MS Meeting Recap

MIDDLE SCHOOL MEETING

Dear Middle School Families,

Here is this week's MS Meeting Recap. You can check out the slides from today's meeting here.

The BVR Student

Zak Faris '25 talked about an element of the BVR Student, Taking Advantage of Opportunities To Collaborate Positively. Zak said:

"This is important because collaboration helps people. It can cause students to have a more positive view of their class work and the people around them, and taking advantage of these opportunities can help you in many ways. When you collaborate you help yourself and your peers. Students can accomplish this by taking advantage of every opportunity they have to collaborate with others. It will help you in the future more likely than not."

Meeting Recap

Upper School students Grace Kiwanuka-Woernle '21, Dylan Gray '22, Bowie Gray-Savitt '24, and Tyler Alloway '21 spoke to us about our spheres of influence. They said:

"Your sphere of influence is made up of the people in your communities who value, respect, or seek your opinion or advice. Thinking about who is in your sphere of influence is an initial step you can take in being a leader. It’s about recognizing that when you are a member of a group, you have an opportunity to impact the culture of that group and how other people feel as members of that group."

Bowie and Dylan have used their spheres of influence to collect over 20,000 books to donate to the Boston Public School Community through their program called Everybody Reads. They launched this program as part of their Hiatt Summer Fellowship project last summer.

All Middle School students will attend a workshop (either today or next Thursday) to learn more about the concept of their sphere of influence, identify the different communities they belong to, and reflect on the influence they have to make change or impact others’ behavior in those communities. On another day, they will revisit this in advisory and look at what happens when people do not feel like they belong to a group. We were thrilled to have these four Middle School alum at our meeting this morning!

CK (Coach Kuntz) shared the spring activities, including:

Baseball
Lacrosse
Softball
Tennis
Visual Art Workshop
Instrumental Ensemble
Dance
Tech Theater
Innovation Lab

Students will be emailed a form to sign up. Spring activities start Monday, February 22.

The next Hiatt Leadership Institute event, The Meaning of a March, will take place next Friday, February 19 on one of our Parent/Teacher conference days from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Today, 8th graders spent the morning virtually visiting the Upper School, while 6th and 7th graders participated in workshops that included: the learning brain, strategy games, drug education, stress management and mindfulness training, a sphere of influence activity, and an Escape Room. (8th grade students then took part in these workshops in the afternoon.)

Some workshops were required; others were the students' choice. There was also an optional work block.

Feed Your Brain: Book Buffet

Our meeting was packed today so we talk a pause on our Book Buffet. Don't worry—we'll be back next week with another recommendation!

In the meantime, if you haven't already, check out the first two recommendations: King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender and The Stand by Stephen King.

REMINDER

School is closed this upcoming Monday, February 15 for Presidents' Day

🏫 6th & 8th Grades are on campus Tuesday, February 16.

We have switched some classes around on Tuesday morning due to missed days of classes. Student schedules will be updated over the weekend. We encouraged students to check Canvas to see if they have any deadlines that shifted due to these block switches.

A quick reminder for 8th grade parents/guardians: If you haven't already, please RSVP to next week's event about the Beaver Upper School.

Ann Bevan Hollos

Associate Director of Middle School

617-738-2780

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