Hello, Middle School Students and Families!
Today students heard about the various ways they can be involved and lead in the Middle School! Before we jump into the details, we want to highlight a few upcoming deadlines we don’t want you to miss:
- 8th Grade applications for Student Council President are due Friday, September 13.
- Applications for being an Admission Ambassador are due Monday, September 16.
- Students interested in joining Speech and Debate should email CK by Friday, September 20.
Miles Diver ’29, Rafay Desautels ’29, and Daniel Kliuchnyk ’29 ran today’s meeting.
You can check out the slides from this week’s meeting here.
Head of School Kim Samson encouraged Middle School students with 3 things to start the year:
- Make connections with classmates
- Get involved in the BVR community
- Leverage the amazing BVR faculty to make the best of their time as BVR students!
Leadership Opportunities
Reid Bugbee ’28, last year’s Student Council president, and Addie Marsh ’28, last year’s Student Council Vice President, spoke about reasons to run for student council. Reid shared that she joined to make the Middle School a better place and to meet new people. Addie stated that she joined “because I wanted to help make the Middle School more enjoyable for everyone.”
8th graders who want to run for president apply by Friday, September 13.
Eka Krishnan ’29 and Brette Buckley ’29, two of the three head admission ambassadors this year, encouraged all students who want to welcome prospective families when they visit Beaver to apply to be Admission Ambassadors.
Applications are due Monday, September 16.
Ms. Garayua, Associate Director of the Hiatt Center announced this year’s Middle School BVR Leadership Institutes.
These one-hour-long sessions on Monday mornings cover a range of topics from leadership and identity to building professional skills. The first institute is Monday, September 23 at 8:00 a.m. on the D-Level.
A form from the Hiatt Center will be emailed next week to all Middle School students to sign up.
Student Body Advisory Council (SBAC) is a group of students who meet with Ms. Smith to talk about ways to make Beaver better. Students can apply to be a part of this group that meets monthly. More information is coming about the application process in a few weeks.
Lunch/Recess and Afternoon Programming
We introduced Graham Dam, small group lunches with our Middle School Counselor, Ms. Graham. They have pizza, a special dessert, and play games. All students participate in Graham Dam about three times a year, and students will be invited to attend via email.
RISE, a Wednesday recess option led by Middle School counselor Ms. Graham. Through fun activities, students learn how to deal with stress and worry. Tomorrow’s activity is pom pom keychains!
Fiona Freedman ’29 announced the Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA). This group is open to those in the LGBTQIA+ community as well as allies and those who are hoping to learn more about the community. SAGA meets every other Monday.
David Yatskar ’29 announced Speech and Debate. The debate team at Beaver is a great opportunity for students who are interested in news, writing, politics, or debate. Students learn how to debate in a Public Forum style and learn critical speaking skills with it.
There are three sessions: fall, winter, and a mini course in the spring. The group meets at Beaver on Wednesdays from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. and pizza is provided for dinner. Students can sign up via email no later than Friday, September 20, CK sent an email to sign up.
Kieran Morrissey-Dhekne ’30 announced the First Lego League club. The club is dedicated to building Legos and robotics. Students build a robot to complete a specific challenge and compete against other teams in the area. This club meets Tuesdays from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. and/or Wednesdays during recess. Mr. Rohn is the faculty advisor for the group.
Students received a form via email to sign up.
Nate Guevin, Design Level instructor, announced the CREATE which takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays during recess. Students can go to the D-Level to work on personal or school projects with help from the R+D staff.
Analise Gottschalk ’29 announced Mathletes. Mathletes is a place where students can play with math: math puzzles, games, and if there is interest, participate in math competitions. Mathletes meets on Fridays starting next week, Friday, September 20.
Ms. Kosberg announced the BVR MS Book Club. On Wednesdays, students meet to discuss books they’ve read and choose books to read together. Book Club starts tomorrow.
Rishaan Chowdhury ’29 announced The Times of Boston, an online newspaper. Mr. Greenberg is their faculty advisor. Any student who is interested in being on the newspaper staff can join on Mondays during lunch/recess. Any student can also submit articles (even if they don’t attend the weekly meetings).
Announcements and reminders
Patrick Shea ’29 announced the beginning of Wellness Classes. In wellness class, students talk about friendships, social pressure, mental health, drug and alcohol education, and human sexuality.
All Middle School students will be guided through an 8 or 9-session wellness series that will include classes with Tammy Graham, Middle School Counselor & RYT200, Whitney Koch ISEE Educator & RYT 200, Middle School Science Teacher, and Will Slotnick from Wellness Collaborative.
This week’s advisory agenda: Creating Advisory Mission Statements to set the culture that includes all of our voices and helps hold us accountable to make good choices so we can build a strong community.
Analise Gottschalk ’29 and Jasper Ingenthron ’29 announced the year’s theater season. The Fall Play is The Snow and the Winter Musical is Shrek.
Today in R-TIME all students took a test called the ImPACT Test. This test is a baseline test used as a tool in concussion assessment. ImPACT stands for immediate post-concussion assessment and cognitive testing. Students took the test on their laptops, and it took about 20 minutes. ImPACT tests verbal and visual memory brain processing and reaction time.
To wrap up the meeting, we confirmed what activities were starting this week:
- Today: CREATE
- Wednesday: RISE and Book Club
Students received emails to sign up for Lego League, Speech and Debate, and an application to be an Admission Ambassador. 8th graders received an email about applying for 8th grade Student Council president.
And finally, students should let me know if they want to run a MS meeting.