Growing up may bring more freedom, but it also comes with new responsibilities. The autonomy of high school can be a challenge for many — especially at a school with such an overwhelmingly diverse range of resources that allow students to find and chase their passions.
Students are expected to keep themselves accountable and organized, a task that, despite the best efforts of the Wellness Office, is still a major source of struggle.
In Middle School, students are required to use materials like physical planners and homework binders, as well as study halls to do their academic work.
“They definitely try to take the approach of guiding you along and holding your hand a little bit,” junior Dylan Bosita said. “The planners, the schedule, having class meetings every week, they try to show you by doing it with you in hopes that you build the skills necessary for high school.”
These planners, dubbed Pathfinders, were introduced into the Middle School to aid in the organizational development of younger students, and are based on compounded research and professional development, with the central focus being children’s ability to see into the future and to organize themselves.
“A first grader obviously is not going to know what’s going to happen two days from now, necessarily. A fifth grader, maybe a little bit longer, but not much more,” Director of Academic Success Julie Pechersky said. “And so as your brain develops, your executive function skills build and you’re able to do more. We’re trying to develop habits as early as Lower School in terms of executive function, time management, study skills, and so that’s what we’ve incorporated into the planner. By the time they’re in ninth grade, our hope is their skills are a little bit more developed, and they have identified what works well for them.”
The structures within Lower and Middle School exist to allow students to locate a studying system that works for them, not necessarily to ensure that they adopt the Wellness Office’s suggested strategy. In theory, having the planner as well as the rigid studying scheme in lower grades prepares the student to take advantage of the generous free time in Upper School and ensures they have the capacity to give themselves direction. However, this is not always the case.
“I think part of it is that it is really hard for a fifth grader, or even younger, to be convinced that it’s necessary,” Pechersky said. “In fifth grade, you may have a study hall and get all your homework done in one day. Or you may feel like, right now, you can study the night before a test and still do great. So they’re still able to ‘wing it’ a little bit, and so they don’t see the value in it. It’s about us convincing them that in building it, we’re building habits here, whether you are truly seeing the value in that process yet.”
While this process of ‘winging it’ can be applied in lower grades, in Upper School, students gain a second free period, granting them more time to focus on the significantly more rigorous academics, but also giving them free time, which they are expected to use to its fullest.
“Being able to use that time instead of a study hall, where you’re forced to sit in one room and do homework, is actually very good for me because at night, I can do my homework at home and get that done, but the time when we’re all on campus is actually very valuable because there are a lot of days where I need to meet with people,” Bosita said. “Because of the free periods, they allow us time where I can meet with teachers on campus while they’re still here. I can meet with other students if I need to, or if I don’t have any of that, then I can do homework here and then have more time at night.”
All of these options become available after the jump from eighth and ninth grade, as with this transition comes more responsibility since students are now expected to plan out their day and manage their time well. These changes, apart from the addition of the second free period, include the removal of required planners and homework binders and after-school sports are no longer mandatory.
“You can take electives. You can choose to take your fine art or not, and all those choices make it to where they really cannot just hold your hand wherever you go,” Bosita said. “I think that natural progression where they go slowly, hands-off, is actually beneficial.”
This freedom to choose classes, use free periods and plan out schedules greatly benefit those who have learned the skills that the Middle School strives to instill in all students. For others, however, it can be challenging if they don’t carry those same mandatory habits.
“(For) some kids, it’s very easy to manage time… (For) other kids, it’s a struggle,” ninth grade class sponsor Michelle Santosuosso said. “Know that failure may happen, and know that it’s not the end of the world to acknowledge it and not to ignore it.”
