Dear Students and Parents:

Welcome to the 2009-20010 school year! We continue to be the top ranked comprehensive high school in Tennessee according to Newsweek magazine. This past spring our students took nearly 1200 AP exams and passed an amazing 82% of them. Our seniors had an average ACT score of 25.7 and over 80 % of the class was eligible for the HOPE scholarship. The senior class also had an amazing 13 National Merit Semi-Finalists.

Our athletic program was equally amazing. We had five teams finish second in the state, two individuals won state championships, and all of our teams earned academic achievement awards from the TSSAA.

Our Fine Arts programs also continue to excel. Our choir director, Kim Clark, was a guest conductor for an all-star choir at Carnegie Hall this summer. The all-star choir was led by the amazing voices of many of our Brent-wood High singers.

We are really excited about all of our programs at Brentwood and are really looking forward to an amazing school year. The start of a new school year is always filled with excitement, as each year brings the promise of new goals, new accomplishments, and new opportunities. I want to students to know that they need to take advantage of their opportunities. They are going to have many opportunities throughout the year and I really want to encourage them to take advantage of these chances. It begins with the opportunity to take challenging courses. The rigor of these courses will prepare them not to just get into the college of their choice but to get through college. Success in college is not based on natural ability. It is built on a strong work ethic. Students that take challenging courses in high school and work hard to be successful in those classes will be able to draw upon that experience to overcome difficult situations that they will undoubtedly face in college.

The second opportunity that students need to take advantage of is getting involved in extra-curricular activities. When students are involved in extra-curricular activities they have more fun in school and they experience more success academically. Brentwood High School has over 70 different sports, clubs, or organizations that students can participate in.

The third opportunity is to get involved in our community. There are many people and organizations in our com-munity that really need your assistance. Community service is a great way to give back to our community and it will only enhance their college application.

Students aren’t the only ones with opportunities. We are looking to take advantage of the opportunity to communicate with parents. We are working hard to improve the lines of communication with our parents. We do know that there may be a time or two when students fail to let their parents know what is taking place at school so we are trying different avenues to get that information out to the community. Our school website, thanks to our very talented webmaster, Vicki Youngman, is a tremendous source of information including our daily announcements. We also use Channel 9, our public access channel, the Bruins Doins, our PTO Newsletter, and Connect Ed, our automated calling system, to inform parents of what is taking place at BHS.

I do want to thank our parents for their commitment to their children’s education. We are fortunate to have such an incredibly supportive community. I do want to remind our parents that there is a very fine line between supporting their child and enabling their child. We do encourage our students to take rigorous courses and with that rigor we do know that students will face difficult challenges. Learning how to overcome these challenges is a skill that our students will need as they go through life. Simply removing the challenge removes the opportunity for growth and experience. Please support your children and assist them in overcoming the challenges they will face.