Middle School

Experiences

Part of the magic of Annie Wright Schools is what happens outside of class time.

Through activities, community service, student council, outdoor learning opportunities, our signature journeys program and more, teachers challenge students to explore their full potential. The result is an environment where young people of diverse gifts and interests can each find a niche in which to thrive. Our doors open at 7:30 am for Middle School students to come in, socialize, or prepare for their school day that officially begins at 8:30 am. After the school day ends at 3:20 pm, students can engage in after-school arts or athletics activities until 6:00 pm.

Experiential Learning

From adventure to awareness, experiential learning is a highlight of the Annie Wright Middle School experience. Each component of our program promotes building community and confidence as a risk-taker. Experiential learning also transfers the knowledge and skills students develop in the classroom to the world beyond Annie Wright’s hallways.

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Orientation Trip

At the start of each school year, the entire Middle School sets off on an overnight orientation trip. This excursion provides students the opportunity to meet new classmates and faculty, learn about the year ahead, and build a foundation of community through a variety of team-building and outdoor activities.
Service in Action

Students throughout the Middle School apply what they learn in the classroom through weekly visits to local partner organizations where students are able to practice direct, indirect and advocacy service. In Grade 8, students draw on these experiences and develop their own Community Project, a year-long capstone enterprise designed to address a need in a community of their choice.
Community Project

Grade 8 students diligently work on their Community Project (CP) beginning in September of their Grade 8 year. This culminating MYP project allows students to focus on one area of service about which they are passionate. Building on their prior experience and personal interests, the CP is a capstone experience for students in middle school and offers opportunities to have a positive impact in the community of their choice. Students spend months researching, planning, and seeking the support of a mentor while working independently or in small teams.
HATCH Week

Through interdisciplinary learning during our HATCH Week, Middle Schoolers expand their knowledge by exploring topics that integrate two or more MYP subject courses in new and creative ways. Students select from a range of interactive, hands-on areas of study developed collaboratively and facilitated by faculty. During this weeklong investigation, students will engage in field trips, meetings with local experts in the field, cross-curricular discussions, and, ultimately, develop a culminating presentation.
Clubs & Common Ground

Going beyond the regular academic classes, clubs allow students to delve into their passions or explore new ones. Each semester, students select from a variety of activities that captivate their interests and have included rockwall climbing, robotics and learning to play the ukulele.
Student Council

Nominated and voted in by their peers, our Middle School Student Council represents the community through three sub-commitees: MOSAIC (Making Our School An Inclusive Community), Health and Wellness, and Community Events. They meet weekly with an adult mentor to help lead the Middle School through fun, engaging, and relevant events and activities.

Journeys

One of the most exciting aspects of our Middle School experience is the Journeys program. Through them, students explore a variety of interests, participate in challenging tasks, engage in team-building, enhance their cultural awareness, and learn about themselves and each other. Following a deliberate sequence through Grades 6, 7, and 8, Middle School Journeys culminate the larger journey that started in the classroom in a variety of subjects. These adventures are tremendous fun and rolled right into tuition.

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Grade 6 - California

Grade 6 students travel to the Bay Area of San Francisco, California, for four days to bring together past and current learning in their Science and Individuals and Societies classes. Student groups plan and conduct experiments to assess the biodiversity of the tidal pools of the rocky California coast’s ecosystems and collect water samples for comparative testing to the waters of the Puget Sound. Students simultaneously explore the rich history and influence of Asian American immigrants to the West Coast, touring Angel Island Immigration Station (known as the Ellis Island of the West) and San Francisco’s historic Chinatown and Japanese Tea Garden. Additional inquiry includes hiking among the redwoods of Muir Woods and visiting “the Rock” at Alcatraz to learn about its occupation by Native American activists. This Journey’s experiential learning prepares students for an interdisciplinary unit of inquiry between Science and Individuals & Societies upon their return to campus: Our Shared Sustainable Seas, which further explores how globalization and human activities interact with our planet’s marine ecosystems.
Grade 7 - Southwest

Grade 7 students pursue a program of active, healthy travel for five days in the desert biome of the American Southwest, visiting Bryce, Zion, Antelope, Glen, and the Grand Canyons. With those visits and with stops at other cultural and geological sites, students investigate the processes that shape the earth and how humans have come to live and express themselves in that environment. Curricular focus: Science and PHE.
Grade 8 - Costa Rica

Grade 8 students travel to Costa Rica for eight days to immerse themselves into the culture and environment of this amazing Central American country. Activities include volunteering at an animal sanctuary, visiting a local school, studying the flora and fauna in a rainforest, and whitewater rafting. The trip also has a strong focus on developing Spanish language skills and is a climax for their Language Acquisition class. Curricular focus: Science, Arts, Language Acquisition and Service.

Annie Wright's Journeys Programs teach students to be globally-minded citizens who not only care about the world around them but who seek to better it. Throughout their MYP coursework in middle school, students are encouraged to consider what they learn in the global community context. In IB schools, Global Contexts help students reconcile what they've learned in class with "how it works" in real life.

Typically, Journey trips are 3-7-day overnight trips. The aims and objectives of each trip support the components listed below: