By Melanie Leggett, Director of Admissions
From an Admissions standpoint, opening our Middle School has been quite a ride. I’ve had moments of glory, moments of adversity, and everything in between. From creating applications, to learning the details of a new program, to figuring out just what a middle school shadow day should look like, my job has never been boring. All along this road, a bright beacon of light has been seeing the Friends School mission and vision come to life in our middle school students, and seeing how 6th, 7th, and 8thgraders thrive when they are challenged academically, and at the same nurtured and honored for who they are.
The most recent “mission moment” that I have had the honor of experiencing in our middle school has been working with Kevin, Shelby, and members of the enrollment committee to bring a student ambassador program to fruition. This program aims to formalize student involvement in our admissions process by developing leadership skills and representing our school during tours, shadow days, prospective parent information meetings, and events.
Selfishly, having these ambassadors will make my job easier, because they are some seriously kind, bright, thoughtful, and engaging kids. Seeing the amount of time, effort, and care that each student put into the application process was one of the true highlights of my year. The process involved a paper application and an interview (a first for almost every applicant), and we were wowed by how much the applicants rose to the occasion. They were responsible, articulate, inspiring, sweet, and funny. I learned a lot from their answers – about them as people, and about our amazing school.
In the end, the only challenge was that we wished we could choose every single student who applied. For this inaugural year, I’d like to present our student ambassadors:
7thgrade– Makena McComb, Agi Willis, and Cedar Wine
8thgrade– Audrey Adler, Charlotte Commons, Allison Hoeffler, Avery Lidge, and Tori Schell
As we kick off our training, I thought I would share a few excerpts from their applications with our greater community. Enjoy, and schedule a tour of our middle school someday soon to meet these rockstar students!
“I am not going to lie to you middle school is a lot harder than elementary school. It is a big step, but what helped me at Friends was how supportive everyone is. I think at Friends the teachers and students are always there for you in a way I think is really special and most middle schools don’t have the capacity to create that kind of environment.”
“At Friends, teachers not only teach in diverse ways so that every student can understand topics, they also help each student understand how they can learn best. I think this is a really important skill to have by the time you go to high school.”
“I would begin to describe how the community at Friends is very trusting, accepting, and diverse. I would say that everyone is allowed to be who they are, and no one will judge them for that.”
“I know that when I was coming to Friends I had no idea what to expect. This was very nerve-wracking. When I finally came relief flooded over me. I realized that the teachers were almost the nicest on the planet and seemed to somehow understand everything you were going through. This of course made coming to school very easy. I very quickly made friends and still enjoy every day.”
