Middle School

Nationally, Highlands is one of few Middle Schools offering a Capstone program to graduating students. Our Capstone program is a year-long, individual thesis project centered around a particular passion or curiosity of each 8th grade student. It is a culmination of all of the skills each student has developed in their tenure at Highlands, including public speaking, research, writing, creativity, collaboration and critical thinking. Capstone exemplifies our approach to Project Based Learning, linking ideas and concepts to practical application at each interval. Students are given autonomy over their projects while maintaining accountability with individual advisors, replicating activities they will encounter throughout their academic and professional futures. The program provides students with the opportunity to leave their Highlands experience with a tangible reflection of the knowledge, interests, and character they have cultivated during their time.

click here to see previous capstone projects

The Highlands Middle School Advisory Program is used as a way to strengthen connectedness across grade levels. Students meet regularly with their advisory group (a small peer community of learners) and assigned middle-school faculty advisor to provide academic and social-emotional support. The program reinforces the theme of “community” throughout Highlands while still encouraging our whole-child philosophy by building on individual strengths, increasing confidence, and risk-taking through numerous activities and challenges. The main benefit of this program is that the advisory group and advisor are a constant throughout their middle school experience to provide consistency and build relationships within the groups.

Highlands Student Council (StuCo) is composed of eighth-grade officers and representatives from each grade level who are tasked to lead and support all middle school students and activities. StuCo provides the students with foundational experiences including orchestrating meetings, managing funds, coordinating events, and public speaking. StuCo is responsible for organizing all aspects of after-school events such as dances, movie nights, and gym nights.

Middle School community meetings are an opportunity for students to further develop leadership skills and practice public speaking in a supportive environment. At each meeting, a different homeroom class presents information on a topic of importance, with each student taking a role in the presentation. As an added leadership opportunity, Highlands All-School Community Meetings are led by eighth grade students who work with faculty to set the agenda of each meeting. During All-School Community Meetings, students (4K - 8th) and faculty are invited to share news about important events and make relevant announcements.

Starting in Middle School, we offer a rotating group of electives to empower students and enable them to pursue a passion or try something new. Examples of current and past electives include:

• Art

• Creative Writing

• Debate

• Drama

• Dungeons and Dragons

• Frisbee Golf

• Highlands Herald

• Junior United Nations Assembly

• Music Appreciation

• Robotics

• Scholars’ Bowl

• Science by Design

• Science Outside

• Serve to Learn

• Varsity Math (math team)

• Yearbook