Combining Purpose & Passion

Brimmer Signature Diploma Programs in Creative Arts, STEAM, and Global Studies encourage students to pursue their passions

Offering a rigorous curriculum and the intellectual and creative space for students to do advanced work in endeavors that excite them, these programs are both intense and rewarding. In the end, students graduate with a specialized diploma—an academic distinction that distinguishes them from other college applicants.

Creative Arts Diploma Program

BY BILL JACOB P ’06, DIRECTOR

Imagine a program that brings together students who spend their free time practicing, rehearsing, and perfecting their craft; people who like nothing more than to make music or theater or art or dance whenever and wherever they can. Imagine a class that explores the boundaries of creativity, where students get to choose what to study and how to present their work to their peers and others. Imagine inviting working artists into the classroom to talk about how to stay inspired, how to make ends meet as an artist, how to make work that gets seen by contemporaries, community members, and the world at large. Imagine taking advantage of one of America’s cultural hubs and seeing world-class performances, exhibitions, and recitals as part of the curriculum. Add in a weekly visit to a local public elementary school to gain valuable hands-on experience teaching about the arts, and you have a good description of Brimmer’s Creative Arts Diploma program (CAP).

The CAP program provides students who demonstrate a deep commitment to visual arts, music, dance, theater, video, or creative writing with the opportunity to focus on their chosen art form, the tools to create a portfolio of their work, cultural connections to the Boston arts community, and a venue for participants to share their talents with the larger community, including an opportunity to regularly practice teaching and working with younger students. CAP students are challenged to set seasonal and yearly goals for themselves, to document their process in journals, social media, and online portals, to hold themselves accountable with deadlines for individual and collaborative efforts and personalized research projects, and to network with working professionals, including CAP alumni.

CAP helps our student-artists find their voices and amplify them. In regularly sharing our work at biweekly CAP lunches and collaborating as a group, we strive to build a mix of camaraderie and individual attention among the CAP cohort and the 13 dedicated arts teachers working alongside them. By providing a supportive environment where students feel comfortable taking creative risks, we aim to instill a respect for disciplined practice and introspection and an acceptance that failure and missing the mark are often integral parts of the creative process, with their own unique lessons to impart.

In the end, every CAP experience is unique and limited only by the ambition, effort, and enthusiasm that each CAP candidate brings to the program. CAP nurtures and challenges artistic dreams, pushing students to take their talents one step further and helping stretch their understanding of what art can be.

A Transformative Experience

Creativity in the modern world requires fundamental discipline and commitment to your craft. CAP not only prepares young creatives for the rigors of the world but also provides an opportunity for self-sufficiency and focus. It takes away the fantasy of “being an artist” and replaces it with the profound reality of hard work and day-after-day resolve. It’s never too late to learn your craft; CAP takes it a step further and teaches you to respect your craft. Even if you don’t pursue your artistic goals past Brimmer, being in CAP is a transformative experience. It provides moments of personal and creative growth that will carry over to whatever path you pursue. I wish more schools offered this kind of opportunity to their students.

—Shane Sager ’12

CAP was integral to my coming to terms with the fact that I’ve chosen a lifestyle as a musician. It taught me the discipline I needed to honor the creative process and cultivate a creative environment that was encouraging and supportive. Without the faculty’s selfless devotion to ensuring every student gets exactly what they need to move forward, I don’t think I would have achieved so much at my age.

—Tony Ni ’16

CAP is an amazing platform to meet and engage with other talented and motivated artists in this community. It also supports me in my journey of looking for new opportunities and using my passion for art to benefit others around me.

—Mary Wang ’26

My experience in CAP has been most beneficial through my relationships with the Creative Arts teachers. When you develop good working relationships, you learn about professional art practices and can do more advanced

—Ady Jaeckel ’25

STEAM Diploma Program

BY CHRIS HARDMAN, DIRECTOR

The STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art Mathematics) Diploma program, started in 2013, has grown significantly over the past decade with 73 STEAM graduates to date and another 37 current candidates across the Upper School.

With the opening of the Hastings Center in 2017, including the Innovation Space, Maker Space, and STEAM classroom, Brimmer students have access to state-of-the-art fabrication tools that their peers outside of Brimmer don’t experience, let alone master, until they get to college. Upon acceptance to the program, students may select one of four concentrations—including Biomedical and Life Sciences, Architecture and Industrial Design, Technology and Robotics, and Engineering and Physical Sciences—that offer an array of courses while still leaving space to pursue other interests outside of the program. Our latest offerings include Biotechnology, Digital Fabrication, Computer Science, and new Engineering classes.

Many classes encourage collaboration, and we foster this with extracurricular activities, such as last year’s inaugural Scrap-a-palooza, where students in small groups were given access to discarded and recycled materials and asked to make a project based on the prompt of “light.”

The students showed great creativity and had a blast trying to realize their ideas. Many immediately started collecting materials for the coming year.

STEAM Diploma candidates are required to complete an internship, and most students choose the summer between junior and senior year to do so. Finding appropriate internships can be a challenge, but through programs at local businesses, universities, and organizations, and word of mouth from Brimmer alums, parents, and our wider community, we have been able to successfully place students. The process helps them develop vital skills for their careers, both during the internship itself and through the search and application process. Students work on writing résumés and tailored cover letters, preparing for an interview, and making a good first impression.

The capstone to the program, and one of its most unique features, is STEAM Lab, a yearlong course completed by all STEAM Diploma students in their senior year. The class uses the Maker Space and STEAM classroom to design, make, and sell products, giving students a taste of entrepreneurship and start-up culture. Using the money the STEAM Lab small businesses earn, students buy materials for their own individual and small group projects. The course features guest speakers on how to turn an idea into a product, applying for patents, applying for funding from investors, how to start a small business, and lessons learned from failure.

The STEAM Diploma Program has transformed how I understand and interact with the world around me. I have gained a broader understanding of real world problem-solving and collaboration through courses like Problem Solving through Design, Engineering, and AP Physics.

—Nicholas Kozhemiakin ’25

Global Studies Diploma Program

BY KELLY NEELY, DIRECTOR

The Global Studies Diploma program, started in 2011, incorporates curriculum and programs from multifaceted perspectives, which enables students to examine the world through a variety of lenses, including the humanities, world languages, and sciences. This model provides ongoing opportunities for students to expand their horizons while developing their identities as global citizens. As the program has evolved, students have taken advantage of the opportunities it provides to explore global cultures and issues while centering their place in the world. This helps them to connect what they learn in the classroom to their experiences at local, national, and global levels.

Upon acceptance to the program, students may select one of four concentrations— including Science, World Languages, Economics, and Political Science—while also taking foundational courses that address various global themes. Additionally, they work to earn points in the categories of Global Action, Cultural Engagement, and Student Choice. They conclude with a senior capstone paper and presentation reflecting on their experiences in the program and how they intend to continue this work moving forward. Our graduates often go on to focus on globally related topics in college and beyond. Many alums enthusiastically share how the program inspired their future study and career choices.

As the world changes and we’ve had to adapt to global issues such as the pandemic, the program has strived to both meet students’ needs and challenge them to go beyond their comfort zone. Rather than canceling our programming when we could not physically engage with the world, we brought the world to our students through online Model UN conferences, trainings such as TED Ed’s Earth School, and speakers from local bookstores and universities. These programs enhanced the students’ abilities to connect with the world and encouraged them to continue this work once they could do so in person. As a result, the diploma candidates share their enthusiasm for the program with new and rising students, and we are always inspired by the ways they tailor the program to fit their interests in areas such as travel, international relations, immigration law, or social justice.

Global Studies Diploma program students often remark that they look forward to the opportunities it provides to not only learn more about but participate in the world. Upon their completion of the program, many seniors reflect that it has done just that.

In its design and implementation, the Global Studies Diploma program takes to heart Brimmer’s mission to help students become “informed, engaged, and ethical leaders in our diverse world.” We are continuously inspired by the connections our students make in the classroom and beyond through their work in Global Studies. ■

There is never a one-size fits-all solution for political issues and . . . being an informed global citizen is critical to being a part of the eventual solution.

—Baden Howard ’24

Global Studies has expanded the way I look at the world. I am a more conscious and thoughtful citizen because of the program. The focused coursework has helped me to gain better perspectives on the world around me.”

—Sydney Heff ’24