Middle School – Unleasing Potential

Seventh Graders Provide Real-World Support to Great Salt Lake Institute

Rowland Hall teachers are reimagining lessons to connect their students with more community partners, deepening learning. This year, seventhgrade teachers Jill Gerber (English) and Anna Wolfe (science) engaged the Great Salt Lake Institute (GSLI) on a student-led project designed to expand the GSLI’s outreach to younger audiences so more people understand and prioritize the local impact of the lake. Acting as business consultants, the seventh graders presented their methods for community engagement to the GSLI in February—and many of those solutions are already being implemented.

We were beyond impressed. I had high expectations, and the students exceeded them. I took copious notes and learned so much from them.

–Carly Biedul, Great Salt Lake Institute coordinator

Curriculum Investments

Additional art programming: Advanced Acting: One-Act Plays, Musical Theatre, Playworks, Advanced Ceramics, Art with Code, Beginning Guitar, and Comedy Club Computer science electives: Robotics FIRST LEGO League, Engineering, Game Design, Robotics, and Inventing to Learn | Engineering | Introduction to Personal Finance | Model United Nations | Technology electives: Technical Theatre and The Physics of Toys | Writing offerings: Creative Writing and Critical Reading and Writing

Computer Science: A New Literacy Skill

In today’s digital world, no matter what career paths students choose to pursue, an understanding of the basics of computer science is a necessity. Computer science equips learners with critical thinking, problem-solving, and computational skills that are necessary across various domains and the evolving technological landscape. To ensure our students are comfortable with these essential skills, this year Rowland Hall made further computer science investments, including hiring the Middle School’s first full-time computer science teacher and offering new Middle School electives: Robotics FIRST LEGO League, Engineering, Game Design, Robotics, and Inventing to Learn. As a result, more middle schoolers than ever have discovered a passion for the subject.

Middle School Student Achievements and Accolades

Eighth grader Sadie Datoo (pictured below) took fifth place in the state MathCounts competition

Seventh grader Sophia Zhang (pictured below) won first place in the Civil & Environmental Engineering Elementary Division of the 2023 University of Utah Science & Engineering Fair

Six middle schoolers—Mary Ellen Hoglund, Nas Khan, Lucas Lamas, Milo van Ispelen, Nyki Younten, and Mia Zhang—traveled to Washington State in February to represent Rowland Hall at the Northwest Association of Independent Schools’ Annual Student Diversity Leadership Retreat (group pictured below)

Every member of the Middle School Debate Team won at least one debate round in competition this year, and six debaters qualified for state: Sofia Drakou, Andrew Frech, Lucas Lamas, Emery Lieberman, Izzy Utgaard, and Chloe Vezina