Support

Events

We celebrate our community (and our community celebrates Burke's!) at several annual events over the course of the school year. Some of these events also raise funds, but all of them bring us together as part of one Burke's family. Look below for info about many of the annual events we commemorate throughout the school year.

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  • Family Festival

    Festival has been a strong community builder since 1931! Parent volunteers turn the Burke's campus into a fall-flavored Festival filled with games, prizes, rides, and food. More than 2,000 people, from current families and alumnae to students old and new, enjoy themselves at Festival every year. Click here for photos from our most recent Festival.

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  • Grandparents' & Special Friends' Day

    A favorite event in the Burke's community, Grandparents' & Special Friends' Day brings some of our students' most favorite people to campus. Guests enjoy lunch in our Upper School Courtyard before attending an all-school assembly in the Gym and accompanying their special students to class. 

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  • BLEND Dinner

    Community members of all backgrounds are invited to this event, usually held in the fall or winter. Students and their families bring a dish to share with other attendees and then participate in an activity that celebrates the wide diversity of the people in the room. 

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  • Burke's Benefit

    This event is our major fundraiser of the year. The Parents' Association plans Burke's Benefit for a spring Saturday, choosing a theme that always inspires wonderful decor and costumes. The money raised through ticket sales and the Live and Online Auctions goes toward student financial assistance and professional development for faculty and staff.

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  • DASH

    This event brings Burke's families to Crissy Field or Golden Gate Park for a 5K fun run/fundraiser to benefit our physical education and athletics programs. After "competing" in the race, participants enjoy a cookout thanks to Burke's parents. 

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  • Michele's Book Club

    Each year, Head of School Michele Williams chooses a book for parents to read and then holds a discussion session at a nearby restaurant. Recent selections have included The Happiness Track by Emma Seppälä, Ph.D., and Under Pressure by Lisa Damour, Ph.D.

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  • Alumnae Luncheon

    In June of each year, Burke's girls of all ages gather for a reunion event, usually held at the Metropolitan Club in downtown San Francisco. Attendees have the opportunity to reminisce with their peers and with favorite teachers, and they hear remarks from Head of School Michele Williams and that year's Distinguished Alumna Award winner. 

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  • Arts Festival

    Every May, the Burke's campus is brought to life by a broad range of visual artworks produced by students in all grades. The fourth grade stages a "fashion" show based on a wearable work of art (such as wings, masks, etc.), and the eighth grade stages its annual running of original Rube Goldberg Machines in the science lab. 

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  • Great Girls Deserve Great Schools Symposium

    The Great Girls Deserve Great Schools Symposium was started by Burke's alumna Doris Fisher '49 in the early 2000s to bring prominent educators from around the United States to campus to speak about the challenges of teaching girls in our modern society. Recent guests have included Tim Wise (pictured), a well-known speaker on racism and inequality, Jennifer Bryan, an expert on gender and identity development in children, and Madeline Levine, Ph.D., bestselling author of The Price of Privilege.
Burke's mission is to educate, encourage and empower girls. Our school combines academic excellence with an appreciation for childhood so that students thrive as learners, develop a strong sense of self, contribute to community, and fulfill their potential, now and throughout life.

Burke’s

An independent K–8 school for girls
7070 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94121
Phone: 415.751.0177 Fax: 415.666.0535
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