BB&N THE RIBBON ON GROVE STREET ATHLETIC CAMPUS

Looking at the hundreds of spectators lining BB&N’s beautiful, new Grove Street playing fields at Homecoming this year, Upper School grade nine dean David Strodel ’78 was struck by a thought. “Jack Etter would be thrilled,” he commented to some colleagues standing alongside him. “He was always searching the surrounding neighborhoods for more field space.”

Etter, the late, legendary former Athletic Director indeed made a near hobby out of seeking expansion opportunities for the school, and now thanks to the tireless efforts of so many people in the BB&N and surrounding community, that dream has become a reality.

Aided by trustees, colleagues, and partners from the town of Watertown, Head of School Jennifer Price led the ribbon cutting ceremony that marked the official opening of the new complex on Grove Street in Watertown on October 8 at BB&N’s Homecoming celebration.

Just a brief jaunt from the Upper School, the new campus features two turf playing fields, equipment sheds, bathrooms, and parking for expanded flexibility in athletics programming with the aim of improving the student experience at the school.

“To our BB&N students and the kids of Watertown, you are the reason we did all of this,” Price said at the ceremony. “The lessons you learn on these fields about working hard, getting up when you fall down, and the importance of teamwork are lessons that you will carry for the rest of your life.”

But even more exciting to Price is the dramatic impact the new athletic campus will have on the well-being of students.

With more field space available for practices and games, BB&N can better accommodate student athletes’ busy schedules and focus on the whole student—getting kids home in time for dinner and fewer late nights of homework. The Grove Street campus will help the school abide by its strategic plan, particularly elevating the student experience with an emphasis on physical, social, and emotional health.

Early reactions have been enthusiastic, according to athletic director Chuck Richard. “The Grove Street fields will be transformative for the BB&N student experience for years to come,” Richard said. “Our new fields combined with access to adjacent fields at Filippello Park are such a benefit to the athletics program—it helps us really improve the daily logistic challenges that kids and their families have to deal with.”

A Collaborative Community Effort

The idea for the project came into form when a six-acre lot used for leased parking next to Watertown’s Filippello Park became available from the Mount Auburn Cemetery. In January of 2021, BB&N completed the purchase and moved quickly to transform the parcel of land. It took some vision to imagine the cracked concrete landscape as a green space for students, but with the cooperation of many people—from facilities personnel, to trustees, to school administrators, to Watertown officials—a partnership was reached that will benefit the town and school alike. When the fields are not in use for the school, Watertown will have access to the space as well.

“From the onset of the proposal for the athletic complex, I repeatedly stated that the field sharing concept would be a ‘win-win’ for the city of Watertown and BB&N,” says retired Watertown city councilor Angeline Kounelis. “Through the efforts of many, we were able to see the complex come to fruition. I am proud to have been given the opportunity to lend my support to the project. In my opinion, the athletic complex adds great value and benefit to the East End of Watertown and community-at-large.”

Made possible in part through generous support by many constituents, notably Jimmy Berylson ’00 and the Class of 2022 Parents (whose names adorn the two scoreboards), the space was a true joint community effort for the betterment of the school.

With its fourth campus now in play, BB&N is more equipped than ever to cultivate community spirit schoolwide and help prepare its graduates for lives well lived.

A BB&N JOURNEY COMES FULL CIRCLE

As a student at BB&N in the ’90s, Dan Bronson ’96 likely never imagined he’d be an integral part of his alma mater’s strategic plan nearly 30 years later. But when his company, Bronson Drilling, was contracted to investigate an old retaining wall on the Grove Street site, Dan found himself in that exact situation. His below account of the project would be of particular interest to any science students at the school.

My business, which I've been doing since 2002, is drilling exploratory cores, soil borings, and wells for environmental and geotechnical assessments. My work at BB&N would fall under the geotechnical category, which is basically assessing site characteristics such as soil, bedrock, and groundwater to answer various questions about a site prior to construction (such as loadbearing capacity of soil, etc.).

In this case, I was contracted by McPhail Associates, the engineering firm contracted to BB&N, to determine two things:

1. Whether the 3-foot- and 4-foot-thick concrete blocks in the very tall retaining wall surrounding the site were stacked one-deep, or two-deep.

2. Whether the soil on the opposite side of the retaining wall was decent load-bearing soil, or if it was just a bunch of garbage, old shoes, ash, beer cans, dead bodies, etc.

They wanted to know this because they were planning on removing the wall, so they needed to know what they were getting into prior to taking it apart.

I drilled horizontally through the concrete and collected concrete cores in two locations. At one spot the concrete was three feet thick, at the other it was four feet thick. Once I was through the concrete, I collected a four-foot horizontal soil boring at each location for McPhail to be able to analyze.