By Suie Choi ’20, Middle School Editor

After a long, arduous school year for all, we have finally made it to the end. While the upper school has their June Term Courses after the academic school year, the middle school spends their beginning of June with Capstone. Whether it’s the 6th grade pond study and trip to Philadelphia, the 7th grade field trips to the Intrepid, Ellis Island, and Boston, the 8th grade to Dorney Park and Washington D.C., or field day, Capstone is almost every middle schooler’s favorite part of the school year.

These experiences are some of the educational highpoints of middle school and are truly experiential, as they are outside of the classroom and importantly self-directed. Their primary goal is to foster a sense of unity in each grade as a group and to highlight many of the educational goals that each individual grade has worked on all year. Tyler Barron ‘20 reminisces on her middle school Capstone days: “My favorite part about Capstone was being able to spend time with my peers outside of school and getting to know people I wouldn’t normally talk to during the school year.” The experiences and memories that each grade shares are ones that they will never forget. Students develop a growing sense of themselves as a grade and a keener sense of independence.

This June, the sixth graders will be participating in pond study at Newark Academy during the first week. Students will spend their days studying the pond near the soccer fields by creating experiments with their qualitative and quantitative data that they learned to do in their science classes. Additionally, they will be going to Philadelphia to focus on team and grade bonding and unity. Kat Dakos ‘24 adds, “I’m excited to make memories and spend time with my friends, classmates, and teachers.”

The seventh grade’s Capstone highlights the transition zone between the seventh and eighth grade as they become the leaders of the middle school the following year. They will visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty to reinforce their learning from American Studies about the United States and the origins of their families. Sydney Chang ‘23 looks forward to her overnight trips: “I am looking forward to sleeping in the library, going to the beach, and spending time with my best friends. ” The Boston overnight trip, including a visit to Faneuil Hall and Fenway Park, is also, like the sixth grade, focused on grade bonding and forming long lasting friendships.

As their middle school experience comes to an end, the eighth grade’s excitement for the wonders of high school grow, but so do the nerves. Capstone is the eighth graders’ last experience in middle school before they become ninth graders and a part of the upper school. Dr. LaPadula says, “Capstone is about giving middle schoolers truly experiential education as they transition to the next grade level–my favorite ‘part’ [of the eighth grade capstone] is watching the students begin to navigate that transition. I truly love taking kids to Arlington and the war memorials and to hear students’ stories and perspectives on our military. I also love the National Gallery, the carousel on the Mall, and how everyone falls asleep on the bus ride home.” Capstone is especially memorable for the eighth grade because it ends the year on a high note and everyone in the grade comes together as a community before their fast transition into high school.