Brussels American School

Brussels American School (BAS) was opened in October 1967.^[1] It is located near Brussels, Belgium on a 17-acre (69,000 m²) area in Sterrebeek, part of the municipality of Zaventem, Flemish Brabant.

The school serves as a DoDDS private school for all US military and DOD civilian sponsor dependents, who are allowed to enroll their children tuition free.^[2] Non-DOD persons, including U.S., Belgian, and other citizens, are required to pay tuition.^[3] It celebrated its fortieth anniversary in late 2007. It also takes European students from Partnership for Peace (PfP) countries of NATO, to include Macedonia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia etc. Its proximity to NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) helps serve as an opportunity for American children to enroll in a school taught to familiarize them with the American school system.

Student body

The school has thirty-six faculty members, many of whom have been at Brussels American School for more than fourteen years. The student body holds, on average, three hundred students K-12, and approximately one hundred students in its high school. With so few students, BAS changed from Division Three to Division Four in the year 2006. In the year 2009-2010 the DODDSE schools combined Divisions 3 and 4; therefore, making Brussels American School division 3 again. Of all the DoDDS schools, Brussels American School holds the highest percentage of students who graduate, highest average AP & SAT scores, and highest acceptance rate to the Service Academies, with two of the fourteen people in the senior class of 2016 going to the U.S. Air Force Academy and U.S. Coast Guard Academy. A prime example of this is the AP Chemistry class of 2009, where seven of the eight students achieved fives on the AP exam.

Sports

The school's mascot is a Brigand, which is defined as a land pirate.

The school has nine sports for the student body. Sports offered are tennis, cross-country, girls volleyball, football, wrestling, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, cheerleading, and track and field. Being a DoDDSE Division III school, BAS is less likely to overcome the competition of the many larger DODDS-E schools, but its student athletes still manage to compete aggressively — particularly against Division III foes. For instance, the Men's Cross Country team has not lost a championship in six years, and the Tennis team, despite its size, is able to routinely challenge more established adversaries.

The Brigands soccer team, although losing to them in the 2016 championship game, has yet to be defeated by their rival school, Alconbury, in regulation, losing twice to them in 9 rounds of penalty kicks; however, Brussels's goalkeeper performed astoundingly in both matches–making several key saves to continue the nail-biting round of penalties. Although the football team has only won one game in past years, they finished with an undefeated season in 2013. The girls basketball and soccer teams each recently had three year title streaks, and the girls volleyball team has won three championships in four years. In the school year 2012/13 cross country, girls basketball, and boys soccer all won championship. The Brussels American School boys' basketball is known to be one of the best in Division 3. The Men's basketball team overcame improbable odds by defeating the former-Division-II school, Ansbach, on a buzzer beater by a senior, All-Europe 1st team member. Brigand Pride!

References

1. "About Brussels American School". Archived from the original on 2008-03-13. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
2. "Parent/Student Handbook SY 2014-2015" (Archive). Brussels American School. p. 13. Retrieved on April 15, 2015.
3. "Parent/Student Handbook SY 2014-2015" (Archive). Brussels American School. p. 15. Retrieved on April 15, 2015.

External links

• Official website

Coordinates: 50°51′49.27″N 4°28′54.9″E / 50.8636861°N 4.481917°E