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Blind Brook High School
USINFO | 2013-12-05 18:03
Phone: (914) 937-3600
District: Blind Brook-Rye Union Free School District
Web : http://www.blindbrook.org/Page/9
National Rank #80
College Readiness Index 80.4
Math Proficiency 3.8
English Proficiency 3.9
Student/Teacher Ratio 13:1
09–12 Grades
408 Students
33 teachers
Overview
Blind Brook High School is ranked 16th within New York. Students have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement® course work and exams. The AP® participation rate at Blind Brook High School is 80 percent. The student body makeup is 49 percent male and 51 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 6 percent. Blind Brook High School is the only high school in the Blind Brook-Rye Union Free School District
Extracurricular activities
Blind Brook has many activities and clubs that students can take part in during Activity Period and after school. In recent years, Blind Brook's clubs and teams have been recognized as top performers in their fields. These clubs range from academic teams to community groups to the arts. In 2007-08, clubs were moved from Activity Period to after-school after formal complaints by the BBHS Congress and students. As a result of their moving, new procedures concerning clubs were established. These procedures require that both new and pre-existing clubs submit a complete list of members in order to obtain a one-year charter allowing them to operate.
Student-Produced Publications/Media
Blind Brook's FOCUS is the award winning newspaper. They are winners of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association's gold medal. The paper is produced in house by the students and a faculty adviser.
What was first known as the "Underground Literary Magazine" in the early 1980s, is Blind Brook's student-produced Literary Magazine, "Alter Ego". This magazine is popular for its short stories, poems, and art.
In addition to print, Blind Brook operates a cable television station through BBTV, Blind Brook's video club. This club produces original programming for the station and helps run the station.
"The Movie Making Club", which was established in the beginning of the 2007 school year, has the stated purpose of creating one movie per year. The club recently produced and created a documentary on drinking among the students at BBHS.
Community Service-based Clubs
Blind Brook students are well known for their commitment and enthusiasm towards improving the community and often surpass the 80 minimum hours required to graduate. In order to expand the community service opportunities, the Blind Brook Community Service Club organizes events with senior citizen centers, holds fund raisers, and has established a Pen Pal Program with a local elementary school. Another organization is the Blind Brook Soup Kitchen, a weekly soup kitchen run by Blind Brook students since its establishment in 1998. It serves the Port Chester community by serving meals to the needy and less fortunate] In 2001, Blind Brook's Habitat for Humanity chapter was created. Since that time, the club has worked on numerous construction sites helping build homes, clean up debris, and paint churches.
Clubs for Social Change
The students of Blind Brook run many clubs that promote social change. These clubs help inform the Blind Brook community of the issues facing today's world.
The AIDS Awareness Club's mission is to promote AIDS research and educate people about the topic.Another club that also expands people's knowledge is SAGA, a Gay-straight alliance, which helps bring different groups of students together to promote acceptance among other things. A very active club at Blind Brook is the SADD Club, which stands for "Students Against Destructive Decisions". This club's goal is to help students make the right choices as they live their everyday lives. Topics range from drug use to drinking and driving to social issues. The club gets its message out through guest speakers, drunk driving simulators, and bake sales.Another popular club at Blind Brook is the Human Relations Club. This club is known for its annual weekend retreat.
Language Clubs
The study of foreign languages is a vital part of the Blind Brook culture. Each club uses bake sales, movie nights, and other creative means to expand the knowledge of other cultures and people.
The Language Clubs include:
French Club
Italian Club
Spanish Club
World Languages Club
Academic Clubs
Blind Brook houses many academic clubs which all strive to further educate the student body about topics of interest and expose the students to different activities.
Some of these academic clubs include the Chess Club, in which students meet weekly to play chess, and JSA, in which students debate political issues. During the presidential race, the JSA club sponsors a mock debate between the candidates.
Academic Teams
Mock Trial
The Blind Brook Mock Trial team has been very successful recently on all levels of the New York State Mock Trial Competition sponsored by the New York State Bar Association. The New York competition is the largest in the United States with over 375 high schools participating each year. The Blind Brook team is usually made up of 14-16 students and those wanting to join must go though an interview and question/response tryout. 6 students are assigned lawyer positions (3 for Prosecution, 3 for Defense) and 6 are given witness positions (3 for Prosecution, 3 for defense).
The Blind Brook Mock Trial Trojans have won the Westchester County Championship 7 times, in 1995, 1998, from 2004 through 2007, and once again in 2011. Each year between 32 and 36 schools compete for the county title.
During the team's historic 4-peat from 2004 to 2007, Blind Brook beat North Salem High School for the 2004 title, beat John Jay High School for the 2005 title, beat Harrison High School for the 2006 championship, and in 2007 defeated Scarsdale High School for the title. The team won back the Westchester champion title in 2011, beating Rye Neck High School.
Once the team successfully captured the county title, Blind Brook moved on to the regionals. Blind Brook is in Region IV, the "Lower Hudson Valley", which is made up of Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Putnam, Sullivan, Dutchess and Ulster County. Blind Brook won the regional championship in 2005, 2006, 2007, and then again in 2011
In the years that Blind Brook captured the regional title, they moved onto the state-level of the competition in Albany. In 2005, 2006, and 2011 the team were NYS Semi-Finalists and in 2007 they were runners up, losing to the Bronx School for Law, Government, & Justice.
Math Team
The Blind Brook Math Team was one of the more popular academic teams at the school. Approximately 60 students took part in 6 competitions throughout the school year. The high turnout can be attributed to the team's motto, "You can't hurt the team". The team was successful in the in 2006 and 2007, finishing 5th and 8th, respectively.
Model UN
The Blind Brook Model United Nations club attends multiple conferences throughout the school year. Blind Brook delegates have won awards at Brown University, Johns Hopkins University, and Cornell University, including Best Delegate, Outstanding Delegate, Honorable Mention, and Verbal Commendation.
Student Government
The Blind Brook Student Government is split up into four different organizations, Congress, Senate, a Shared Decision-Making Team, and Class Officers.
Congress
Congress is an elected body of Blind Brook High School which is composed of elected students, faculty, student-related personnel, administration, parents, and Board of Education members. Congress is responsible for policy decisions within the school. In 2011 and 2012, Congress held a school wide Career Day.
Senate
Senate is another part of the Student Government organization at Blind Brook. Senate consists only of students and is responsible for homecoming and other various school spirit events. Senate also sponsors other events such as an annual blood driveand the annual talent show, Showtime.
Class Officers
Class officers are responsible for running their grades with the assistance of a class advisor. Freshmen and Seniors have 5 officers and the Sophomores and Juniors have 4.
Athletics
Blind Brook is in Section 1, Class "C" for athletics.
State championships
Soccer
1980 NY State Class "C" Boys Soccer Champions
1978 NY State Class "C" Boys Soccer Champions
Basketball
2004 NY State Class "C" Boys Basketball Champions
2002 NY State Class "C" Boys Basketball Champions
Rankings / Awards
This details how this school compares to others based on U.S. News ranking criteria.
Medal Awarded Gold
National Rank #80
State Rank #16
Charter Rank
Magnet
STEM Rank #57
Test Scores
U.S. News calculates these values based on student performance on state exit exams and internationally available exams on college-level course work (AP®/IB exams).
Proficient in English 100%
Proficient in Math 100%
College Readiness Index 80.4
College-Ready Student Performance
High school students take AP® and IB exams to earn college credit and demonstrate success at college-level course work. U.S. News calculated a College Readiness Index based on exam participation rates and percentages of students passing at least one exam. The Index determined which types of medals (gold, silver or bronze) were awarded to top-performing schools.
College Readiness Index 80.4
Exam Used for Index AP®
Advanced Placement® (AP®) Student Performance
Many U.S. higher educational institutions grant credits or advanced placement based on student performance on AP® exams.
Participation Rate 80%
Participant Passing Rate 100%
Exams Per 4.1
Exam Pass Rate 94%
Quality-Adjusted Participation Rate 80%
Quality-Adjusted Exams Per Test 3.8
IB Diploma Per Test Taker
IB Diploma Per Grade 12 Enrollment
