Grade 8

The eighth grade year is defined by the secondary school placement experience, which students and parents both come to see as a revelatory and rewarding endeavor. For most students, this is their first opportunity to make a life-defining decision, and the process leading up to that decision helps students—and their parents—to know themselves in a new way. They explore new academic institutions and think critically about how they might fit in, or stand out, at a new place. All of the preparation that has come before meets its purpose, and students embrace the challenge and excitement of setting their own course.

Though their sights may be set further ahead, eighth graders revel in their position as senior students. They are leaders who recognize the part they play as role models to students two, and four, and 10 years younger. Building gingerbread houses with 3- and 4-year-old nursery students, reading with first grade friends, or assisting fifth graders with their first science fair project, our eighth graders embrace opportunities for playfulness and mentorship.

I have the luxury and privilege of teaching students who have been exceedingly well prepared as readers and writers, thanks to the outstanding work of the faculty in the younger grades.”
Joan Wentworth, Eighth Grade English and Latin
Faculty Since 2000