forced all of Ivy League acceptance rate, including Univer- our students and faculty to begin learning re- sity of Chicago and Stanford, went from 9% motely. Throughout the rest of the trimester, These numbers show us that we’re doing a in 2018 to 11% in 2019. For the class of 2020, advisory was held through Zoom and helped better job of helping students choose schools it was 17%. 54% of the class applied for early students continue to connect during an that they are a good fit for. The colleges seem decision deadline, and 52% were accepted to isolating time. those schools. to agree, as evidenced by our much higher ac- ceptance rates, compared to the overall accep- The Class of 2020 was accepted to 190 differ- tance rate for these schools. ent colleges and universities compared to 158 in 2019. This was the highest number of col- A SAMPLING OF COLLEGE leges that our students have been accepted to ACCEPTANCES FROM THE in the last five years. In addition, several stu- dents who were deferred or wait-listed were CLASS OF 2020 accepted. Amherst College (2) Brown University (2) Columbia University (2) We also held online activities to help students Cornell University (4) feel like they had something fun to look for- Johns Hopkins University (4) ward to when they hadn’t left their house in UC Berkley (3) weeks. Students participated in events like a talent show, cooking shows, a lip-sync battle, Vanderbilt University (4) and a dance challenge that brought some joy into a dark and frustrating time.