Jordan Haims ’25 has been volunteering with the Heated Lions, a Special Olympics basketball program, for about nine years. Back when he started in the 2015–16 season, the connection between Rivers and the Heated Lions was mostly just that the team practiced in the Haffenreffer Building—Haims himself was not even a Rivers student yet. But through his leadership, the relationship has grown. Now, the majority of Heated Lions volunteers are Rivers students.

The Rivers Athletics Department will honor an exceptional winter sports season during the annual Winter Varsity Awards celebration at an upcoming assembly in Kraft Dining Hall in late April. Upper School students, faculty members, and coaches will gather to celebrate the achievements of the varsity teams.

If you really wanted to make a book come alive, how would you do it? What would it sound like, taste like, smell like? Students in the Grade 9 English seminar answered these and other questions one afternoon in early April at the Living Libraries event, when Haynes classrooms were transformed into multisensory experiences of a selection of books.

This April, Rivers welcomed 17 students from Lycée International Georges Duby in Luynes, France, as part of a longstanding French exchange program. Over the course of two weeks, the visiting students became part of the Rivers community, staying with host families, attending classes, and exploring Boston–a unique firsthand experience with American culture.

An incredible honor has been awarded to Rivers School freshmen Carter Meyer ’28, Finn Sears ’28, and Sam Pandolfo ’28, who were selected to represent the United States as members of the elite USA Hockey National Team Development Program (NTDP) U-17 team. This prestigious selection placed them among the top young players in the country. And for this talented trio, it’s a dream years in the making.

Rivers' Counseling and Wellness Department, in partnership with the Mental Health Collaborative (MHC), hosted its fifth annual senior lunch presentation on Friday, March 28, delivering Mental Health 101 programming tailored to graduating students. Customized session programming was developed by Rivers School Counselor and Head of Wellness Programming Megan Delano and two skilled clinicians from the MHC: Alyssa Johnson (LICSW) and Carrie Prisco (MEd in Special Education, MEd in Literacy).

Combine the determination and commitment of competitive athletes with philanthropy and you have A Shot For Life (ASFL), an organization that uses sports to raise funds for the Mass General Cancer Center. Since its founding in 2011, ASFL has raised over $1,000,000 to aid brain cancer treatment and research. Current students and numerous alumni in the Rivers community have demonstrated their athletic skills and dedication to the ASFL–with the goal of raising as much money as possible for brain cancer research and having some competitive fun while doing it.

Chris Love, a Rivers visual arts faculty member, pioneered an Editorial Cartoon unit at Rivers that has Middle School art students thinking critically about the world around them. Tailored specifically towards his eighth-grade art students, Editorial Cartoon is a brief yet impactful exercise designed to engage students in social and political discourse through artwork. The primary objective is to create a platform for students to reflect on the causes they care about and find a way to voice thoughts and opinions through art.

On a sunny morning in early March, The Rivers School welcomed award-winning author, sociologist, and scholar Dr. Anthony Abraham Jack as the speaker for The Hall Family Speaker Series. The series, which brings thought leaders to Rivers to address civic and community engagement, was organized by the school’s Equity and Engagement Team (EET) in collaboration with trustee Alison Hall P’19 as the third in a series of workshops and discussions surrounding the theme of the year: “Engaging in Citizenship Together.”

Each year, Rivers hosts four student art shows: a fall all-student exhibition showcasing Upper and Middle School artwork from the previous spring, an Upper School student show at the start of the second semester highlighting fall semester work, a Middle School art show in May, and a senior show running concurrently. On February 18, a gallery reception introduced a variety of student work across a wide range of mediums that span the entire arts curriculum, including the Foundation courses, Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Mindfulness in Drawing, Ceramics, Sculpture, Photography, and Identity and Reality: Cinematic Production and Critical Studies. The exhibit, on display in the Bell Gallery and the Baldwin Family Art Commons through April 17th, is a vibrant and inspirational experience.

Rivers Hockey is making headlines with a remarkable 18-5-1 record this season. Their success has been driven by impressive performances, including three of the top scorers in all of New England prep hockey and an unstoppable freshman line. Coverage in The Boston Globe and New England Hockey Journal have put a spotlight on the team.

At Rivers, students have the opportunity to express themselves through a variety of creative outlets, from writing to visual arts. This creativity was recognized when the Massachusetts results of the annual Scholastic Art & Writing Awards competition were announced on January 29. Competing at a high level in this prestigious program, Rivers students created memorable works that exemplify the Awards’ core values: originality, skill, and the emergence of a personal voice or vision. Thirty-nine works of visual art by Rivers students were honored this year, along with five pieces garnering awards in the writing categories.

On January 30, Rivers hosted a dynamic Lunar New Year celebration, bringing together over 200 attendees for an evening of cultural appreciation, performances, and traditional festivities to honor the Year of the Snake—a Chinese Zodiac symbol of intelligence, mystery, and renewal. The Lunar New Year, celebrated by millions of people across the globe on the first new moon of the lunar calendar, began on January 29, with festivities continuing in an All-School assembly and in Mandarin language classes surrounding the date.

Corey Campbell, who took over the reins as executive chef at Rivers at the beginning of the 2024-25 school year, takes pride in his approach to culinary invention. We recently caught up with Chef Campbell about his career in the culinary industry and his inspiration for the Rivers kitchen.

On January 15, the Parents’ Independent School Network (PIN) hosted a virtual heads of school panel to discuss the topic of teams: “Being Our Best Selves: A Team Approach.” In addition to Rivers’ Head of School Ryan S. Dahlem, the event featured heads of school from three other Massachusetts independent schools: Derek Boonisar from Fenn School in Concord; Judith Guild from Brimmer and May School in Chestnut Hill; and Mark Stanek from Shady Hill School in Cambridge.

The Class of 2025 at The Rivers School is off to an impressive start with college admissions. As of mid-November, 94 percent of students who submitted Early Decision, Early Action, Restrictive Early Action, or Rolling Admission applications have been accepted to at least one college.

On Monday, January 13, 2025, the Rivers community gathered to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with an assembly featuring guest speaker Col. Marshalee Clark, a former Boston resident and distinguished leader in the U.S. Marine Corps. While not speaking in an official military capacity, Col. Clark drew upon her impressive leadership experience to speak about Dr. King's legacy and inspiration, encouraging students to reflect on their purpose and embrace the importance of principled leadership and action.

We may think of the world of emotions as very separate from biology or the process of learning and the brain, but Mary Helen Immordino-Yang would have you know that those processes are deeply linked. Following the winter break, The Rivers School welcomed back Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, a distinguished neuroscientist and professor of education at the USC Rossier School of Education, as a guest speaker for a day of professional development, and in a later session for parents, caregivers, and alumni.

At the final professional community meeting of 2024, Head of School Ryan S. Dahlem added some extra cheer by presenting John Bower P’31, head of Rivers’ Middle School, with a Commitment to Excellence Award. This external award, presented by Borislow Insurance, recognizes and celebrates educators, administrators, and staff at independent schools nationally who “go above and beyond to enhance the quality of education and positively impact the overall student experience.”