Hello, Middle School Students and Families! Here is a recap of today’s Middle School Meeting.
Kat Nahvi ’31 and Hannah Barnett ’31 ran today’s meeting. You can check out the slides from this week’s meeting here.
The BVR Student
Ava Siciliano ’31 and Elena Todd ’31 presented Takes Time to Consider the Thoughts and Feelings of Others.
“We chose this because it helps with friendships and creating a kind learning space. It’s important to take people’s feelings into consideration because it can get in the way of their schoolwork. If you say something that hurts someone’s feelings, it can hurt them so much it can get in the way of their schoolwork.”
Ava said, “I talk to my classmates with kindness, and if I see someone who looks like they are having a hard time, I make sure I check in with them.”
Elena said, “I try my best to be as nice as possible. We encourage you to try your best to be as kind as possible.”
We chose this because it helps with friendships and creating a kind learning space. It’s important to take people’s feelings into consideration because it can get in the way of their schoolwork. If you say something that hurts someone’s feelings, it can hurt them so much it can get in the way of their schoolwork.
Ava Siciliano '31 and Elena Todd '31
Ava said, “I talk to my classmates with kindness, and if I see someone who looks like they are having a hard time, I make sure I check in with them.”
Elena said, “I try my best to be as nice as possible. We encourage you to try your best to be as kind as possible.”
Announcements
🎶 On Thursday, there will be a concert for the middle school in Bradley Hall at the start of music class. A student-run, all gender a cappella group from Yale, Mixed Company, will be performing.
🌎 Ms. Garayúa discussed the Social Justice Retreat coming up in two weeks; an RSVP form will go out to all students today.
Estelí Valenzuela ’31 spoke about what Social Justice means to her, “Social justice is about justice that has to do with things like privileges and human rights. I knew this for a long time, but it wasn’t until a little while ago that I started to figure out what it means to me. I think that social justice to me is believing that everyone deserves equal rights and justice. I also think that another thing that is important is taking care of the environment and people in the environment.” Estelí talked about climate change and environmental justice and encouraged others to learn more about the topic.
🗓️ Ms. Garayúa and Mr. Castillo invited middle school students and their families to a MLK Day Service Learning Event: the MOSAIC Interfaith Youth Action.
“Join youth & families from the Boston area for a powerful afternoon of dialogue, service, and advocacy focused on the impact of gun violence and what collective action for peace can look like.”
The event takes place on MLK Jr. Day, Monday, January 19, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., at Bethel AME Church in Jamaica Plain. Students/families can register through this form by Monday, January 12.
📋 This week in advisory and Thursday R-TIME, students will meet with their advisor and work on their BVR Skills Feedback Reflection. This gives students the opportunity to carefully review the feedback from their teachers and set goals for themselves.
🫙 Estelí Valenzuela ’31, 7th grade Student Council representative, announced this month’s candy jar: candy bracelets. Students have two weeks to submit a guess about how many candy bracelets are in the jar. Whoever gets closest to the correct number wins the jar of candy!
♟️ Aki Cheung ’32, Elliot Enyeart ’30, and Layla Gold ’30 announced a new recess activity: Quiet Recess on Fridays in Ms. Hollos’s office. This includes drawing, reading, chess, and any other quiet games. No technology other than Kindles/E-readers is allowed.
🧱 The Lego League competition is over, but Lego League as a recess club continues! Mr. Rohn and Ms. Klammer encouraged any student to come check out the club during recess on Tuesdays.
Student Reminders
Before break, we took some pictures of the gym after MS Meeting ended to show the trash students are leaving behind. I spoke to the students about looking around and picking up any trash they see before they leave the bleachers. We want to leave the space better than we found 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: coloring pages
📋 Advisory agenda: Reflecting on BVR Skills Feedback and setting new year’s resolutions.
🏀 🤺 Home games this week
Thursday
Fencing vs. Shady Hill | 3:30 p.m., Green Gym
Friday
Girls Basketball vs. Milton | 3:15 p.m., Gym A