From The Chief Executive Officer

At Bonnie Brae we teach boys to love, work and play. The boys who live and attend school at Bonnie Brae did not have Childhoods filled with games. Many suffered experiences that left them needing special intensive help to learn trust, cooperation and constructive problem-solving methods. When the Bagpipes and Drums herald the start of the Polo Match signaling "Let's Play", it evokes a message with special meaning for us. The boys Bonnie Brae serves need to be free to be children before they can learn to be responsible adults. "Lets Play" also demarcates a time when our small, protective, beautiful hillside (the bonnie brae) is open to the larger mainstream community.

Bonnie Brae came into existence and thrives today because of a community which feels responsible for its children, one that does not further alienate alienated children, one which resonates with the words of Edwin Markham "He drew a circle that shut me out. Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win. We drew a circle that took him in.''

We welcome you to our circle, one rich with tradition, serving youth whose needs cannot be met by their families, schools and communities. When you hear the sounds of the Bagpipes and Drums calling "Let's Play", know that you are joining us to help carry out our mission.

William M. Powers, MHA, MPA
Chief Executive Officer




Who lives and goes to school here?




One boy can, but does not speak,
From fear.
His classmate shows him flash cards
And teaches him to multiply
He writes the answers on paper.


Another, age 14, who hasn't seen his father
Since age 5, sets fires.
He said, "When I grow up, I want
To do arbitration, settling things"


And yet, another who sets fires, says,
"Because I like the colors,''
And says, of school,
"I like it a lot. I get A's and B's and C's
And hardly any F's. When I grow up, I want
To be in a profession that finds dinosaur bones."


These complicated children, with complicated histories,
So different from us.
We like to think.
But how many times, have we been
So hurt and angry and forlorn
That we have struck out at others or poverty or hurt ourselves?


It is so hard to be aware
Of our hurt and angry parts
We might think of the boys at Bonnie Brae
As them, not us.
In fact, they differ merely by degree
But not in kind.

By Susan G. Roth, Ed. D.