Midland Mirror - February 2026

MIDLAND Vol. XCV

Midland School

MIRROR

Los Olivos, California

February 2026

No. 2

Tea Time

Senior Project Highlights

By Amelie ‘27 Following Midland’s shift from traditional to experiential learning, this year’s seniors are each completing a project rather than a thesis as their culminating Midland experience. Each of the twenty-one seniors spent the first semester brainstorming and researching in order to begin creating this spring. The Midland Mirror hopes to document these projects given that they cannot simply be printed and displayed in the library like past theses have. We will highlight a third of the seniors each issue so those who miss the Symposium presentations this May are aware of the creative approach the class of 2026 is taking in their final semester.

Inspired by her love of medicine and outdoor recreation, Mia ‘26 is researching and compiling a pseudo-book about search and rescue practices in our neighboring Los Padres National Forest. As a certified Wilderness First Responder, a volunteer with local emergency response organizations, and a Midland Steward, Mia hopes to help educate the Midland community to better prepare them for their outdoor ventures.

Also in the outdoor theme, Julissa ‘26 is utilizing her love of science to compile a journal of Midland community members' top eight favorite creatures and critters. Using polls of Midlanders’ favorite animals, Julissa is creating a synthesized research guide to inform the Midland community on the life that surrounds us every day.

Maude ‘26 also plans to enrich Midlanders' enjoyment and observation of the world around us through her mural series in Middle Yard. Painting a wall in Stillman and on the farm, Maude hopes to bring public art centered around Midland’s diverse ecosystem closer to our community heart.

The thread of engagement with the natural world continues in the project of Jay ‘26, who is 3D-printing topographic map models of Midland and adjacent properties. From Midland 101 to Outdoor Leadership, students are using USGS topo maps, and Jay’s model elevates these projections of our property. Whether used as a teaching tool or simply a piece of art, this model provides a tangible way to see (and feel) the aspect of land we set foot on.

Much of Midland’s eastern neighbors are vineyards, and Mingda ‘26 is conducting a field research project analyzing the balance of financial and sustainability goals of small wineries in Los Olivos. Mingda, who is also Student Council treasurer, is putting his financial analysis skills to use to assess the most prevalent industry in our valley.

Idea Sketch for Maude ‘26’s Tree Ring Mural

Z ‘26, who heads up Midland’s music club, is also putting passion and skill together to create a synthesizer for the Midland music department. Hoping to major in electrical engineering, this is a chance for Z to juxtapose his love of music onto his love of circuits.

He hopes that his project both inspires Midlanders to create music and to upgrade their facilities themselves– a true Midlander knows that if you want something on our campus, the fastest way to get it is to make it yourself.

Emma ‘26 also hopes to better suit Midlanders for their futures; her senior project is creating a self-defense curriculum to be taught in our grade-level seminar classes. Although this isn’t a problem in our little bubble, Emma is hoping to equip students with preventative and assertive self-defense skills that will help protect them in the greater world. Although she hopes these skills never need to be used in practice, educating individuals on this is critical.

The final project highlight is a little harder to detail: Alice ‘26 is performing a social experiment, and therefore the details of who, when, where, and what her project entails must remain confidential to preserve the validity of the data. Alice is pursuing this project because of her interest in psychology and human behavior, and she hopes to be able to analyze her results to offer a deeper window into the community.

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Winter Banquet

By Evie ‘29 Our school has celebrated the shorter days and colder weather with a beautiful meal since 1932. This tradition is one last hurrah before each student goes their separate way for holiday break. The event is preceded by Lessons and Carols, a candlelit musical showcase featuring winter songs from many cultures, and poetry about the coming of Yule.

This year, Winter Banquet and Lessons and Carols struck when holiday spirit was already at an all-time high. Christmas music had been blasting in Pole Barn and Status locations alike, especially during tea time volleyball games. The sights of a Midland winter began popping up around campus: indoor dinner assemblies, fires in every stove, string lights illuminating middle yard and cabins alike, and Gloria’s famous hot chocolate as a special surprise at some breakfasts.

Charlotte led practices for Lessons and Carols, playing holiday songs on the Long House piano from her book, “Piano Christmas Carols for Dummies.” The music filled the campus for nearly a month, with some excited students beginning festivities the day after Thanksgiving. Bella led a nightly Holiday Gift Exchange, where a few lucky students’ names would be selected out of a bowl to win prizes from the community. Gifts ranged from a salt lamp to a toothbrush to a Powerpuff Girls doll, and much more in between.

Energy was high on the day of the Winter Banquet, when the meal would follow a work period, Stillman decorating spree, and cabin cleaning for all. As the sunset cast golden light on Grass Mountain, students donned holiday-themed formal wear and trudged through the rain-soaked yards to the assembly circle. Performers set up their instruments on Stillman porch, and as the last inkling of sunlight went over the hills, candles and programs were passed out from baskets. One candle was lit, and slowly but surely, the flame was passed down the line to the right until the circle was once again filled with golden light.

Music filled the foggy air. The united voices of the greater Midland community sang a mix of classic Christmas songs, carols, and traditional tunes from multiple religions. These songs were accompanied by several Midland musicians: Alex Tate, Director of Finance, on the guitar, Freya ‘35 on the piano, and Taylor Replane, Dean of Residential Life, on the washboard.

Candlelit Lessons and Carols

The Winter Banquet was nothing short of wonderful. Gloria and her kitchen team outdid themselves, providing each Midlander with a warm and comforting meal to finish out the first semester. Tamales, hot apple cider, and sweet empanadas. The Stillman tables were arranged in a circle—reminiscent of the Hogwarts holiday feast—and decorated with candles, juniper, holly, and toyon berries, all collected from Middle Yard. The rafters were adorned with pine, and Amelie ‘27 had tied mistletoe above each doorway.

Students and faculty alike conversed over the candlelit feast, simultaneously grieving the end of the semester and excitedly sharing their plans for holiday break. The decadent scent of Gloria’s tamales had filled campus with a magical spirit, and the music we’d shared together left a warmth in our hearts that was made to last. It looks like ephemeral celebrations of the coming of Yule will always be a Midland specialty, and next year’s festivities are just around the corner.

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Land

By Layla ‘29

Munger Games

The Munger Games take place at the end of first semester, and all the freshmen have to go around campus taking a test based on everything we had learned in the year. When Dan first told our Midland 101 class about it, I thought he was joking. There was no way that was something that my class was going to have to do.

Right?

Wrong! Our class started studying a few weeks in advance. The night before, Brianna ‘29, Bri ‘29, and I had gathered in my room and were doing head-to-head testing of knowledge of place for candy.

“What are the three types of oaks that are native to Midland campus?”

“Blue Oak, Valley Oak, and–” “COAST LIVE OAK!!!”

The next morning, I woke up before my alarm and started packing my daypack with the day hike essentials and headed up to Stillman for breakfast. The pit in my stomach made it difficult to eat, but I choked down my plate. I was nervous that I hadn’t studied enough, even though I had reviewed every night for the past two weeks. I went down to my room to grab my daypack and trudged over to Lumberyard as I checked my watch. 8:29. Only one more minute until I found out who I would have to spend the next three hours working together with. Dan walked into Lumberyard with the test and passed it out. He set a couple of rules and put the teams on the board.

“Ready, set, GO!!!”

The first couple stations were a breeze. We went to the farm for botany, the bouncy bridge for traditional ecological knowledge, and we were on the way to Trash Canyon for compass use. When we got there, Bella was sitting in a camp chair with a book and handed us a map. I set to work orienting my map and making the measurements.

We quickly found the first sign. The other three were just as simple, but as we searched for the last sign, we couldn’t find it. Anywhere. I was so frustrated. What if we couldn’t find it, and we didn’t finish?

Tears started forming behind my eyes, but I blinked them back. I turned around and started to tell my partner to check again when I saw something green out of the corner of my eye. That was it! It was hidden between two trees. I was so relieved, but at the same time annoyed that Dan had hidden it. We finished the station and went over to the War Memorial to complete the final station before heading over to Hill 37.

We were outside Dan’s house, trying to find the path that led to Hill 37. My partner, Elton, said he knew where it was, so I decided to trust him. He led us to a giant hill and said, “This is it!” I was skeptical, but I started trekking up. I turned around and saw Elton wasn’t coming. He said I should go up and see if there is anyone up there, and he would stay below. Okay. I was out of breath after the climb in the hot sun, and went to reach for my water, when I realized that I had left my day pack at the memorial. Shoot. And on top of that, when I reached the top, no one was there. I looked down and saw Elton was gone too.

Avery ‘29 examining his map at a Munger Games station

I sat down and put my head in my hands. How could I have messed up so bad? But then I heard something. I looked up and saw Hannah on the next hill over. I ran down as fast as I could and started up Hill 37. When I finally got to the top, Elton was there too. I glared at him and sat down to finish my test. When I finally gave my test to Hannah, I was ready to collapse.

During the Munger games, I didn’t really have fun. I was stressed about the test and making sure I got all the answers right. But afterward, I realized that it was supposed to be low stress and something to enjoy. An adventure to test your skills with a sprinkle of friendly competition.

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All Saints’ Day

By Julissa ‘26 The fire bell rings exactly at 8:50 PM, each ring echoing throughout Middle Yard into the dense Midland backcountry. Students rush and laugh collectively, even though they are told by faculty to remain quiet and find their advisors inside Stillman. Mixed vibes radiate throughout Stillman; new students look around, confused as to why there was a fire bell. On the other hand, returning students were already mumbling about where their next adventure would lead them.

They were all waiting for Dan to quit rambling about fire safety and announce what everyone had been waiting for. All Saints’ Day! All the students burst into cheers, and Stillman shakes from the stomping.

After the assembly, groups congregate throughout the tables. Various hikes were offered, such as a group going around the Bowl (the easy hike), Red Rock Springs (the medium hike), and the great adventure one, where whoever dared would be dropped off at Nira and would hike all the way back to Midland’s campus. Sighs of relief could be heard throughout the yards from students who hoped it would be All Saints’ Day so they could procrastinate their homework a little longer.

The next day, after our dismissal from the 8:30 AM assembly, everyone was buzzing with excitement, groups already heading off with music to wherever they so desired to explore.

Up at the horse barn, advanced horse students saddled their horses to embark on a trail ride around Green Gate Loop to the connector trail, then back to the hairpin, and rode back down to Midland through Res Road. Hayden ‘26 recalls after dismounting her horse and “bushwhacking through the sage to get to Bradley Mesa,” where they overlooked Midland’s campus and “had Grass Mountain right in front of us.” Riding through the oak woodlands allowed her and those on the trail ride to “embrace the beauty of [Midland’s] trails.”

All Saints Day Riders at Bradley Mesa

Freshman Upper Yarders on their hike

Through this experience, some lessons were surely learned. While on the trail, Quinby ‘27 rode beneath an oak tree, and instead of sliding under it, it caught her and dismounted her from her horse, causing him to buck her off. And then the log fell on top of her.

Hayden’s advice to future riders is to not ride beneath an oak tree to prevent another possibly very dangerous yet very funny accident from happening again.

Away from the Green Gate Loop, a group of students forged their own adventure from Red Rock Springs to the Whale Tree and up around Lovers Loop. Stella ‘26, accounts that miles go by faster than you’d think, and some stops along the trail would result in countless conversations and time to admire Midland’s scenic views.

20 miles away from Midland’s main campus, a brave group of eight students hiked from Nira back to Middle Yard, essentially redoing the class of 2026’s freshman experiential week (that was remade due to intense flooding) but in one day. As the group traversed down the face of Grass Mountain, Marcela ‘27 remembers having conversed with Midlanders she didn’t normally interact with on a day-to-day basis, which was nice to reinforce some relationships in the community. Though, one setback was the water situation. 12 miles into the hike, she began to realize that she should never underestimate the amount of water she would take on longer hikes and had to hike back to Birabent to refill and iodine water from the creek. In the end, the crew made it back in time for dinner assembly, ready to recount their expedition.

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Community

A Farm-to-Table Investigation

By Emma ‘26 Have you ever wondered what exactly happens to all the food we grow on our 10-acre organic farm? I have, and I wanted to know how much of the crops Midland students and faculty grow on the farm are actually used in the kitchen or by people at Midland. As I researched, farm-to-table turned into a deep dive on the nutrition that sustains our active lives as Midland students.

So I started my little investigative journalism. What happens to the crops we grow on the farm? Well, as we know, Farm Crew goes out to harvest what the Kitchen will need for the day in the morning, but that doesn’t quite account for everything. I know for a fact there are crops that we don’t use in the kitchen, so what happens to them?

The answer is that the food doesn’t just go to one place; it gets broken up depending on what it is.

The first place it goes to is Veggie Rescue, a nonprofit organization that battles food insecurity and food waste by taking surplus vegetables from local Santa Barbara County farms, farmers markets, and businesses to redistribute throughout the area. Students harvest what we won’t use, clean and package it, and then it gets picked up

by Veggie Rescue to be used elsewhere.

The second place the food goes is to the faculty. Many of the Midland faculty live on campus and receive their sustenance from both Stillman and the farm, using the crops that farm crew does not harvest for their meals. Recently, farm crew, made up of seniors Maude ‘26, River ‘26, and Hayden ‘26, sent an email out to all the faculty and staff, asking if they would like a specially crafted farm box for them and their family. Many enthusiastically responded yes, so these seniors spent their Sunday work period harvesting, cleaning, and putting together boxes of our seasonally grown produce for faculty to use at home. Though they went above and beyond, farm crew was doing for the staffulty what many of them do for themselves during their spare time.

Okay, so clearly the food is being used, but how does this fit together with nutrition at Midland, and is there something the food systems at Midland are lacking? Driven by similar questions, last year Maude ‘26 began to look into our food systems and how to encourage Midland students to get involved with the Kitchen and advocate for specific meals or foods they wanted to see more of. The most notable changes that came out of her involvement were displays of what crops from the farm were used in each meal and the number of students staying for meals. Maude brought a lot of attention to what goes into our food, building a connection between students, the farm, and the kitchen staff.

Maude and Emma ‘26 harvesting carrots on the farm

That connection between farm, students, kitchen, and table is what makes the Midland food system unique. What I have learned from my mini exploration into what happens here at Midland with food is that we are growing crops for ourselves, each other, and our Santa Barbara County community.

Mingda ‘26 with a farm chicken

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Sports Basketball

By Miriam ‘28

You know the basketball season is approaching when the giant volleyball net is taken down and music is blasting in Pole Barn during Half Holidays. Perhaps Midland’s busiest basketball season has rolled upon us. Accompanying the unfolding of the basketball season are several distinct changes: coaches, values, and learning.

To start with the variations, this year, we have a new coach, Reggie, who is a new faculty at Midland and has many years of coaching experience worldwide in Europe and Asia. He coaches the team alongside Talei ‘15, who has been training the basketball teams at Midland since 2024.

Winter basketball is a mixed-gender sport, so there is an Upper Yard team and a Lower Yard team. The Upper Yard team, though losing some of its crucial players from last year, is divided into Junior Varsity and Varsity due to its abundance of players, with Mingda ‘26 as captain. The Lower Yard team, on the other hand, following its trend of the past few years, has only eight players! Small but mighty, the team is led by Honor ‘27. Over the course of the season, both teams have gone through a trajectory of growth. Though losing most of the out-of-league games, we have scored champions within our league, with the Besant Hill win for Lower Yard and the Oak Grove win for Upper Yard.

Along with new changes comes new learnings. The most noticeable is the cultivation of support. When interviewed, coach Talei mentioned that she has learned to be a role model for the students and to “show up for students in a healthy, supportive and motivating way.” Throughout the season, the teams have learned to have a supportive mindset whether playing or not. During games, players call for the ball when they are open, while other players on the bench cheer out loud for them. It’s not just support within teams, but also support within the Midland community. Every home game we have, students, faculty and faculty families come out to Pole Barn and watch the game. Once, the Upper Yard game lasted till dinner, so many Midlanders took their plates out to support the players till the end. Support has been seen everywhere throughout the season, and it is what leads to the teams’ growth and success.

Upperyard Basketball in their final game

With Reggie’s new arrival comes his pioneering approach and teaching philosophy of basketball. Every time practice starts, he would shout his motivating slogans: “hard work and dedication” as well as “by failing to prepare, one is preparing to fail.” He clarifies with detail in a Mirror interview that the purpose of these mottos are to “motivate students, let them understand and improve their skills, do more than what they think is possible, and get out of their comfort zones.” Additionally, Reggie has scheduled an increased amount of games for the teams, including ones against schools outside our local Condor League, in order to challenge players as well as help them gain experience and skills quicker via actual plays rather than drills.

Loweryard Basketball makes a break!

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Head of School Note As Charlotte likes to remind us at assembly, the days are stretching themselves out—growing longer, and doing so at an everfaster pace, as if we’re sliding up the graceful curve of a sinusoid. With the light has come warmth, and with the warmth, wildflowers—an early hint that this may be a banner bloom year. Last weekend brought its own unexpected delights in the form of inflatable bouncy houses sprouting across the soccer field (arguably the rarest species on campus), while Gloria and her team grilled a delicious steak feast, adding just the right amount of sizzle to the day’s festivities. Now we turn toward MIDterms, when students will chase waterfalls through the Los Padres, bike the central coast, contemplate visibility and belonging in and around the Santa Ynez Valley, and wander through the countercultural currents of San Francisco (and more!). Meanwhile, the Alamo Pintado still runs, its waters now clear, revealing the colorful stones that inspired its name, though the creek, like the rest of us, quietly hopes for rain. With just two terms left, it’s time to savor our days, gather our intentions, and consider all we hope to do and become before we are released once more into the wilds of summer.

- Hannah Nelson, Head of School

The Midland Mirror Team Executive Editor Emma ‘26

Editor-in-Chief Jay ‘26

Writers Julissa ‘26 Amelie ‘27 Miriam ‘28 Layla ‘29 Evie ‘29 Photography Maude ‘26 Photography Club Raymond ‘22 Gray & Elle Photography

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