2024 Power 100: Andrea Bazarian
Photo | Edd Cote
Andrea Bazarian, principal of the Nativity School of Worcester
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For 20 years, Nativity School of Worcester has been providing a Jesuit middle-school education free to underserved boys of all faiths. Now, Andrea Bazarian is about to open the school to the other half of the population.
In July, Bazarian will welcome girls into the program for the first time when Nativity opens the Julie Power Girls Division, becoming the first tuition-free girls’ school in Central Massachusetts. At a time when private schools across Central Massachusetts and the nation are struggling to find new students, Nativity’s innovative expansion provides a roadmap toward continued relevance for the next generation.
The first cohort of girls at Nativity School will include 30 students in the fifth and sixth grades.
The expansion to include girls among the students comes after a $20-million fundraising campaign, including a $3 million donation from The J.D. Power family and Kenrose Kitchen Table Foundation. The new division is named in honor of Julie Power, the wife of J.D. "Dave" Power III, a Worcester native and founder of the national consumer information provider J.D. Power.
Bazarian began her career at Nativity, starting as a teaching fellow in 2013. In 2015, she worked at Learning First Charter Public School (formerly Seven Hills Charter) before returning to Nativity in 2016.
A key leader, she served as a teacher and assistant principal at Nativity before being named principal in 2022.
Nativity eighth-graders now graduate with an average of an 11th-grade level in reading and English language, and a 12th-grade level in math, according to the school’s 2023 annual report. In the fall of 2022, the school served 60 boys in grades 5 through 8. The student body is 48% Black, 36% Hispanic or Latino, and 16% other/multi-race.
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