Middle School Life

List of 5 items.

• Orientation Trip

  At the start of each school year, the entire Middle School sets off on an overnight orientation trip. This excursion provides students the opportunity to meet new classmates and faculty, learn about the year ahead, and build a foundation of community through a variety of team-building and outdoor activities. 

• Experience Days

  Middle Schoolers explore curious topics that vary each year and emerge from the passions and imagination of faculty. These two-day mini-courses have included art exploration, ballroom dance, culinary challenges, photography, and geocaching. 

• Community Engagement Days

  Students apply what they learn in the classroom through service to the community. Our program focuses on the ability to impact those in need, both on a local and global scale. Over the three years, students develop from volunteers into service leaders; culminating in the year-long Grade 8 MYP Community Project.

• Journeys

  One of the most exciting aspects of our Middle School experience is the journeys program. Following a deliberate sequence through Grades 6, 7, and 8, Middle School Journeys culminate the larger journey that started in the classroom in a variety of subjects. These adventures are tremendous fun and rolled right into tuition.
  
  While physical activity, exploration, adventure, independence, bonding and reflection are essential components of all of these trips, the focus of the journey varies with each grade.
  
  

  CALIFORNIA

  Grade 6 students travel to San Francisco and Monterey, California for four days to study the ecosystems of the rocky CA coast, see design thinking and scientific principles in action at the Exploratorium, marvel at marine life at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and walk (and hike and kayak and tide-pool) in the footsteps of John Steinbeck in the towns of Salinas and Monterey. Curricular focus: Science, Language & Literature and Design  

  
  

  AMERICAN SOUTHWEST 

  Grade 7 students pursue a program of active, healthy travel for five days in the desert biome of the Southwest, visiting Bryce, Zion, Antelope, Glen, and the Grand Canyons. With those visits and with stops at other cultural and geological sites, students investigate the processes that shape the earth and how humans have come to live and express themselves in that environment. Curricular focus: Science and PHE 

  
  

  COSTA RICA

  Grade 8 students travel to Costa Rica for eight days to immerse themselves into the culture and environment of this amazing Central American country. Activities include volunteering at an animal sanctuary, visiting a local school, studying the flora and fauna in a rainforest, and whitewater rafting. The trip also has a strong focus on developing Spanish language skills and is a climax for their Language Acquisition class. Curricular focus: Science, Arts, Language Acquisition and Service

   

• Clubs

  Going beyond the regular academic classes, clubs allow students to delve into their passions or explore new ones. Each semester, students select from a variety of activities that captivate their interests and have included rockwall climbing, robotics and learning to play the ukulele.