Camille. Photo Credit: Bravo Photo/Virginia Sherwood
Time Out NY Kids’ author Julia Israel, who is a Nightingale-Bamford alum, recently wrote an article about Bravo’s new show NYC Prep, which features Camille, a student enrolled in Nightingale-Bamford.
The author briefly discussed her days at Nightingale-Bamford, and then went on to post a letter that she had received from the school regarding the attention that Bravo’s new show was putting on the school. The letter is an interesting read, and lets our readers see the new show NYC Prep from the school’s perspective rather than the network’s.
Dear Nightingale parents and alumnae:
Later this month, Bravo TV will premiere “NYC Prep,” a new series that purports to show the real lives of six teenagers in New York. A preview episode aired this week, and as one of our Upper School students is featured in the series, Nightingale has recently been receiving (and, we expect, will continue to receive) an undue level of attention from the press and from people at large.
The decision to participate in the show was made by the student and her parents without consulting Nightingale’s administrators. We counsel our girls to avoid such exposure, knowing that best intentions are usually subsumed by a media machine that too often simplifies the many facets of a Nightingale education into a shallow and stereotypical view of independent schools. (As with most series of this genre, the show is “reality” in name only.) Ultimately, though, these decisions reside with the families themselves. Our goal at Nightingale has always been to help each of our girls find her unique voice; it is up to each of them to determine how and when to use that voice.
This is not the first time that someone has presented a skewed version of our world, nor will it be the last, so we approach this situation as we have handled others previously: focused on providing our girls the world-class education that has long defined Nightingale.
There will always be people who question the opportunities we provide, and to them we will continue to tout the benefits of single-sex education and a community as devoted as Nightingale’s. But next week at our Commencement exercises, 37 strong and confident young women will receive a Nightingale diploma; they are all the response we need.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. From all of us here at the blue doors, I wish you a safe and happy summer!
Sincerely,
Dorothy A. Hutcheson
Head of School
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I think Nightingale handled this appropriately and this letter is well written. I can’t believe that this student and her family agreed to participate in this terrible show. I guess everyone wants their 15 minutes.
It’s a very watchable show if you don’t take it seriously — admittedly, easier to do if you’re not part of the world it chronicles. There’s a lot of fun “NYC Prep” content at BravoTV.com. For instance, there’s a fun quiz to see whether you could survive in the private-school world of “NYC Prep” — turns out it’s not as brutally Darwinian as you would expect from a supposedly sensationalized show:
http://www.bravotv.com/nyc-prep/games/test-your-prep-school-survival-skills
If you’re still having trouble telling these teens apart, check out the “NYC Prep 101″ photo gallery
http://www.bravotv.com/nyc-prep/nyc-prep-101
Like P.C.’s style? Here’s a gallery of his best looks
http://www.bravotv.com/nyc-prep/pcs-looks
And here’s P.C.’s therapy session (a video preview from tonight’s ep)
http://www.bravotv.com/nyc-prep/videos/pc-sees-a-therapist