How we define success significantly impacts the way students think about themselves and their place in school and in the world. Here in the Morris School District, we try to reinforce the notion that success takes many forms, and we aim to provide a wide range of opportunities in different contexts where students can be--and feel--successful. Sometimes success is the basketball player who catches a rebound and scores the winning point just as the buzzer sounds.  Sometimes it's the first-time actor, glowing as she hears the enthusiastic cheers of her classmates during the curtain call.  Success may be the student who ventures a bold rhetorical move in his essay for English class.  Or it may be the student developing leadership skills in a service activity.

With full attention to the core academic subjects as well as an impressive offering of electives in the visual and performing arts and in STEM, FMS provides our students with the strong foundation they need for success in high school and beyond.  But equally as important, our teachers, counselors, and administrators are committed to helping middle school students succeed in ways that transcend traditional metrics like grades and test scores:  taking chances and making mistakes in a supportive environment, connecting with others and building relationships, discovering new areas of competence, setting goals and determining the strategies to reach them--even falling short of our expectations but working hard to get back on track.  

All of this represents our vision of student learning and success in middle school.