Hello, Middle School Students and Families! Here is a recap of today’s Middle School Meeting.
Gabby Adelson ’31 and Ru Thomas-Epstein ’31 ran today’s meeting. You can check out the slides from this week’s meeting here.
The BVR Student
Teagan Weintraub ’31 and Charlie Sterling ’31 presented Connects with friends, family, and others.
“I think connecting with family and friends is really helpful and important emotionally. You want to surround yourself with really good people in life, because if you don’t, it can have a really negative impact on how you thrive in a social environment.
“Being with friends is fun; if you are not with friends, you could feel sad. You can feel like you are missing out.
“If you have really strong connections with your family and friends, then when you are down, you will have people to help you in a tough time.
“Spending time with your friends and family is important; spending time with people who enjoy the same things you do is fun. Having friends in school is important because you have people to talk to and do things with. You will not be isolated if you have friends. Friends are important. And family is too. And also others.”
Announcements
📝 Upper School students Chelsea Allen ’27, Claire Truesdale ’26, and Reid Cragg ’26, editors of Beaver’s literary magazine The Heliconian, encouraged middle school students to submit art and literature to the magazine. Students can submit poems, essays, visual art, and more. The first 20 students to submit work will be entered into a raffle to win a Dunkin gift card.
🌍 Jules Todd ’26 and Ty Moyo ’26, members of the AfroFest committee, announced that AfroFest is happening this Friday.
AfroFest is a celebration of the cultures that are part of the African diaspora. On Friday morning, the middle school will gather in Gym B for two performances: one by BlackOut: Tufts Step Team and one by musician Sidy Maïga. Middle School students can also attend a drum session with Sidy during recess in the 245 house.
⚡️ Ru Thomas-Epstein ’31 and Wesley Wu ’31 announced the Middle School Musical, The Lightning Thief. The musical is this Thursday and Friday, February 5 and 6, at 6 p.m. in Bradley Hall. Students received an email to buy tickets. The show will run 2 hours; families should be on campus by 8 p.m. to pick up their students.
🥼 The 7th grade is going on a field trip to Harvard MedScience tomorrow. Seventh graders meet in the Dining Hall at 8 a.m. before departing for Harvard Medical School. Students will be back on campus by 12:30 p.m. for lunch, then head to class. See more details here.
🗣️ Mr. Castillo, Ms. Graham, Ms. Macomber, and Ms. FitzGerald announced a new lunch program: Lunch, Talk, Action! They will meet on Tuesdays during lunch/recess in the Rogers Room, alternating weekly between discussion of events happening in the country and the world with Ms. Graham and Mr. Castillo, and social action and community engagement with Ms. Macomber and Ms. FitzGerald.
🩹 On Friday, February 13, we are offering a free babysitting class and a CPR/AED class for middle school students from 9 to 11:45 a.m.
The babysitting class will cover
- How to react responsibly to medical emergencies
- perform first aid for common childhood injuries
- How to best call 911
- How to prevent and relieve choking
Participants will be prepared to interview for a babysitting job, select safe activities for children of different ages, and run their own babysitting business.
Students will leave with a babysitting completion certificate and a First Aid book, and, upon successful completion, will be certified in CPR/AED.
That class is limited to 20 students. Click here to sign up. I also emailed the students to sign up.
🦫 Spring Afternoon Activities will be posted in PowerSchool soon! I explained that many students will be getting their second and third choices this season for various reasons. I gave the example of tennis—many more students signed up than we have space for, given court availability. I told students I’d ideally really want to give them all their first choice.
We are also excited to announce that we are offering Robotics as an afternoon activity. Students who are interested in Robotics can email me.
⛸️ Bradley Forrester ’32 announced that the entire middle school will go ice skating on Feed Your Brain Day on Thursday, February 12. After the morning of workshops, we will all board buses to head to Daly Rink. We will be back on campus at 3:30 p.m. for a regular dismissal.
🎉 We reminded the 8th graders about their special event on Thursday: “Dam Ready for Upper School!”
To help the 8th graders learn more about the BVR Upper School, they will spend a morning attending Upper School classes, participate in discussions with Upper School students, and have a special lunch with some Upper School students and faculty.
The Upper School is excited to host the 8th graders and help answer questions they have about being a BVR Upper School student.
Wellness Classes this week:
- 6th grade topic: Consent, Boundaries, and Decision Making
- 8th grade topic: Puberty and Human Body Cycles
Questions for families to discuss with their students:
6th grade
- How can you recognize and express your personal boundaries? What is a respectful way to tell someone your boundary?
- How should you respond when someone else sets a boundary? What are examples of appropriate and inappropriate responses?
8th grade
- What kinds of challenges do you think can come up as bodies and emotions change during puberty?
- How did the lesson talk about how those challenges can look different for everyone?
- What helped you feel reassured about what’s “normal”?
Student Reminders
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: decoupage shells
📋 Advisory agenda: prepping for AfroFest
🎶 There isn’t music R-TIME this week.
🤺 🏀 This week’s home games:
Thursday
Fencing vs. ISB | 3:30 p.m., Green Gym
Friday
Girls Basketball vs. Newton | 3:15 p.m., Gym A