Student Reporters

AT ST. MARTIN’S Buddies

8 BY ANNA LOFFREDIO, 8TH GRADE

S AN 8TH GRADER, I BELIEVE ONE OF THE COR E VALUES AT ST. MARTIN’S IS A SENSE OF COMMUNITY. This is exemplified in many ways throughout all divisions of the school, but particularly through the buddy programs. Halloween buddies, gym buddies, art buddies, math buddies, and 5th/7th-grade buddies are all programs that help strengthen the sense of community at St. Martin’s. A

Each program started for different reasons throughout the years, but most participants agree that they are a great part of life at St. Martin’s. For instance, gym buddies began when the Beginner (3-4-year-olds) students were displaced from their classrooms three years ago due to a fire in the Early Childhood building. Coach Susan Murphy generously offered the gym to the young children during the 8th-grade girls’ PE class so that the Beginners could get their exercise while having fun with the older students. The program continued even after the new EC building was completed because both groups of students enjoyed it so much. “I have so much fun with our buddies, and they are so cute and positive,” said 8th -grader Katherine Davis. But the younger kids enjoy it too. Beginner Collins Henderson told her buddy Luna Ochoa as she pushed herself on a bright red scooter in the gym, “I have so much fun playing with you and my friends… you are so nice to me.” Teachers also use buddies to learn about different styles of teaching. “I wanted to find a way to see how math looked in the Beginners classroom,” said Melissa Grier, the 7th-grade math teacher and the person responsible for beginning math buddies. Buddies can have a significant impact on the lives of students participating. From the tiniest of toddlers all the way to the 8th graders, the experience of having a buddy can make a difference. And buddies don’t always have to be many years apart. They can also be closer in age. One great example of this is the 5th/7th-grade buddy program. Since 2010, the 5th/7th-grade buddies have been a way to help 5th graders transition into Middle School more easily. Current 6th grader Addison Davis said while smiling in the busy Middle School hallway, “It helped us a lot with team building and getting to know others better. It was a great preview of Middle School.” Seventh graders meet with 5th graders for several lunch periods throughout the school year, and 5th graders are given the opportunity to ask their buddy questions about life in the Middle School as they enjoy a lunch on the sunny green space. Once they graduate from Elementary School, the 5th graders have somebody in the Middle School to look to for advice or help in their transition. Another great program is the Halloween buddy program. As has been St. Martin’s tradition for over a decade, each year on Halloween the 8th-grade students walk with the Kindergarten students in a parade. Both the 8th grade and Kindergarten students dress in their costumes (the Kindergarteners are invariably adorable). The buddies meet once a week for several weeks prior to the occasion to get to know their buddies. Addison Hoover commented on her experience, “Buddies are fun! Why do you always have to go eat lunch? Do you have to go eat lunch? Can you just stay here?” It is always an inspiring sight to see the little Kindergarteners holding hands with the 8th graders on Halloween morning.

Overall, the buddy programs at St. Martin’s help teach older students leadership and respon sibility, while younger students have someone to lean on and look up to in the following years. Buddies also reinforce and extend the sense of community at St. Martin’s, and are a great experience for all who participate.

Our Student Family

8 BY CHARLIE DUERR, 8TH GRADE

AMILY. A FAMILY IS A GROUP OF RELATED PEOPLE who love, support, and trust in each other. Though we may not be related, we are family. The Alpha to Omega group at St. Martin’s Episcopal School is a group of students who have attended St. Martin’s for the past ten-plus years by the time they reach 8th grade. Through the years, we share experiences from finger painting, learning the ABCs, and having ice cream parties to learning important material, attending exciting school dances, and traveling to the Grand Canyon. As an Alpha to Omega member, I can easily say that we are all proud to be representatives of this incredible group. Even though starting our St. Martin’s career since Pre-K establishes a special connection between us, those who join in later years grow into our family as well. Growing up with fellow classmates for nearly a decade turns into more than just a friendship, but a bond that will stay with us for the rest of our lives. Around ten years ago, 31 kids in our Pre-Kindergarten class of 2010-2011 started our long journey through the St. Martin’s school community, not knowing where it would lead us. We made it through Early Childhood and had an amazing time through Elementary School with lots of great experiences such as compliment parties with Mrs. Boone in 2nd grade and the stock market game with Mrs. Coverstone in 4th grade. Fast forward to the year 2017, and we are a class of 66 in 5th grade, and we’re super excited to move into our next step in life as middle schoolers. Ms. Paulson, a teacher of 28 years at SMES, said it best, “Having students grow up together promotes great teamwork skills and enhances their abilities to collaborate. St. Martin’s students are great at supporting each other and working as a team.” As we started this school year as a class of 51 8th graders, we realized that growing up with a group of students who we love and in which we can trust has been a crucial part of our fundamental stages. And no one can accomplish a community like St. Martin’s can. From numerous day field trips in Elementary School and the exciting overnight trip to Skidaway Island to the retreats and three end-of-year trips in Middle School (including Washington D.C. and the Grand Canyon); these all gave us so much important time to get to know each other through the good and the bad. Being a part of a group where everyone knows everyone for multiple years has had many positive impacts on our daily lives. “I loved the Nantahala trip,’’ said John Madden, an 8th-grade student who started attending St. Martin’s in Kindergarten. “It was great because we had the opportunity to raft and have fun with our classmates.” “SMES allowed me to form strong relationships with all of my peers,” said Emerson Rand, another 8th-grade student who has attended St. Martin’s since Kindergarten. F

“I have grown great friendships and have learned to love the subjects that the teachers have taught,” said Connor Ziegler who has attended St. Martin’s since Pre-K. There are an overwhelming amount of students who would agree that growing up together for nearly a decade has formed such strong, unbreakable friendships that will last a lifetime, but has also formed a family between the students and faculty. I can speak for everyone in the class of 2020, especially our Alpha to Omega group, that leaving St. Martin’s will be one of the most difficult things we will face because of the years of memories, laughs, and lessons together. As 8th graders, we’ve all spent the past months gazing at many col orful, school brochures trying to find the right high school fit for us. We are deciding whether or not this new high school family will exceed the standards that have been set by St. Martin’s, or not. I am forever grateful to the SMES community for intentionally creating a sanctuary for us through education, worship, and opportunities. After graduation, when we start preparing for our first year of high school, we will know that our St. Martin’s family can never be separated because we are a family, and St. Martin’s is our home.

All Good Things Take Time

How St. Martin’s is Challenging Today’s Culture of Instant Gratification

by SARAH TAYLOR (MILLENNIAL)

COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR

LAZY. ENTITLED. IMPATIENT. These words, or those of similar sentiment, have been used by older generations for ages to describe the younger generations of their time. And history seems dead set on repeating itself. Hesiod, a Greek poet active between 750 and 650 B.C., said, “The present youth are exceedingly wise [disrespectful] and impatient of restraint.” In 1993, when Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) were coming of age and entering the workforce, The Washington Post published an article titled “The Boring Twenties” which stated, “What really distinguishes this generation from those before it is that it’s the first generation in American history to live so well and complain so bitterly about it.” In the crosshairs today is Generation Z (born after 1997), the generation succeeding Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996). Demographers have not yet reached a consensus on Generation Z’s ending birth year, but according to Bloomberg News, Gen Z is, “the group of kids, teens and young adults roughly between the ages of seven and 22 in 2019.” In other words, the children currently growing up in St. Martin’s Elementary School and Middle School are part of this cohort. Unlike their predecessors, this generation was introduced to digital technology at a very young age and intuitively use the Internet and social media. They do not recall a time before widespread availability of wireless Internet access and high-bandwidth cellular service. Fittingly, alternative names for them include Digital Natives, iGeneration (iGen), Gen Tech and Post-Millennial. While studies show that younger generations like Gen Z and Millennials spend more time “plugged in” than Gen X, Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation, the gap is rapidly closing. A 2016 Pew Research Center survey* showed that between 2012 and 2017 the number of senior citizens in the U.S. who owned smartphones nearly quadrupled. A cultural shift is happening that reaches beyond the U.S.’s younger populations, and with it comes both positive and negative consequences. Digital Responsibility,** a company created by a group of Silicon Valley tech employees dedicated to educating young people on the personal and public consequences of technology, indicates on their website that, “As our technology moves faster, our patience grows thinner...as people become too used to instant gratification in the virtual world it can lead to poor choices and major frustrations in the real world.” Although technology has been blamed for fostering a culture of instant gratification, the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) curriculum at SMES demonstrates how technology can be used to in

terrupt impatience and teach the importance of trial and error. “The STEAM curriculum encourages students to experience failure, revision, and success through innovative, inquiry-based projects,” says STEAM Coordinator Wade Hanse. “I like for students to understand that STEAM learning is about applying your current knowledge and experiences to predict outcomes in novel circumstances (projects). When the students fail, it is important to remind them that they are adding to their tool-box of experience and knowledge for the next challenge they encounter.”

Last fall, SMES 8th-grade technology students embarked on a semester-long STEAM project to design and build a 3D model of a city. Four challenging months separated the idea’s exciting inception and its actualization. Students utilized computer software to design each detail of the city; everything from the minute stop signs to the town hall building. They constructed the city’s foundation and surrounding mountainous landscape from papier-mâché before transforming their digital city designs into its physical components using the school’s 3D printer in the new Creation Studio (formerly known as the Technology Lab). In true STEAM fashion, the project progressed slowly. After the initial novelty wore off, students had to rally to push through software glitches, math miscalculations, design flaws and more. In the end, the project succeeded in leveraging modern technology while simultaneously working to dismantle the student’s frustration with the time investment required for trial and error. A true Gen Z accomplishment. St. Martin’s students also enjoy the opportunity to practice learning through “failure” beyond the STEAM curriculum, and even beyond the classroom. Extracurriculars at SMES, like the athletic and performing arts programs, are designed to build up participants’ abilities over a period of years. “You can’t learn a new skill overnight, says St. Martin’s Athletic Director Mark McDaniel. “Whether it’s a layup in basketball or an overhand serve in volleyball, a new skill takes time to learn. In St. Martin’s athletics, we measure success by the time and effort we put in and the improvement seen from the beginning to the end of the season. A team, or players, do not need to win awards or trophies in order to be considered successful.” St. Martin’s Director of Speech and Drama Heidi McKerley measures success similarly in her performing arts program. “Acting, singing and dancing are often about energy and knowing how to fill a space in order to tell a story fully,” she says. “It is tough for 5th- and 6th-grade performers to take the risk of putting that much energy out into the universe. However, by the time a stu

SMES 8th-grade technology students embarked on a semester-long STEAM project to design and build a 3D model of a city.

dent reaches the 7th or 8th grade, their technical skills, like matching pitch, and their willingness to ‘fail’ have greatly improved. That change in confidence and energy is huge to getting what you are after in drama, but it takes time for students to learn to let go of their fear and say, ‘I will survive no matter what happens, so I am going to GO FOR IT!’.” Even though St. Martin’s facilitates ways for its predominantly Gen Z student body to learn the value of revision and reflection, students still often grow frustrated with the time investment required in pursuing a challenging goal. “If this generation is struggling with trial and error, it is because the pace of the world they live in is faster than ever before,” says Hanse. “They want to hop from one trial to the next without pausing to be critical of the process.” Through no fault of their own, Gen Z students have been shaped and are being shaped by the instantaneous nature of today’s digital world. “Young people encounter the world and have to deal with it on its terms,” says Middle School Principal Tony Shaffer. “Our students work incredibly hard, they are focused and perseverant, and they probably feel more need to work and excel than is actually required of them. The conflict between Gen Z students and their predecessors is sometimes because what they strive for and value is not always what the adults in their lives value.”

As the world continues to move faster and faster, St. Martin’s curriculum and programs will continue to work to stay ahead of the curve; to encourage learners to slow down and savor the process, because after all, all good things take time.