The 2025 BVR Accelerator gave Upper School students an opportunity to go beyond the classroom with 22 unique sessions designed for hands-on, trans-disciplinary learning. This immersive two-week experience allowed students to dive deep into a single topic, leveraging collaboration, travel, guest speakers, and the creativity of Beaver teachers to create an unforgettable experience.
The BVR Accelerator is deeper learning in action. . . [It] allows for a transfer of knowledge into real-life situations.
Kader Adjout, Director of Teaching, Learning, and Innovation
A central feature of the BVR Accelerator is its trans-disciplinary nature. In the session Science and Storytelling, chemistry, English, and photography were combined to explore how nature influences our behavior (and vice versa). In Sacred Math, students used mathematics as a lens to view religious traditions from around the world. Students put their learning to the test by designing religious symbols that conveyed meaning through geometry.
In some sessions, the two-week experience functioned as a workshop for students to design, create, and showcase a product. In Joymakers: Engineering Empathy in Practice, students met with families of children with limited mobility to learn about their needs. Students collaborated to modify go-karts and design adaptive toys tailored to meet those needs, delivering their work to families at the end of the Accelerator. In Power & Access in our Communities, students produced podcast episodes on different topics related to homelessness such as healthcare, transportation, and education. To listen to their work, click here!
When I think of what I want students to get out of the Accelerator, I’m thinking about the ability to spend the whole day with a group of kids on a project. They can go outside of the school. . .they really have this gift of time to be able to craft something, design something, and iterate again and again.
Lisa Brown, Director of Upper School
The Accelerator experience went far beyond the walls of Beaver’s campus; travel was an essential tool in connecting students’ learning to the real world. In Cuban Jazz Ensemble, a trip to the Escuela Nacional de Arte in Havana, Cuba gave students the opportunity to connect and collaborate with other student musicians. When exploring historical sites such as Plaza de la Revolución, Monumento a José Martí, and El Capitolio, students better understood the context of the pieces they’ve been rehearsing for months. In Intercultural Dynamics, students created and refined a travel guide for their trip to Spain. The group finalized their guides once abroad, adding in new information about the meals, shopping, and excursions they participated in. Despite having a structured schedule, the group found that the unplanned moments–such as unexpectedly running into members of the Granada football team–were some of the most impactful.
Travel wasn’t limited to trips abroad; the 2025 BVR Accelerator saw students travel to every corner of New England. Art in Contemporary Society leaned on the community of artists in Boston throughout several visits to local galleries. At locations such as the Boston Center for the Arts and Drive by Projects, students pondered how art contributes and shapes the communities it touches. In Innovation and Economic Hub, travel familiarized students with the thriving entrepreneurial landscape of the area. Trips to Seaport, the Yawkey Center of Roxbury, and even a local barbershop showed students a broader picture of how businesses start, operate, and succeed in the area.
The really cool part of the [Innovation and Economic Hub] Accelerator is that we were able to go off campus a lot and see these businesses. We got to see the community around the businesses which was really cool.
Owen Eddy '25
Guest speakers were another key component of the Accelerator. Celine Oringer P’29 joined Boston-based chef and restauranteur Ken Oringer P’29 to lead students in The Social Impact of Food through the process of cooking Korean fried chicken (which students happily ate following the lesson) and answer questions about the restaurant business. The visit not only provided practical instruction, it showcased how cooking can bring a community together. In the Science of Wellness, Beaver alumna Nadine Mazzola brought students outside to practice Shinrin-yoku, a Japanese method of immersing oneself in nature. Later, the class explored the science behind the instruction, piecing together the “how” and “why” of wellness.
The Accelerator wrapped up with a showcase featuring work from every session. In the Roger’s Room, students screened crime films they wrote, filmed, and edited. On the Design Level, students showed audience members the websites they created detailing their experiences at the Farm School. In the science wing, snacks baked by students–and the stories behind their recipes–were offered up to anyone that was interested. As students, faculty, and staff circulated all over campus, the diversity of Accelerator experiences was on full display.
The BVR Accelerator is a great opportunity for teachers and students to dive deep together on a topic and spend significant time exploring something. . . It’s also a great time to build community and an opportunity to spend so much time with one group of people.
Kim Samson, Head of School
The 2025 BVR Accelerator was a transformative two-week experience, blending hands-on learning, travel, and collaboration across grade levels. Students applied their classroom knowledge to real-world challenges, engaging in work ranging from engineering a robotic submarine to exploring historical sites abroad. By reimagining what teaching and learning looks like, the Accelerator deepened students’ understanding of a particular topic and instilled within them new skills that they will continue to use at Beaver and beyond.