It's a building — and a beloved event.

Chapel at Brooks is a gathering place for the campus community and so much more. 

To me, the Chapel is the living, breathing, evolving heart of the school.”Head of school john Packard

What happens there?

Twice a week, students and faculty gather in the Frank D. Ashburn Chapel, named after Brooks' first Head of School, for readings, hymns (songs like "Lean on Me" are sung as regularly as traditional hymns) and sharing of community news, as well as:

• Stories — from students, teachers and staff about lessons they've learned or issues that hold great meaning to them
• Music— student musicians often sing a song or play a number on the piano, guitar, violin or flute
• Speakers — alumni frequently return to campus to share a talk with students, as do guest speakers and religious leaders from the Episcopal Church or other denominations and faiths
• Announcements — brief campus updates are shared, as are the names of students celebrating a birthday that week!

Watch Chapel Videos on YouTube

In the Chapel, the school demonstrates a broad understanding of spirituality and the spiritual life. While recognizing that spirituality takes different shapes in different individuals, the chapel program holds closely to the conviction that moral development and the building of character are important parts of the Brooks School education.

Asked what he'll miss most after graduating and Joel Mireles '24 didn't hesitate to name Chapel. "We sing songs together there, we hear people talk about whatever is going on in their lives," he said. "It's always a good time to be together in one place."

Time and again, Head of School John Packard has observed that the Chapel's importance can be seen in the community's instinctive reflex to head there first during peaks and valleys of school life. 

"When there is profound sorrow, we instinctively go to the Chapel," he has said. "No one has to be told. That's where we gather. It has held us in moments of loss, as well as in times of celebration. There is no living Brooks student who didn't spend time in that building. It is connective tissue across generations. 

The space matters. 

That shared experience of gathering together — even just sitting there, together — still matters... We come to know one another, our diversity, our passions, our gifts, most fully in Chapel."