Dear Parents,
Mind, Body and Character were as visible as could be last week as eighth graders began their senior chapel presentations, athletic teams took to the fields, and campaigns for the Student Senate election commenced.
Three seniors presented their chapels with topics on family, chasing your dreams, and teamwork. The eighth grade chapel presentation is one of the final rites of passage at Montgomery School and one which the younger children anticipate as they look up to our oldest students. As early as third grade, I hear children say, “I think my eighth grade chapel will be on….” The topic changes as frequently as the answer to the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” but lessons these younger students learn from the eighth grade leaders of the school are enduring.
Fall is the beginning of the final run at Montgomery for our eighth graders. The challenges of finding their next school, meeting higher expectations, being captains of teams and Student Senate officers all make for tremendous growth as these students are nearing the end of childhood and will soon begin their apprenticeship of adulthood - secondary school. Presenting their chapel is the most visible benchmark of the culmination of three years of middle school.
The middle school years are some of the most challenging in a young person’s life. It is a time when children are beginning to understand the greater world and are trying figure out how and where they fit in. It can be a period full of contradictions, as children in preadolescence often show tremendous maturity at one moment, and act like little children again the next. As they begin the separation from their parents, they need other adults who can provide them with support and guidance. It is a time when the partnership between family and school is most critical.
Montgomery’s middle school is a place where the students are well known and thrive in an environment designed to offer a multitude of opportunities and challenges where the children can see what success will look like. As a lower schooler, there is wonderful anticipation to be in middle school, to be a leader. Once in middle school, the students can excel and receive strong positive support in their roles as the oldest members of the community.
The middle school program is intentionally constructed to meet the developmental needs of young adolescents. Our teachers provide academic challenges that prepare our students for a competitive high school environment and are also available to help the students with their work, encouraging a strong sense of self-advocacy. If there is a tough problem in math, a challenge understanding negative space for an art project, or difficulty in understanding a grammar principle, students can always find a teacher or advisor to help.
Our athletics program provides another classroom for our students to learn important lifelessons and skills. Whether competing on an undefeated team or running their first competitive cross country race, the middle schoolers get first hand opportunities to learn about teamwork, competition, and sportsmanship. Our athletes range from first timers learning the sport to athletes who will go on to captain teams in high school and college. The sense of team and camaraderie is apparent to everyone at School on game days when the students wear their team jerseys throughout the day. One of our graduates recently told me, “Playing sports at Montgomery was the first time I got to play on a team with my best friends. There was nothing like it.”
Lastly, our students have opportunities to make a difference through our middle school enrichment program. In required enrichment, sixth graders develop study skills that will serve them well in middle school and beyond, seventh graders develop an understanding of sustainability and responsibility in our environmental awareness program, and eighth graders help with projects around School through our Work Squad and learn public speaking skills that they put to work in chapel. The students can also choose electives such as strategic games, the school newspaper, or the annual yearbook.
Middle school is a time when children need the most attention from a community of adults who are supporting their growth. Montgomery’s program is designed to meet the needs of each of the students ensuring that no one will get lost. They are provided with a broad spectrum of challenges that help them develop a strong sense of identity and selfconfidence.
Last week’s eighth grade chapel presentations could serve as a template for a successful middle school program: Family, Chasing Your Dreams, and Teamwork. At Montgomery we teach our students to be thoughtful and responsible and we listen to them. Given what the three eighth graders spoke about last week, I couldn’t have said it better.
Sincerely,
Kevin R. Conklin, Head of School