School Commons,” he said. Even as the campus facilities have changed, the Middle School’s values have not. Mr. Lang says his faculty today continues to embrace the vision of the Middle School founders who sought to create a learning environment that meets each student at his or her unique moment of development. “Our newest faculty members are talented teachers and content experts. They’re spunky and hardworking, and they love to work with what most would agree is the most fun and perhaps most unpredictable age group,” he said. Christi Cole ʼ86, Assistant Head of the Middle School, was an Upper School student at Parker for three years before the Middle School opened. She returned as a math teacher in 1992 and taught all 100 students in Grade 7. Since that time, more teachers have been hired to create smaller class sizes, but the Middle School enrolls only a dozen more students than when Ms. Cole was hired. While the Middle School remains a small community, the educational program has expanded to include many opportunities for enrichment.
Earnie Graftom
Teacher Gretchen Taylor was a Middle School woodshop student when she made the letter and key holder in Mr. Barry Cheskaty’s class. She stopped by the woodshop recently to show him the item that is now a keepsake. These days, Mrs. Taylor teaches English in the same classroom where she was once a Grade 7 English student.
students, and the evolution of the Middle School continues. Dan Lang joined the Parker faculty in 2006 and became Head of the Middle School in 2012. During his time at Parker, he has seen many upgrades to the campus. He recalled a particularly busy period between 2007-2009 when the Linda Vista Campus was undergoing major renovation. “The students were able to have some fun as the contractors worked—peeking through the cutouts in the plywood enclosure to watch six new Middle School classrooms take shape and roller skating on the large concrete panels before they were tilted into place to become the Visual Arts building and Lawrence Middle 28
PARKER MAGAZINE SUMMER/FALL 2016
“The greatest change has been developing a schedule to create equal time for arts, music and athletics, emphasizing our mission and building a stronger overall program,” Ms. Cole said. “We’ve also worked hard to develop a global focus. Discovery Week began before I arrived at Parker with a trip to Ensenada for about 30 eighth graders and has now become an integral part of the curriculum, including a global travel experience for all students in eighth grade,” she said. The ideals of educating for character and learning by doing were central to the educational philosophy of our School’s namesake, Col. Francis W. Parker. Those principles remain at the core of the Middle School program. Each student belongs to a small advisory group where lessons focus on the values of community, collaboration and global citizenship. The curriculum for each grade has a different emphasis—selfawareness in Grade 6, community awareness in Grade 7 and global awareness in Grade 8. The advisory program aims to help students acquire