Louis Bernieri

Mr. Lou Bernieri is changing the education system and helping to bridge the educational gap caused by the unconscionable wealth disparity in America. He joined the faculty at Phillips Academy Andover in 1977 as an English teacher, and quickly became Chair of the English Department. He stepped down from this role in the 1980s to focus on the Andover Bread Loaf (ABL) program, which he founded in 1987. The ABL model aims to create a more democratic learning experience that affirms cultural and community identity with a focus on underrepresented and under-resourced areas. In spring 2016, he received Phillips Academy’s Fredrick W. Beineicke Teaching Award in recognition of his exceptional work and later that year he was presented with an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Middlebury. I began this nomination process because of the personal difference this man has made in my life, but in the process I have come to realize the impact he has had on the larger community and our approach to education. I grew up in Lawrence, MA, a former mill city that has suffered in the wake of post WWII industrial decline. In 2012, Boston Magazine featured an article that described Lawrence as “the city of the damned … where crime is soaring, schools are failing, and government has lost control.” I was very fortunate to be accepted into Phillips Academy, the elite preparatory school in Andover, but I was also intimidated. It was only a 15 minute drive from my house, but it was a very different world. I remember a friend offered to drive me home one day, and I pretended not to notice when we crossed the border into Lawrence and he immediately locked all the doors. On snowy days, the drive through Lawrence into Andover would be punctuated by a clear divide: Lawrence streets were covered in slush and ice while Andover streets were always pristinely plowed. My first year at Andover was difficult, both academically as well as socially. I felt like an imposter among the children of wealthy families who had benefited from private tutors and well-endowed elementary schools. Mr. Bernieri helped me to see the value in what set me apart and to embrace my identity rather than shy away from it. As my advisor, he offered genuine support and encouragement, and this helped me to develop confidence that could be seen both inside and outside of the classroom. When I applied to study abroad in Russia the summer after my sophomore year - my first time leaving the country - Mr. Bernieri served as a reference. He told me, “don’t be surprised if they expect you to be able to fly!” His consistent positive reinforcement gave me a seed of hope that I have nurtured ever since. Perhaps the reason that Mr. Bernieri was so well placed to help me navigate the challenges of coming from a different background than my classmates was that he was once in a similar position himself. He was a scholarship student to Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn, where he became friends and co-captain of the football team with another student, Leon Modeste, now the Andover Football and Basketball coach. In a 2010 interview with the Andover student paper, Mr. Bernieri recounted that, while he and Modeste were two of the only students from working class backgrounds, neither could travel to the other’s neighborhood because of the racial violence endemic at the time. From personal experience, I can appreciate the hurdles he must have faced on the road to becoming a teacher at Andover. Yet his success did not blind him to the inequality present in the education system, and he refused to become complacent with the status quo. A graduate of Middlebury’s Bread Loaf program, Mr. Bernieri spearheaded an initiative to expand this program and open it up to urban teachers, with a focus on under-resourced communities. He obtained foundation support and created a Bread Loaf-type summer workshop for inner-city teachers; recognizing that these teachers would be unable to work for the duration of the program, the workshop provided full scholarships and stipends to participating teachers. This led to the Andover Bread Loaf (ABL) partnership, an outreach program in Lawrence that uses writing and acting as tools to engage members of the community, empower the youth, inspire future leaders, and advocate for social and educational equality. Where others were only able to see a city of the damned, he saw promise. In his keynote speech to the Lawrence Youth Council in 2016, Mr. Bernieri said “Those of you who know ABL know that teachers and professors from all over the country and from the world who are part of our network tell us again and again that there is something different, something special about youth from Lawrence. It is Lawrence youth who show these teachers and professors how to believe in the youth they work with.” His transformative work with these students has empowered them to be an inspirational example to teachers and students around the globe. Through classes like Writing and Teaching to Change the World, Mr. Bernieri connects Andover students to Lawrence public elementary schools, where they serve as writing mentors for the younger students. This collaboration has helped to break down some of the negative stereotypes that exist between different economic classes and mend the educational divide that cuts through our country. Much of the crime and hatred in the world today begins with ignorance and distrust of the unknown. We need to provide experiences like these that instill mutual understanding and respect in the future generation of leaders if we are to change society for the better. As an English teacher, Mr. Bernieri was monumental in helping me to discover my voice and develop my writing as a medium for self-expression. More importantly, he changed the way I thought about myself, my community, and my education. Years after graduating, I still turn to him for advice and guidance. He was my teacher and my advisor, but he remains my mentor and my friend. The trajectory of my life and the lives of countless other students have been changed for the better thanks to his fearless work. It is possible that I am the only person nominating Mr. Bernieri for this award, but I do so on behalf of an entire community.

Colleen Cronin