Hello, Middle School Students and Families! Here is a recap of today’s Middle School Meeting.
Elliot Enyeart ’30 ran today’s meeting. You can check out the slides from this week’s meeting here.
The BVR Student
Danielle Anderson ’31 and Ashley Westerling ’31 presented: Tries New Things
“It’s important to try new things; if you don’t, you won’t learn new things. This year, we tried Upper School field hockey. It made us better field hockey players, for example, our stick skills improved,” Danielle said. “When I played goalie, I got better at blocking shots”.
Ashley said, “Sometimes trying new things is hard. At the beginning, I didn’t want to be with high schoolers. But my parents forced me, and I ended up making good friends with some seniors. You should try new things even if you don’t want to and you are scared because it could have a good outcome.”
Announcements
🌎 Avery Thompson ’31 and Reade Mrazek ’30, Social Justice Retreat Ambassadors, discussed this year’s retreat, taking place on Friday, January 23.
The Social Justice Retreat is a full-day event; all middle school students can sign up to attend. During the retreat, students will participate in workshops and makerspaces led by experts in social justice. They will be learning about topics such as the impact of AI in the environment, social media and LGBTQIA stereotypes, active bystander training, the role of media in shaping beauty standards, disability justice and media, and more.
The theme for this year’s retreat is Grounded In Truth; in a world where there’s often confusion, misinformation, and harm, both online and in real life, we have the choice to pursue the truth. We will work to ground ourselves with courage and use our values and the dignity of all human beings as guides to fight for a more just world.
The Hiatt Center will be sharing the registration form soon. During upcoming Middle School Meetings, each member of the Social Justice Retreat Ambassador team will share more about the retreat and, most importantly, what social justice means to them.
🐎 Whitney Koch, 7th grade science teacher and MS Wellness teacher, presented a BVR Spotlight. Ms. Koch talked about her many hobbies, including baking bread, riding horses, and crocheting.
🦫 All students will use R-TIME today to meet with their advisor and work on their BVR Student Reflection. This gives them the opportunity to carefully review the feedback from their teachers and set goals for themselves.
🍽️ Jack Ledley ’31, Elizabeth Zimman ’30, and Ava Clark ’30, members of the Jewish Heritage Affinity Space, announced the Shabbat Celebration this Friday, December 5 from 6:30-8:00 p.m.
In the Jewish community, Shabbat is observed each week from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday as a time to rest and rejoice. Members of the Jewish Culture Club and Affinity Group will lead our community through candle lighting, prayers, eating Challah, enjoying a meal together, and honoring Jewish culture as we celebrate.
This is an open community event—all are welcome to join! RSVP here.
🕎 Ava Clark ’30 invited Middle School students who identify as Jewish to a Hanukkah Party on Wednesday, December 10, during lunch and recess. They will play with the dreidel and eat latkes!
🫙 Brooklyn Nieves Farrell ’32, 6th grade Student Council Representative, announced this month’s candy jar: Cookies ‘n’ Creme Hershey Kisses. Students have two weeks to submit a guess about how many candies are in the jar. Whoever gets closest to the correct number wins the jar of candy!
📚 In Book Club this week, they will be discussing the book Wings of Starlight. Everyone is welcome to attend, whether you have read the book or not. Book Club takes place tomorrow in Ms. Kosberg’s room.
Student Reminders
Ms. Hollos talked about staying healthy this winter by properly washing your hands and using sanitizer. We watched a funny video about it.
We reminded students to let me know if they want to run a MS meeting and to pick up trash on their way out of Gym A.
Happening This Week
✨ RISE: making clay animals
📋 Advisory agenda: What was your advisor like in Middle School?