Building Skills and Confidence: Middle School Leadership Lab

The tradition serves as a soft launch to a school year and for the students newest to Rivers—namely, all the Grade 6 students and, this year, half of the Grade 7 students. Grade 8 students, along with Middle School faculty, led the work, which included a discussion of community norms and Rivers values, with games, discussions, and structured play mixed in.

“We find this allows students to enter the first day of classes on Friday feeling comfortable, knowing their teachers, peers, and campus,” said Sarah Freeman, Middle School dean of students. 

Students in all grades had multiple opportunities to get to know their advisory groups throughout the week. There were also opportunities to connect and engage in DEI and wellness work, as well as community service opportunities at local organizations.

Grade 6 students traveled to nearby Land’s Sake Farm in Weston, where they engaged in various tasks around the site—pulling up a basil crop that was past its prime, removing rocks from a new bed of soil, gardening, and freshening up the chicken coop. Grade 7 spent the better part of Wednesday at the nonprofit Cradles to Crayons, checking, sorting, and packaging up clothing donations that will be delivered to children in the wider community. 

Back at Rivers, students practiced teamwork and building trust in new relationships with peers and teachers in advisory groups, at grade levels, and as a full Middle School, going over everything from where to sit at all-school meetings to iPad policies during class, along with more reflective discussions.

“This year our three big ideas were empathy, integrity, and responsibility,” said Freeman. The themes, she added, are revisited throughout the year in advisory groups and homerooms, and also extend into many other areas, such as sports, addressing questions like “What does it mean to have integrity on the field?” 

On Friday, fully initiated, the Middle School students participated in the first Red & White competition of the 2024–25 school year, where they competed with enthusiasm and confidence. And if the first week was any indication, these students are well on their way to being great future leaders.