December 7, 2018

Dear Barrie Alumni,

I'm excited to revitalize Barrie School's Alumni program and create more opportunities for Barrie alumni to come together on and off campus. I hope you'll join us on January 3rd to play basketball against students and faculty!

Please forward this email to class members who I may have missed, and be sure to keep your contact information up to date by emailing me directly. If you'd like to submit your profile for the Alumni web page, please let me know. 

Patty Yormick Simon, '89

Coordinator of Alumni Engagement

301-576-2820

UPCOMING EVENTS

Join us on Thursday, January 3, 2019 at 4:00pm for the Alumni vs. Student/Faculty Basketball Game in the Jamie L. Roberts Athletics Center on Barrie's lower campus. After the game, we'll mix and mingle and enjoy pizza and wings. 

RSVP to Patty Simon

Save the Date! April 6, 2019

Barrie's annual fundraising auction, For the Love of Barrie will be held on Saturday, April 6, 2019 on the Barrie Campus. Save the date, and watch for more details to come!

SUPPORTING BARRIE

Giving Tuesday Update

The Barrie Community as a whole made twenty donations totaling more than $6,000 on Giving Tuesday! What a great showing of support for our school. If you have not yet made your Annual Fund commitment, it's not too late. Please pledge your support today by visiting Barrie.org/givetoday. Enjoy this short video to see how your gift can benefit every student, every teacher, every day! 

CELEBRATING ALUMNI NIGHT

Alumni from a variety of classes kicked-off the Thanksgiving holiday with two separate gatherings. All alumni enjoyed reconnecting with their classmates!

Class of 2008 

OTHER NEWS

In Memoriam - Dr. John Fuller

We recently learned that in November, John Fuller, a beloved former science teacher at Barrie passed away. His fellow science teacher, Seikor Bundu, has written a tribute to him. John will always be remembered at Barrie for creating the long standing tradition of the cardboard boat races at the end of the school year.

Socrates once said, "No man undertakes a trade he has not learned, even the Meanest (simplest); yet everyone thinks himself sufficiently qualified for the hardest of all trades, that of government."

In the case of Dr. John Fuller, teaching is the hardest profession (trade), which ironically, everybody and anybody thinks they can do. John proved that only a few can. And he was among the few. Great teachers like John have mastery of the subject matter; are great communicators; they push the boundaries of scientific inquisitiveness and inquiry and are unstoppably passionate. At Barrie School, John demonstrated all of the above and more. He left an indelible professional record in his teaching. No student who ever sat in John's class left unexcited or uneducated about some aspects of science. To him, science was an exciting adventurous learning process, mentally and physically.

Who can forget the "rocket cars", "bottle rockets", "pumpkin chunkin", the day long field trips to the ocean to look for shark teeth, and the archaeological trips? To John, science learning went far beyond the walls of the classroom. It continued even on holidays. This was one of the ideas behind the Boat Races, which he started at Barrie. He felt that students should end the school year with something that was scientific as well as fun and exciting. Thus continuing the spirit of science even on holidays.

A real and sufficient tribute to Dr. John Fuller would fill pages and pages. A more concise and fitting tribute has already been given by his son Woody on Facebook. John's adventurous and great mind as a scientist continues on. He is unstoppable, hence I will always write RIP? after his name. Even the Lord will give him permission to march on! We may never catch up with you, John, but we will never forget you.

Written by Seikor Bundu