The Unity Scoop – March 14

Dear Unity Families,

I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to our middle school families who participated in conferences last night and today. We deeply value the opportunity to connect with families and students—discussing progress, celebrating achievements, and strengthening our collaboration for the future. Our ultimate goal is for every student to get the most out of their experience at Unity, and family conferences play a key role in making that happen.

Looking ahead, high school family conferences will take place on April 10th and 11th—we look forward to these conversations as well!

In this edition of The Unity Scoop, we’re excited to highlight a number of recent events, including our Pi Day celebration and our student-athletes. We also proudly celebrate our P.R.I.D.E. award recipients from February and share details on several upcoming events, including our admissions lottery and our next Family Ambassadors meeting.

Thank you for being a vital part of our Unity community!

Best,
Josh

Josh Beauregard
Head of School / Co-founder
Updates as of March 14, 2025:

1. New – Thank You to Our Middle School Families for Engaging in Spring Conferences!: We look forward to continuing our partnership with all of our families to ensure an engaging, productive, and joyful spring semester!

2. New – Our 2025-26 Admissions Lottery is Two Weeks Away – Refer a Student Today!: We’re thrilled to announce that our lottery is just two weeks away—on April 1st!  Help us spread the word to students entering grades 6 and 9 next year about the incredible opportunity to join our small but mighty school community. Let’s make sure as many families as possible get the chance to experience all that Unity has to offer!  As a small token of appreciation, any family who refers a new student that enrolls at our school will receive $100 credit for uniforms and school swag.  Here is a link to the Unity flier below!

3. New – Unity Celebrates Pi Day!: Our young mathematicians, scientists, and math enthusiasts at Unity celebrated Pi Day—a tribute to the mathematical constant π (pi), most commonly recognized as 3.14 (though its decimals go on forever!).  As part of the festivities, students had the chance to “share” some pie with their teachers. Check out the footage below to fully appreciate the event!  Want to learn more about the magic of Pi? Click here!

Click on the image!

4. New – Kudos to our P.R.I.D.E. Leaders as of the Month of February!: Our P.R.I.D.E. Core Values of Progress, Respect for All, Integrity, Discovery, and Empathy represent qualities that we covet as a school community.  They also represent qualities that we believe empower our students to lead fulfilling lives and, therefore, qualities that we have a responsibility to actively teach and positively reinforce.  The students listed below are our leaders from the month of February in being recognized by their teachers for demonstrating our Core Values.  On behalf of our school community, we are proud of these students, and look forward to continuing to shout out all of our students when they demonstrate P.R.I.D.E. in our community.

5. Updated – March 2025 School-wide Calendar: For your family’s convenience, here is a school-wide calendar of events for the month of March – print it out and throw it on the refrigerator door!  It is possible that events could change and new events could be added.  An up-to-date events calendar can always be accessed on our website.

6. New – Unity’s Family Ambassadors Next Meeting on Thursday, March 20th, 6pm!: All Unity families are welcome to participate in this Thursday’s Family Ambassadors Meeting (via Zoom).  Ambassadors help play an active leadership role in providing the best possible educational experience to our students!  Ambassadors meet monthly to plan new events and initiatives and play a significant role in accentuating school community experiences.  The Zoom meeting link is here.  See you Thursday on Zoom!

7. New – Unity’s Athletic Teams In Action this Week!: Congratulations to Unity High’s girls basketball team on their playoff win over Uncommon yesterday (enjoy the action photos below).  We look forward to upcoming playoff games this week for the varsity boys and girls basketball teams.  Go Panthers!

8. Recap – Congrats to Unity High’s Students of the Month!:  Kudos to our Students of the Month from January!  We celebrate these students for showing exemplary scholarship and citizenship!  Students of the Month for the month for February will be highlighted in two weeks.

9. Recap – Unity High College & Career Readiness Team Launches our First-Ever Career Workshop Series: We recently kicked off our Career Speaker Series with a social worker from Brooklyn Defenders, who provided valuable insight into careers in psychology and social work.  This series is a fantastic opportunity for students in our College & Career courses to connect with professionals and explore potential career paths.

10. Recap – Congratulations to Our High School Honor Roll Students for Semester 1!: A huge shoutout to our 9th-12th grade students who achieved Honor Roll status in the first semester! Your dedication, perseverance, and commitment to learning and growth are truly commendable. Your hard work is paying off—take pride in your accomplishments and keep striving for excellence!

11. Recap – Unity 8th Graders Visit the Museum of the City of New York: Last Friday, our 8th graders explored the Museum of the City of New York’s new Activist New York exhibit. In the photo below, students engage with one of the museum’s curators while creating protest buttons for a cause of their choice.

12. Recap – Stellar Attendance in February  – 95% and Above!: The following lengthy list of students demonstrated a strong and consistent dedication to their education by showing stellar attendance in February.  Kudos to these students – we love seeing you each and every day!  And, of course, we look forward to celebrating additional students at the end of this month!

13. Recap – Unity Educator Spotlight of the Month – Ms. Olivier, Assistant Principal of Climate & Culture, Grades 9-12: We are excited to bring a new segment to the Scoop to you – our Monthly Unity Educator Spotlight.  In this inaugural segment, we spotlight Ms. Olivier, our High School Assistant Principal of Climate & Culture.  Thank you, Ms. Olivier, for all that you continue to bring to our community!  We look forward to spotlighting other Unity educators in coming editions.

• Name and Title: Ms. Olivier, Assistant Principal of Climate & Culture, grades 9-12
• Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
• College:
  • BA in Journalism and Sociology, Temple University
  • MA in Education, Relay Graduate School
  • MA in Business Administration, Hofstra University
• Years at Unity: 9 years
• Recent Achievements & Contributions:
  • Founder of the Unity Queen Steppers
  • Founding Advanced Placement Language Teacher
  • Principal Fellow
  • Ms. Olivier was promoted to Assistant Principal in 2023.
• What do you appreciate most about being an educator at Unity?
  • What I most appreciate about being an educator at Unity is the strong sense of community. No matter which site you’re at, there’s a real connection among everyone. Unlike my own high school experience, our alumni stay incredibly engaged. They often return to speak with the senior class, ensuring they’re well-prepared for the next chapter in their lives.
• What is one highlight that you and your students have recently experienced in class?
  • A recent highlight was our student government-led Black History Month community meeting. It was incredible to watch students from all four grade levels confidently take charge, engaging the entire school in a spirited sing-along to end it off. This was the first time our student leaders had addressed the entire student body, and despite their nerves, they did an outstanding job. It was truly a moment of pride, and I’m excited to see them lead again at the next event.
• What is one thing that you are now learning to do for the first time?
  • One thing I am always learning each year is balance.

14. Recap – Join our New Unity Prep Instagram (IG) Account Today!: We recently launched our new grades 6-12 IG account to bring our entire community together – @unityprepcharterschool.  Don’t miss out – follow us now!

15. Recap – 2024-25 School Calendar of Key Events and Vacations for Families: Calendars for the 2024-25 school year can be accessed using the links below.  Note that we have two versions this year – one version for our middle school (grades 6-8) and another version for our high school (grades 9-12).

• Grades 6-8 School Calendar of Key Events and Vacations for Families
• Grades 9-12 School Calendar of Key Events and Vacations for Families