Middle Schoolers are ready.
They are ready for independence, challenging academic courses, exciting athletic competitions, creative art experiences, and new relationships with classmates and teachers.
To best support our Middle School students, we provide them with a place where they can be independent, where they have flexibility in how they structure their homework time, where they can be part of clubs and afterschool activities, and where they can express their opinions and participate in classes that are designed around student collaboration. Our Middle School is a place to test their independence, where they always know that there is an army of teachers standing behind them, encouraging them when they struggle and celebrating each of them along their journey.
When you think of Middle School, does the word “joy” come to mind? For us, it does.
Joy in Learning
Where some see the uncertainty and awkwardness of the “braces years,” we see past them to the extraordinary opportunity for growth, friendships, burgeoning identity, and, yes, joy. It’s a deep felt joy that is both the cause and effect of authentic engagement in learning, and it’s the goal of all we do in Middle School, in class and out.
Joy is why our demanding curriculum is not just broad and deep, but also designed to teach curiosity, creativity, empathy, ethics, resilience, and teamwork alongside literature and languages, math and science. Our students build meaningful academic and life skills, extensive knowledge, and a thirst for more.
Joy is why our classes are student-centered. Whether sixth graders are creating their own sustainable communities in the Green City Design Challenge or eighth graders are making connections between historical and current events in the Our History Today Conference, students are excited about their learning because they are driving it.
Keeping school joyful is why we are dedicated to helping students develop socially and emotionally as well as cognitively. It’s why our advisory program is woven into Middle School life, why hourlong lunch/recess fosters independence and self-determination, and why we offer so many fun activities, like overnight trips, talent shows, a student-faculty basketball game, arts day, author visits… even a summer in December barbecue.
Explore the Middle School
A lot of kids have adults telling them what to do, what to think, how to do a project, all day.
The students have the answers. It is our job as teachers to help them discover the answers within themselves.
Robert Davis, 8th Grade Science Teacher