Remembering a Bright Light in Our Community

This year marks the five-year anniversary of Brittany Chase’s sudden passing in January 2021. Chase was the senior executive assistant to retired Upper School Principal Mamadou Guèye. As a leader in the Black Student Union (BSU) and as the founding advisor of the Black Girls Society, Chase made a lasting contribution to a culture of inclusivity at Sidwell Friends. At the time of her passing, many donors came together to establish an endowed fund in her memory. The Brittany Chase Memorial Fund supports programs designed to foster greater equity, justice, and community at Sidwell Friends.

“Brittany’s legacy is always on my mind” says Sidwell’s Director of Equity, Justice, and Community Natalie Randolph ’98. “She was a champion for our Black students and the fund is a fitting way to honor her. Even though many current students didn’t know her personally, her spirit continues to guide the adults here. The fund not only provides the resources to do it but gives us a vehicle to talk about her work and keep it alive.” 

“I think it’s important to know that we didn’t really know Brittany,” says Monique McCloud-Manley P '24, '28, an original donor to the fund. “We met her only briefly, but she had such a warm spirit and left a truly lasting impact at Sidwell Friends. I understood what she was trying to do for Black girls at the school. Because of her, I knew that our daughter would have a safe space where her identity was affirmed and celebrated.” Indeed, McCloud-Manley’s daughter, McKenzie, became a spokesperson for the Black Girls Society and was its co-president during her junior and senior years. “In supporting the fund, we wanted to make sure our gift advanced what Brittany started.” 

Spencer Tyson ’21 is also one of the Brittany Chase Memorial Fund’s original donors. He says, “I always appreciated how kind Ms. Chase was, offering Jolly Ranchers to students who passed by her office and waving and smiling at each student every single day, he says. “As our faculty advisor for the Black Student Union, she was a mentor and role model that I looked up to from my first day in the Upper School.”

He says Chase encouraged students to let their lives speak via the annual BSU performance, which touched on both historical and contemporary aspects of the Black experience in America.

To support that mission, donors continue to contribute through the fund. When notified recently of new gifts made in Brittany’s memory, her mother Lisa Chase replied, “This is wonderful news! To know that gifts are still being made in memory of my daughter is very special.”

Randolph says that the resources provided by the fund give students the autonomy to explore and create learning that is meaningful to them. A student committee decides how the funds will be spent. Recently they requested funds for a field trip to see the new documentary Black Lions, Roman Wolves. “Having the means to support their endeavors is exactly what Brittany would have wanted,” says Randolph.

Reflecting on Brittany Chase’s memory, Tyson says he encourages members of the Sidwell Friends community to give to the Brittany Chase Memorial Fund. “The emphasis on equity, community, and justice is one of the unique components of our school and was extremely important to Ms. Chase. I am honored to give in her memory to keep this mission alive and well. He says he still wears the shirt students made for the BSU show dedicated in her honor — a shirt that carries the words “Chase Your Dreams.”

To make a gift to the Brittany Chase Memorial Fund, contact Amanda Meter, senior director of individual giving, at metera@sidwell.edu.