Annual Report 2024-2025

Dear Bush Community,

As I settle into my new role as Head of School,  I become ever more inspired by the strength and vibrancy of the Bush community. Last year, The Bush School moved into its second century with a change in leadership on the horizon. We started work on our 2026-2031 strategic plan, prepared for the Center Campus and Middle School construction project, and looked ahead to the Northwest Association of Independent Schools (NWAIS) re-accreditation process that is now upon us. Any one of these initiatives is a significant undertaking for a school community, and it is the support from each of you that has enabled us to move boldly into these transitions and projects all at once with confidence and optimism.

The 2024-2025 theme, “connected”, truly embodied our last school year. Connection to one another, to our learning, to our sense of place, and to the world beyond our campus inspired last year’s results and outcomes, many of which we are excited to share with you in this report. 

The commitment and passion for teaching and learning demonstrated by our faculty on a daily basis continues to be at the core of the Bush student experience. To that end, we invested heavily this past year in faculty professional development, offering individual and whole-group learning opportunities, and striving towards 100% participation in our peer-based growth coaching program. Our George Taylor Travel Grant program supported another dozen faculty and staff in pursuing areas of professional and personal passion, which enabled exploration around the globe and offered important restorative adventures. 

In our Upper School, Cascades saw students traveling all around the world and around the country - Guatemala, Indonesia, Kenya, New Zealand, Taiwan, Canada, Joshua Tree, the Sonoran Desert, Georgia, and the Methow, with programs offering immersive experiential education opportunities, as well as meaningful service learning endeavors. Sixty-seven Tenth and Eleventh Grade students completed internships at forty-three partner businesses and organizations. In Middle School, we launched an accelerated math pathway and a range of after-school clubs, creating opportunities for students to explore new interests in math, science, and computer engineering, build friendships, and feel a stronger sense of belonging beyond the school day. In Lower School, students experienced more STEAM-focused opportunities with the creation of the Lower School Math Olympiad Team and science exploration nights held throughout the year. Across our K-12 community, we continued to celebrate the rich diversity of our community and held our most highly-attended spring Simply Cultural evening in the history of that event. 

Additional indicators of strength within our community were evident in our admissions process, with a total of 1,483 families inquiring about Bush and 807 applications submitted. In addition, the Bush community collectively contributed $2.3M to support annual operations through our Annual Fund and Celebrate Bush, including significant investments in financial aid. Finally, over 250 volunteers were connected in powerful ways through offering their creativity, time, and care. Whether organizing events, providing school tours to prospective families, serving on the Families Association (FA), sharing expertise with students, or lending a hand wherever needed most, their generosity strengthens the bonds that make Bush one community, ever-connected. 

As you can see, connection shows up in classrooms where curiosity sparks lifelong learning, in professional development where minds are stretched to think and teach in new ways, in trips where transformational moments change lives and perspectives, and in internships where passions are fueled. Connection also shows up in the many acts of meaningful and personal generosity that knit our community together and make us stronger. Whether it is a donation of time, talent, or treasure, your gifts build the kind of foundation that sustains and strengthens our school community. The Bush School is better because of you.

As we look ahead, I’m grateful for this community that ensures Bush remains a place where students are known, challenged, and inspired to make meaningful connections within themselves, with their communities, and in the wider world. I am looking forward to building an even stronger future ahead in partnership with each of you, as we work to ensure achievement of our mission to spark in students of diverse backgrounds and talents a passion for learning, accomplishment and contribution to their communities.

With gratitude,

Sarah Smith

Head of School

Dear Members of The Bush School Community,

 

This year has been defined by connection, and nowhere is that more evident than in the leadership of our new Head of School, Sarah Smith. Sarah has hit the ground running, and her vision for what Bush can be is already reaching into classrooms, conversations, and the daily lives of our students and families. You can feel it in the people she hires, the thoughtful policies she shapes, and the clarity, quality, and frequency of her communication. Her steady presence reminds us how powerful intentional leadership can be in strengthening a school community.

 

We use the phrase “Bush community” all the time, so much so that students have been known to aggressively roll their eyes at it, but it’s shorthand for the living intersection of our Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools, woven together with parents and guardians, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the school. Each group has its own identity, yet we are all tethered by the same mission: to spark in students of diverse backgrounds and talents a passion for learning, accomplishment, and contribution to their communities.

 

This mission only becomes real through people, attention, and care. Like individual threads in a larger design, each of us carries a responsibility to help create something wonderful and durable for the students here now and those who will walk the halls in the decades to come.

 

Last year’s giving reflected that shared commitment through the growth of our culture of giving. The generous donations supported students directly, fueled faculty excellence, and helped complete make-ready work for the Center Campus project, and set the stage for the next chapter of our school’s evolution.

 

Everyone in our community has the opportunity to contribute—through time, resources, and engagement. Together, we ensure Bush remains a place where connection isn’t just a theme, but a lived experience.

 

With gratitude,

Karim Lessard

Board of Trustees President