When the Middle School moved from 150 Oak to 888 Turk nine years ago, we knew the campus was going to provide great community opportunities for the students. What was surprising was that once we had moved in, the campus began to reveal additional opportunities that we had not originally envisioned. Now, in the same fashion, our new campus is beginning to reveal opportunities to enhance the student learning and student-cultural experience that we had not previously envisioned.
Community Meeting Takes Center Stage
In a spontaneous, grass-roots move by the faculty, our regular Monday Community Meeting was moved from the Hong Yen Chang Learning Center to the Theater. This resulted in a wonderful change with a near-theatrical experience for the students including a game show, a student piano performance, and faculty and student announcements on the stage. Kudos to the faculty, and to the advisory students who coordinated the change, for this game-changing decision which dramatically increased the students’ involvement, engagement, and sense of community.
Big & Little Bus Buddies
One of the strongest arguments for moving to our new campus, at least from the middle school perspective, is that research shows that students who attend middle school in a PK – 8 environment (as opposed to a 6th – 8th or 6th – 12th environment) graduate being more confident, with better leadership skills, and display fewer at-risk behaviors in high school. So I was very excited about the prospect of incorporating ECC/Lower School/Middle School service activities. I was not, however, prepared for how quickly such an opportunity would avail itself. On day four of the school year, it became apparent that we needed assistance to bring our youngest students down the hill from the Junipero Serra bus stop.
A call for eighth-grade volunteers to assist with the youngest Firedragons’ Junipero Serra Gate arrival yielded 22 “Bus Buddies” in just three minutes! This crew is being formed into teams of three and four to help walk the little ones from their bus stop to the Teaching and Learning Building. The first crew did a trial run on Tuesday and it looks like it is going to be a great relationship.
