Monday Middle School Moments - A Glimpse into Brimmer's Middle School

Carl Rapisarda Vallely, Head of Middle School
Over the past few months, Middle School Dean of Students Dr. Gallon and I created a series of short, fun videos to share more about the tenets of Brimmer’s Middle School program. These #MondayMiddleSchoolMoments, which feature our students and were posted on the School’s Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts, showcase the ways that our Middle School program furthers Brimmer’s Lower School educational philosophy that focuses on the whole child and builds academic and social skills for success as students take on greater independence and responsibility.

Experiential, hands-on learning is a central part of our educational philosophy, and our 7th grade science curriculum, featured in our first Middle School Moment, is a prime example of this. This unit asks student to grapple with the question of how we will meet food production challenges as the world population grows. Working collaboratively, students design scientific experiments to compare traditional soil gardening to hydroponic gardening, as well as other experiments that monitor growth under different circumstances. Using our Tower Gardens, located in the Library/Learning Commons, purchased through our Faculty Innovation Grant, this unit literally comes to life as they watch and monitor the seeds they planted develop and mature into herbs and vegetables to share with our community. You can read more about this in my blog post from earlier this year. 

Co-curricular programming is another staple of our Middle School program, and we are proud to offer strong programs in both athletics and creative arts, along Student Senate and several student-driven clubs. We believe that Middle School is a time when students should be encouraged to try something new, step out of their comfort zone, and discover something about themselves that they perhaps didn’t know before. We work hard to ensure our co-curricular schedules make it possible for students to participate in all activities without needing to choose one over another. As our students explain in the Middle School Moment video about our basketball program, there is a place for everyone on our teams and in our plays and musicals, regardless of their level of skill or previous experience.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t write about character education as a third essential piece of Brimmer’s Middle School program. Early adolescence is vital time to help shape who our young people will become and what they will do as the move into Upper School and beyond. Our Life Skills curriculum, which is threaded through grades 6 - 8, centers on this work. During Life Skills in 8th grade, our students tackle the Inspirations project, one of our capstone experiences. For this project, students choose a person or topic that inspires them or creates passion in their life. They are then challenged to put together a short, formal speech to present to the Middle School community, their families, and friends. For many students, this is the largest audience they’ve ever been asked to address independently. They encourage and support each other through the butterflies that arise as they step behind the podium and cheer each other on enthusiastically upon completion. The Inspirations project goes well beyond a run-of-the-mill public speaking exercise; it asks our students to dig deep to identify the values they find most admirable and develop the language to explain it others. It is just one of many projects that brings our Core Values of Respect, Responsibility, Honesty, and Kindness to life.

As I’m sure you can tell, I am incredibly proud of the educational program we offer at Brimmer. Whether you’re a current Middle School family, a Lower School family looking forward to the next steps, or a prospective family interested in learning more about our School, I hope you take a moment to search #mondaymiddleschoolmoment on Instagram and hear more about these projects firsthand from our students!
As an inclusive private school community, Brimmer welcomes students who will increase the diversity of our school. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, or any other characteristic protected from discrimination under state or federal law, in the administration of our educational policies, admissions practices, financial aid decisions, and athletic and other school-administered programs.