Middle school can be a time of big transitions, awkward changes, and shifting social dynamics.

But at GFS, Middle School is also perceived as a time of great possibility, when students’ intrepid curiosity and growing sense of themselves converge with a grasp of complex topics and a desire to ask nuanced questions. 

As Keino Terrell, Head of Middle School at GFS, puts it: “Middle schoolers are in this mode of self exploration, figuring out who they are, how they learn in community, and what they bring to the table.”

Guided by Terrell’s innovative leadership style, Middle School administrators and faculty have co-created two signature programs that tap into and leverage the creativity and inquisitiveness of students at this developmental stage. These are: Middle School Mini-Courses and Eighth Grade Capstone Projects. 

Mini-Courses: A Week of Dynamic Deep Dives

GFS Middle School Mini-Courses pose the query: How deeply can I learn about something when I’m given the time to focus solely on it?

Similar to January Term in the Upper School, when faculty and students break from regular schedules to take deep dives into specific subjects, Mini-Courses are one-week intellectual excursions that take place every March before Spring Break. 

Faculty dream up and design immersive courses, and students choose from an exciting catalog of options. Some 2024 Mini-Course topics, which were all centered around the theme of joy, included “The Joy of Art and Dance,” “The Joy of Making Shadow Boxes,” and “The Joy of Architecture and Design.” Each workshop-style class is built from the ground up by the faculty, and gives students the opportunity to learn in mixed-grade environments and interact with teachers they might not have met yet.

“The Joy of Birds and Flight” was a joint effort between Erin Funck, Middle School Learning & Assessment Specialist, Rachel Fuld, Middle and Upper School woodshop teacher, and Gregor Kelsey, Middle School science teacher. 

Through a rigorous planning process, the trio created a week-long Mini-Course with a curriculum that included both organized and gently unstructured components. The result was a classroom setting where each student could explore their own curiosity, while learning from the teachers and one another.

“One part of the class assignment let the kids choose their own activities—we had a kid crocheting birds, another kid felting, and another who built these incredibly intricate wings,” said Funck. “It was a reminder that sometimes when you let kids self-direct, that’s often when they do their best work.” 

Mini-Courses also offer faculty avenues to ideate and collaborate across disciplines, connect with new colleagues and students, and step outside of their normal routines.

Heather Chu Marvill, Middle School art teacher, and Jessa Werner, Middle School science teacher, have been colleagues at GFS since 2008, but had never directly worked together until the 2023 Mini-Courses session. That year, they co-taught a Mini-Course about mycology, and decided to team up again in 2024. This time, it was to teach “The Joy of Paleontology,” blending their practices to create engaging hands-on activities like making ceramic aquatic dinosaurs, excavating fossils, and matching animal skulls to their corresponding species.  

“I love to teach like this—the more interdisciplinary work we can do, the more real world connections the kids can make,” Werner said. “It’s also great that when Heather would take the lead on a lesson, I’d be learning along with the students.” 

The team-teaching model in the Mini-Courses also means that teachers can take students off-campus in bigger groups. The Paleontology class went on field trips to The Academy of Natural Sciences to sketch dinosaur skeletons and to Big Brook Nature Preserve in New Jersey to dig for real fossils in stream beds. 

Off-campus trips are part of most Mini-Courses; while some groups stay closer to campus, language-focused and cultural immersion Mini-Courses allow students to travel as far as Quebec, Vancouver, and Spain. 

“Middle School students are so social, and we love giving them the chance to go beyond the boundaries of campus to have experiences together,” said Chelsea Koehler, GFS’ Middle School Student Activities Coordinator. “That relationship-building weaves invisible webs in our community, and makes the division stronger.” 

Zohar Pinto ’30 was in sixth grade when she participated in “The Joy of Sleeping Outdoors” Mini-Course, which included an overnight camping trip in the Poconos. The group, chaperoned by two teachers, went on a six-hour hike on the Appalachian Trail, taking an impromptu dip in a lake and holding a mountain-top Meeting for Worship along the way.

At night, they set up a telescope at the campsite for stargazing. Despite the evening chill, Pinto and a friend eschewed tents in favor of sleeping in hammocks in the open air.

“I think about that experience almost every day, it was so beautiful,” Zohar said. “Being outdoors and experiencing nature helped me access a part of myself [in a way] that I don’t really get to do a lot.”
 
Eighth Grade Capstone Projects: Asking (and Answering) Burning Questions

The other signature Middle School program is the Eighth Grade Capstone Project, a unique introduction to self-directed study. Every eighth grader undertakes a months-long endeavor to engage with an inquiry-based project of their choosing through hands-on or experiential work. 

The process begins each fall when the students are given journaling prompts during advisory, like “I’m happiest when…” and “I’ve always wondered about…” which helps spark their curiosity. Then, in November, they select one specific question that becomes the nucleus of their Capstone Project.

The students spend time fleshing out their questions and then developing a proposal to guide their project, which is presented to their advisor and then to parents or caregivers at conferences in the fall.

Students are organized into groups that share similar or related questions and topics. These groups are supported by adults in the community, mostly GFS faculty, who are specialists in relevant subjects. These adults meet with the students throughout the year to lend expertise and mentorship.

“We partner with the students and advisors to help them pull their plans off,” said Rachel Reynolds, GFS Eighth Grade Dean. “Right out of the gate, we’re talking to kids in a really individualized way: You ask the question, and we’ll connect you with resources to figure it out.” 

From inquiry to execution, the process is entirely student-led.

“The kids get to have agency over project planning—they get to be their own boss,” Reynolds said. “This speaks to where they are at this age.”

Every May, students hold a preview for seventh graders, and then welcome friends and family to campus for the annual Eighth Grade Capstone Showcase. The students set up trifold presentations, and any other physical components of their projects, in classrooms and common spaces in the Hargroves Student Center and the Wade Science Center.

In the 2023-24 school year, the Capstone Project topics were wide-ranging, including questions about identity, science, art, food, and sustainability.

Noa Abrams ’28 based her project on the question: “Who am I really?” She started by submitting a DNA test to ancestry.com, which traced her ethnicity to nearly a dozen African countries. Then, she cooked and shared three dishes that represented the nations where the DNA test reported her highest ethnicity percentages: jollof rice from Nigeria, riz gras from Burkina Faso, and puff puff from Cameroon. 

“I was really excited to get the results,” Abrams said of the DNA test. “My family has never used ancestry.com, so we all got to learn about our background.”
 
Minny Golderg ‘28 channeled her passion for birding into a hand-illustrated field guide of the breeding songbirds of Philadelphia.

Ian McNiff ’28 asked, “Can I build an improved model of Lincoln Financial Field?” and answered by constructing a cardboard miniature of the stadium with improved accessibility and sustainability features.

“Can I make a Victorian evening gown out of newspaper?” sent Giulia Di Benedetto ’28 on an epic fashion quest. Throughout this time-consuming project, she learned how to subdivide large projects and work consistently over months; how to draft patterns and take measurements; and how to create strong materials from newsprint.    

Will Brawner ’28 and Alexander Kranzel ’28, who created the first collaborative Eighth Grade Capstone Project, asked “Can We Run a Successful Basketball Clinic?”

Over the winter, the duo organized a two-week basketball workshop for seventh graders, which met three times each week. They both agreed that their clinic helped them realize how challenging coaching is, and how much there is to teach in athletics beyond physical fundamentals.

“We noticed that a lot of the kids in our clinic improved at things like leadership and building relationships,” said Kranzel. “We also learned how important it is to listen when you’re a coach.” 

Terrell notes that a key component of the Capstone Projects is preparing GFS eighth graders for the self-guided assignments ahead in Upper School and beyond. 

“There are two strands coming together here: the kids are getting to know themselves as learners and making choices, and they’re learning to work with adult experts,” Terrell said. “By the time they get to Upper School, they’re so ready to do Junior Projects.”

The Capstones also provide a platform to highlight and acknowledge each student’s talents and passions before their Middle School experience comes to a close.

“The students have a real sense of pride in their work, and they really support one another, showing genuine curiosity about the pursuits of their peers,” Terrell said. “Every kid gets to shine bright during the Capstone Showcase. It’s such a celebratory way to be in community together.”