Brilla Schools was featured in the Virtue Podcast sponsored by the Great Hearts Institute. Brilla Schools Network leaders and founders were interviewed by Great Hearts Institute Director Dr. Robert L. Jackson for the conversation on Building Classical in The Bronx. Watch the full interview on YouTube, and check out highlights from the conversation below!
What does the name Brilla mean to your school communities?
“The word Brilla itself is for our communities. The fact that the name is in Spanish, for our communities, means “you are speaking to me, and you want to serve me.” We want our presence in the community to be a guiding light. We don’t want to be one more school, but to be part of the community.” -Yeime Valle
Can you elaborate on the features of classical education and character formation at Brilla?
“Our families very much value virtue formation for their children… Our families want to feel that when they walk in the door they are given the dignity that is due to them as human beings… They are respected when they walk in the door. That’s why we have bilingual staff. Our operations team is predominantly from the community and predominantly bilingual… Spanish is the predominant language of our multilingual learners. [Our families] want dignity and respect, and they want academic excellence. But before they want that, they want their children to have good character. That is really important to our families… We believe that if you don’t measure it, it doesn’t get done. So we do have measures around, not just academics, but around growth in virtue.” – Stephanie Saroki de Garcia
“Love is what animates everything that we do. Getting our children to recognize love, to love each other, and to love themselves animates everything we do.” -Yeime Valle
What do those virtues look like in school?
“Virtue formation is integrated throughout the day into everything. We have virtue formation weaved into lesson plans. One of the things we really believe in is that forming adults is what is most critical, because they are models for the students… We have documents that teachers have thought through and parents have given feedback on that say what [virtues] look like in different grades… One of the things that we instituted at Brilla is something we call “The Quietest Moment of the Day.” New York City in particular is loud. Where is the time for quiet reflection? … We ask the kids [three questions] at the end of the day before they transition out… Think about your day since you woke up until now. What are you grateful for? Where did you struggle with one of the virtues? What do you most need help with to live the virtue of courage or justice tomorrow?” -Stephanie Saroki de Garcia
How does Brilla and the Brilla Schools relate and connect to the larger community?
“Our communities are so important to us. We are not just another school… We want to be partners with our communities. We have community celebrations. We use local vendors. We have food drives. We partner with the local parishes. We have a big Thanksgiving food drive. All of the food we collect we give back to the community.” – Yeime Valle
“[We see] how happy our children are when they give to others… our kids are so generous, and it gives them joy to get all of these canned foods to give to people who may have even fewer means than them.” – Stephanie Saroki de Garcia
Brilla Public Charter Schools 