BFA Community

"To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul."

- Simone Weil

Every day at BFA, students, teachers, counselors and administrators are actively engaged in building and nurturing a community of learners. And we've learned that one of the primary reasons that students do better, more productive work here than they have at other schools is that they feel rooted in our unique academic community.

It starts, as most things do at BFA, with our students. They are an eclectic mix of kids, from all over the greater Atlanta area, who bring an amazing array of talents, abilities and personalities to school each day. They come from public and private schools, our songwriters, budding scientists, young entrepreneurs, and artists. But time and again, they prove the old saying about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Our students are more often than not great friends. And they are intensely loyal - to BFA, and to each other.

Our faculty and staff are no less diverse. Here you'll find former lawyers, bankers, and college professors. Students are taught by working artists and scholars doing cutting edge research. Teachers from Great Britain, Eastern Europe, the Far East, and South America, as well as across the U.S. find common ground in their love of teaching, and of being part of the BFA Community.

Part of the reason students, teachers, and staff work so well together is our shared commitment to the Four Rules (see Sidebar), which all of us strive to follow on a daily basis. At their heart, the Four Rules are about the mutual respect - for ourselves and for one another - that creates BFA's enriching learning environment.