BE
TOGETHERINSPIRED CONNECTEDASSUREDCREATIVECHALLENGED CONFIDENTINQUISITIVE
BRECKBE
DIVISIONS&FACULTYATHLETICSPRINCIPLESCULTUREBRECKBEVALUEACADEMICSARTSABOUT
It’s our invitation. Our anthem. A call to join a thriving community of thinkers and innovators, leaders and servants. Here is where we cheer, challenge, dare, and discover. Here is where we are driven with relentless passion for inquiry, academic excellence, and intellectual growth. Here is where we teach and celebrate the whole child. And embrace a steadfast commitment to serve the greater good. We know that raising the whole child takes love and grit, trust and risk, faith and investment. And so Be Breck rises to every challenge with a shared vision that unites our students and teachers, spirit and place.
Our Story Breck is a preschool through 12th grade college preparatory, Episcopal day school with nearly 1,200 students. Located on a beautiful 52-acre campus in Golden Valley, Minnesota, just minutes from downtown Minneapolis. Breck graduates are prepared to lead lives of intellectual curiosity, self-knowledge, and social responsibility.
NATALIA RICO HERNÁNDEZ, ED.D. HEAD OF SCHOOL About Breck
At Breck, we create an ideal learning environment for our students by carefully crafting just the right combination of trusting relationships and intellectual challenge.
•
We believe that with the unwavering pursuit of knowledge comes the development of character, values, imagination, and the joy of living a purposeful life—intellectually, socially, and spiritually.
•
Our Philosophy We are a community of high-achieving, motivated students and teachers focused on intellectual inquiry, engagement, and bridging educational research with classroom practice. We create a vibrant community that nurtures and inspires a lifetime love of learning and a commitment to the greater good. We live our Episcopal roots through a commitment to peace and justice, inquiry and reason, and service to the common good. We emphasize personalizing each student’s experience in the pursuit of excellence.
•
DIVISIONS&FACULTYATHLETICSPRINCIPLESCULTUREBRECKBEVALUEACADEMICSARTSABOUTABOUT
•
Academic Press
Personalization
Principles
Intellectually and emotionally. Physically and spiritually. Through trusted relationships with teachers and friends, mentors and staff, students come to understand the extraordinary dimensions of their voices and depth of their passions. They discover paths they didn’t know possible. And go forward in brave new directions.
BECHALLENGED.Frompreschoolertosenior,weactivelycultivatethegrowthofthewholechild.
Students’ intellectual curiosity thrives in cultures of high academic expectation. Breck is where students learn to love learning. Academic Press challenges and pushes each student to engage fully in learning that is interesting, demanding, and rewarding. At each developmental stage, they are surrounded with opportunities to enhance intellectual growth. In a caring environment, Academic Press encourages students to challenge themselves, and to thrive on the challenge.
Rigorous academic programs in a caring environment unlock potential. Personalization refers to our commitment to know each unique individual’s interests and motivations, fears and doubts. Through personalization we build the trust it takes to push students to the next level in every space at Breck—classroom, athletic field, or stage.
We believe the value of one should be valued by all. Through participation in a mosaic community where our differences are respected and celebrated, students develop self-confidence and a greater understanding of the world around them. We believe that a healthy academic environment is one that is versatile, embracing the richness of varying perspectives. It is through diversity work that our students develop self-confidence, a sense of social responsibility rooted in empathy, and the power of their own voice.
Investment in our community is central to being a student at Breck. Community partnerships are a life-changing part of the Breck experience. From preschool through graduation, students have the opportunity to serve one another, their school, and the broader community, understanding how their actions can impact the greater good. Students build lifelong skills of compassion, problem-solving, and leadership, while making the world a better place.
Inclusivity
PRINCIPLES
All faiths and cultures are welcome at Breck. Our Episcopal heritage is a legacy of inclusion. Our curriculum includes major world religions, and we believe that through knowledge and experience we deepen our own spirituality. We hold an unwavering commitment to diversity and inclusivity, and welcome all individuals to our community, whatever form their spirituality takes.
Social Responsibility
Spirituality
DIVISIONS&FACULTYATHLETICSPRINCIPLESCULTUREBRECKBEVALUEACADEMICSARTSABOUT
TOTALP-12STUDENTS 1,175 110 BETOGETHER.CultureZIPCODES are represented in the Breck student population.
Common Good
DIVISIONS&FACULTYATHLETICSPRINCIPLESCULTUREBRECKBEVALUEACADEMICSARTSABOUT
Our student-teacher ratio is 7:1 in Middle and Lower Schools, and 8:1 in Upper School. The average class size is 16. Teachers know more than names—they know how individual students learn best, what they’re passionate about, and who they want to become. Community-focused and emotionally engaged student-teacher relationships are what helps both your children and our faculty thrive.
CULTURE
Fourteen grades. One campus. Our school is where preschoolers and seniors become role models for one another. Where a Middle School student can walk down the hall to take an upper-level math course. This is a place where caring befriends camaraderie and where lifelong friends and mentors are found. Our culture comes from our community. It’s our tradition. And part of what makes Breck truly exceptional.
We believe that strong leaders serve the common good. In every experience, from the classroom to theater, athletics to advanced research, Breck students engage in age-appropriate forms of community outreach and advocacy that help communities thrive. Learning Spaces While community is the bedrock of life at Breck, we also value the importance of age-appropriate spaces for our students. Space where they can relax and chat. Play or daydream. In Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools, students have their own dining room, library, and common spaces where they can study or just unwind.
RatioStudent-Teacher
Security Breck is a physically and emotionally safe place for students, faculty, and staff. With all grades located on one campus, teachers and students know, trust, and look out for one another. We use the latest technologies, training, and systems to ensure campus-wide peace of mind.
FACULTY Our teachers are the heart of Breck. They inspire and challenge intellectual and emotional growth. They create safe places to question and imagine, to struggle, and to persevere. They are patient guides and brilliant educators with an incredible commitment to bringing out the best in all students in their unique educational journeys. Setting foot on campus, you feel a sense of belonging, of homecoming. This is a place where people stand shoulder to shoulder, and where individual stories merge to become part of the whole.
One Campus
We believe students gain confidence, build character, and learn to cooperate through connections across multiple age groups.
BUDDIES Every 1st grader has a senior buddy. A friend, a mentor, a guide. For lunch. At Homecoming. In Chapel, and even at Baccalaureate, buddies build a bond that lasts long after graduation. BIDDIES From the Old English term meaning “serving, eating with and post-meal cleanup,” biddies are 3rd and 4th graders who take turns biddying for preschool/ kindergarten students at lunch. It’s respect and responsibility built into a great tradition. And it ensures all Lower School students know one another, helping create friendship and trust.
RelationshipsLasting
Our faculty participate in professional development aligned to their interests, passions, and the needs of the school through summer grants, endowed chairs, local and national workshops, and opportunities through the Peter Clark Center for Mind, Brain, and Education. Their presentations, articles, and research are regularly seen in national workshops and publications. They visit exceptional peer schools to exchange ideas and host renowned experts who bring depth and breadth to all aspects of teaching. Each year, we offer a sabbatical to a teacher who seeks inspiration and career development through travel and study beyond campus. They return to campus renewed and reinvigorated, ready to share fresh perspective with our community. We believe students learn best from teachers who practice what they teach. Teachers who are role models. Who are passionate intellectuals eager to inspire passionate intellectuals-in-the-making.
Commitment
I love having P-12 on one campus. I work with the youngest of our students, and I get to truly watch them grow up. There is something magical about bearing witness to this growth.
BEINSPIRED.Faculty
BRECK TEACHER
Our teachers are lifelong learners. They inspire students because they are inspired, not only by the subjects they teach but by the relationships they form. As mentors and scholars. As instigators of inquiry. As change-makers and guides. Character Our teachers arrive at Breck as highly educated professionals who care deeply about each child’s education. We give them the professional development tools they need to keep learning, evolving, refining, and adapting to the educational landscape.
DevelopmentProfessional
Middle School 5TH - 8TH
DIVISIONS&FACULTYATHLETICSPRINCIPLESCULTUREBRECKBEVALUEACADEMICSARTSABOUT
Lower School PRESCHOOL - 4TH
Upper School 9TH - 12TH
DIVISIONS&FACULTY
Independent research opportunities, interdisciplinary classes, and post-AP course offerings challenge our students to explore new ideas and emerging fields of study. Combined with our community partnership program, research-informed teaching, and inclusive community, the Upper School experience prepares students for a life of learning long after Breck.
Incredibly joyful and critically influential, a child’s early years are key to developing creativity, intellect, and character. Academically, we focus on literacy, mathematics, social studies, and science. More broadly our learning environment grows an innovative spirit through exposure to world language, music, visual arts, religion, physical education, mindfulness, engineering, and technology. Character and service education teach empathy and respect. We ensure our students are skillful collaborators, problem-solvers, independent thinkers, and confident leaders—now and in the future. These foundational years are critical in developing the whole child, and we’re honored to partner with families to grow happy, curious, and thriving children.
BECONNECTED.DistinctiveDivisions
Through intentional community partnership time and experiential learning opportunities, Middle Schoolers learn to understand their place in the world and their role in supporting the common good. Upon completion, students are poised, confident, and ready for what awaits in the Upper School.
Central to our mission is developing each student’s unique talents and potential to excel. Through innovative curriculum, rigorous academics, vibrant arts and athletic programs, state-of-the-art learning spaces, and talented faculty who know each student, we teach to individual passions and motivations that drive deep, authentic learning.
Breck’s signature MindWorks program is an example—it teaches students how brains work and bolsters learning with strategies that build on existing strengths.
Now is the time and place to help students navigate their individual journeys toward a more defined sense of self, as academics, artists, athletes, and members of a larger community. An accomplished, experienced faculty guides and engages students in appropriately challenging yet supportive programs.
Average ACT Score: 31 compared to national average of 21 (National)21 (MN)21.5 (Breck)31 BEINQUISITIVE.AcademicInnovation
DIVISIONS&FACULTYATHLETICSPRINCIPLESCULTUREBRECKBEVALUEACADEMICSARTSABOUT
World Languages A critical skill in a globalized world, learning a new language deepens understanding for other cultures and traditions and enhances analytic and problem-solving skills. Beginning in preschool, our students discover new aspects of the world through language acquisition, vocabulary development, and cultural exploration. In their time at Breck, students have the opportunity to study Spanish, Chinese, or UniqueFrench.toBreck is our Chinese program. Designated as a Confucius Classroom, which is a national network of exemplary Chinese language programs. We have offered a distinguished Chinese language education for nearly 40 years.
Structured play. Chinese for preschoolers. The first Project Adventure program in Minnesota. Advanced science research and exceptional arts programs. At every grade and stage of learning, Breck academics challenge and inspire our students to think big, ask more, and pursue passions.
Our curated programs allow students to dive deep into fields of study they are passionate about and to learn more about a given topic. History research works on a year-long theme specific to our region.
ACADEMICS
Advanced Science Research allows students to select a topic based on their interests and to partner with a professional research mentor for intensive immersion in the field. In CommunityBased Research in Mathematics, students use the lens of math to explore and analyze meaningful issues. Through all of these programs, students partner with non-profit and governmental organizations, they then apply qualitative and quantitative research to perform studies, audits, or other analyses for the organizations.
PartnershipCommunity Program
Advanced research programs allow students to pursue their chosen discipline through a professional research experience. All programs require a commitment well beyond the AP-level and include intensive summer research. The ensuing academic-year seminar culminates in a publication-quality research paper and formal seminar presentation. Admission to these programs is selective.
We believe community partnerships develop responsibility, compassion, and leadership. We’ve integrated community engagement into our curriculum to provide age-appropriate interactions with organizations throughout the Twin Cities. When students reach the Upper School, they make weekly off-site visits to these non-profits, creating deep and meaningful relationships that often extend well beyond their Breck experience.
Peter Clark Center
Breck is home to one of only two centers in the nation focused on Mind, Brain, and Education science. MBE is interdisciplinary research that connects neuroscience, psychology, and education, which helps faculty and students know the how and the why of learning. This understanding allows us to personalize the educational experience and press for continued growth and development. We constantly train our faculty in the latest MBE research, so they can help each student understand learning processes and know themselves as a learner.
Advanced Research Programs
BECREATIVE.VisualArtsPerforming&
ARTS
The Visual Art Department at Breck is studio based in the best sense of the word – the artist studio being core to what makes our program so vital. Artists teach what they know, love, practice, and what rouses their own curiosity. Students engage as artists in beautiful spaces filled with Master Art references from around the world, visually compelling props, and vibrant student art. They plumb their ideas and play with a wide range of materials to enact a process of complex problem solving that has no one right answer, yet infinite possibilities. With an authentic studio environment in the classroom, students are stretched to move beyond what they already know and feel comfortable with – into a place where they take creative risks in search of new ground. With this expectation to activate fresh experience, they also are challenged and mentored to craft their work in sensitive ways, honoring the timeheld traditions of the artisan. This nuanced interplay between searching and honing, sets the stage for a real artistic undertaking to be cultivated in our classrooms with all ages and levels of students.
The ultimate goal is to instill a life-long commitment to the arts and to open the imagination in challenging, joyful and even daring ways.
The Performing Arts Department puts the Breck mission into action by providing students the opportunity for self-expression, creativity, social interaction, collaboration and self-discipline. As the arts engage the whole person—the intellect, heart, spirit and body— so our Arts faculty is committed to knowing students as they are and to evaluating progress relative to each individual. The emphasis is on the process. Performances are designed to be guided extensions of what happens in the Departmentclassroom. members are working artists who have received specialized training and are committed to the professional model in educating our students. They provide a supportive environment in which everyone feels safe to explore, practice and perform.
“Whether it be in the quiet comfort of the art studio or under the bright lights of Cargill Theater’s stage, both places have not only provided me with a space to develop my respective artistries, but have also provided me with insights, experiences, and friendships I never knew I needed.”
Performing Arts
DIVISIONS&FACULTYATHLETICSPRINCIPLESCULTUREBRECKBEVALUEACADEMICSARTSABOUT
Visual Arts
From still life to center stage, our Arts programs encourage individual discovery, self-reflection, risk-taking, and how to give and receive constructive feedback. We know that every student can be an artist— our halls are lined with student art and we host rotating exhibits in our gallery to empower our students to create, collaborate, and celebrate the beauty of self-expression.
BRECK JUNIOR
BECONFIDENT.Athletics
Programs
SENIOR
DIVISIONS&FACULTYATHLETICSPRINCIPLESCULTUREBRECKBEVALUEACADEMICSARTSABOUTATHLETICS
The development of a Breck athlete begins long before the first competition. Beginning in sixth grade, our students have the opportunity for competitive play in a variety of sports and competitions. As an athlete’s skill progresses, competition exists at the highest levels and amongst some of the most competitive and winningest teams in the state. Breck offers 27 different athletic programs and competes in the Independent Metro Athletic Conference (IMAC), which typically competes in the Minnesota State High School League’s Class A Division. To learn more about athletics at Breck, go to breckathletics.org.
WINTER Alpine Ski Boys Basketball Girls BoysNordicGirlsBoysGymnasticsBasketballHockeyHockeySkiSwimand Dive SPRING TrackBoysSoftballGirlsBoysGirlsBoysBaseballGolfGolfLacrosseLacrosseTennisandField Sports by Season FALL Cross GirlsGirlsBoysFootballCountrySoccerSoccerSwimand Dive Girls VolleyballTennisV=Varsity; JV = Junior Varsity; CS = C-Squad; MS = Grades 7-8; Cub = Grade 6
“Breck is an excellent school with both amazing academic and athletic programs. The teachers and coaches here help you become a well-rounded student-athlete. During my time at Breck, our swim team has won 5 consecutive state titles, while also maintaining a strong team GPA. I am so happy to be in a place where I am able to maximize my potential as a student and an athlete.”
Consistent with our mission, Breck provides a comprehensive and competitive athletic program that emphasizes the importance of commitment and preparation, personal growth and teamwork. Breck athletes strive for excellence in their sport and, independent of outcome, they compete with grace and school pride.
BRECK
Philosophy
Breck Athletics builds character, perseverance, and confidence. With 27 co-curricular programs, our athletic program is essentially a continuation of the classroom. We see coaches as teachers who help students work as a team, demonstrate leadership, learn time management skills, and strive to be mature adults and productive members of society.
Character, curiosity, and confidence don’t begin in college. They begin here. When you choose Breck for your children, you do more than simply give them a great education. You invest in their journey from childhood to adulthood. In unexpected opportunity and incredible possibility. In who they are, and who they will become. Each year, Breck distributes more than $7.5 million in financial aid. Visit our website at breckschool.org to learn more.
OVER A QUARTER of the student population receives financial aid 28%
A lifetime
BEASSURED.ofvalue
DIVISIONS&FACULTYATHLETICSPRINCIPLESCULTUREBRECKBEVALUEACADEMICSARTSABOUT Apply Online To start the process, find out more at breckschool.org/apply VALUE Our Core Values Compassion Honor the dignity of all human beings. Excellence Strive with integrity for the highest standards. Inclusivity Foster a just and welcoming community. Respect Value each other’s unique talents, spirit, and potential. Get Connected To learn more about life at Breck, visit breckschool.org to sign up for a visit or request more information. To speak with a member of our Admissions team, email admissions@breckschool. Our Mission Statement We create confident learners who lead lives of intellectual curiosity, self-knowledge, and social responsibility. Who We Are Breck School is an Episcopal, independent, college-preparatory day school enrolling students of diverse backgrounds in grades preschool through twelve.
We invite your child to be part of the Breck mosaic—past, present, and future. To be part of the Breck spirit that forever seeks common cause and pursues uncommon dreams. 763.381.8100 | breckschool.org It is Breck’s policy to administer its educational programs—including admission and financial aid—without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national or ethnic origin, or disability.
