2024-2025
Volume 28, Issue 1
About U.S.
A Publishing Tradition of the Unquowa School
A Message From the Head of School
W
hether I’m meeting with families when they visit Unquowa for the first time or I am meeting with current Unquowa parents who are thinking of leaving Unquowa before graduation to jumpstart their child’s high school experience, the position I often find myself in is that of defending the PreK-
Our younger students watch our eighth graders give capstone speeches at weekly assemblies and imagine what they will say when they are in eighth grade. They also see our eighth graders serve as editors and contributors to a continuously national awardwinning literary magazine, and they practice copying
8 setting as the experience that best supports the growth of a student through early adolescence. I’m usually defending that position to folks who worry that it might be hard to get into their high school of choice after middle school, so a “done and dusted” entry at kindergarten or an early exit before middle school seems like the practical solution. But I’m a “data over impression” kind of person, and the data says that’s not so — at least not at Unquowa. Here at Unquowa we typically see, year after year, our eighth graders accepted into their best-fit first choice of independent day and boarding high schools, including those applying to schools considered the most academically rigorous in the area. Because we take our high school placement role seriously, we follow up to see how our Unquowa graduates do at their high schools once enrolled. The good news is that they succeed because they are well prepared. How are they prepared? The consistent feedback we get from high schools is that Unquowa grads know who they are as learners, advocate for themselves confidently, and have strong moral compasses. They do well because they have come from our small PreK-8 school, not despite it. The consistent counter-intuitive truth that often surprises people is that students who grow and learn in a PreK-8 environment like Unquowa are able to “bake at their own rate” and arrive at high school having already experienced the convincing power of school leadership with a mental backpack that holds the academic and social emotional essentials for being successful.
that in their own Lower School literary magazine. They watch the eighth graders perform in leading roles and completely run the tech in our gold-standard Spring Musicals, and they emulate what they see in their own mini-musicals. Our younger students see our eighth grade create Voices of Change installation art and imagine the world causes that they will highlight when they themselves are empowered eighth graders. Of course, as is always the case with great art, the message is in the eye of the beholder, and age impacts one’s vision. A powerful Voices of Change piece built by Claire Roberts ‘20, who is now a first year student at Yale, has cherished permanent residence in the small gallery outside my office. It grimly but beautifully portrays a series of polar bears — from a full bear on an iceberg to a mere paw as a bear sinks into the ocean. It is entitled “The Polar Express to Extinction.” Recently, a second grader was heard explaining the piece to two four year olds as they peered over the ledge where the installation lives. The second grader gently touched each bear, starting with the tiny, sinking paw and working her way up to the full, powerful bear. “This is you when you were a tiny baby, this is you when you were very young… and growing, and this is you now when you are all grown up!” Understanding comes as we are ready for it, and what better place to begin practicing that process and leaving empowered to take on the world than in a school like Unquowa?
- Sharon Lauer, Head of School