8th Graders Celebrate Middle School Years

On June 13, the class of 2017 gathered to celebrate the completion of middle school.  Each eighth grader received a certificate and ceramic tile as reminders of their middle school years.

Outgoing  Head of Middle School Jamey Hein reminded students to “strive for ownership in your learning, relish the opportunity to make a choice, explore real problems you care about, create your own solutions, and collaborate with others.”  “Our world,” he continued, “needs people like you to be its difference makers.”

Eighth grader Sam Talsma was nominated by his classmates to be this year’s student speaker.  Said Sam, “What we do with our choices is really up to us.  The simple decisions we made each day during middle school, like picking up trash in the forum, making room at the lunch table for the new kid, not goofing off during computer class, and just being kind to each other created more than a group of 13 and 14-year-olds, but a real community of friends.”

Sam’s thoughtful speech is available in its entirety, as is a photo gallery from the evening.

Student performers included:

Jean Cho
Tema Cohen
Sophia Grace Davis
Julia Friedman
Grace Geiger
Rahul Kak
Michael Landman
Maria LoCicero
Alexa Mikhail
Camryn Ovsek
Libby Reeves
Maya Rodemer
Melanie Stewart
Ben Westphal

Congratulations to the Class of 2017!