Student Groups

Grades 5-8 are divided into Blue and White Teams. Each team has two leaders; the students earn points for their team by achieving high honors or honors in academics, competing in athletic and other contests, and performing community service. We find that the teams encourage responsibility and good citizenship in the school.

Check out our Lower School Highlights:

Recycling Right at Lower School
In addition to recycling paper, cardboard, aluminum, and plastic at the Lower School, our Environmental Club sponsors Crayola ColorCycle and also TerraCycle recycling. We recycle all marker types, mechanical pencils, pens, plastic tape centers and Elmer’s glue containers.

Green STEM
• Annual Global Cardboard Challenge/Global Day of Play: open to community, this event is all about having fun with games and art created by upcycling cardboard.
• Annual Tesla cars visits and presentations on both campuses led by Bill Hinko ‘82
• Continuing our partnership with Forty Fort Shade Tree Commission and Forester Vincent Cotrone: our students have helped to plant trees on the streets surrounding the school for more than twenty years, most recently on Murray Street.

Lower School Grades 3-8 Environmental Club Highlights
• “Breathe Easy” program: spider plant donations were made to classrooms and information was shared about how they improve indoor air quality.
• Continuation of our t-shirt bags program: We continue to convert donated t-shirts to t-shirt bags in an effort to promote the reduction of plastic bag use
• Environmental Club green crafts parties during the holidays
• Annual Earth Day dress-down day to raise money for future green Sem projects and the following local and global charities: World Wildlife Federation (Earth Hour sponsor), North Branch Land Trust, Lackawanna Sanctuary reforestation, Blue Chip Farm no-kill animal refuge, and Earthday Network’s Trees for Earth

 

 

 

 

The student government membership consists of one representative from each homeroom in grades 5-7 and two Blue Team Leaders and two White Team Leaders from the eighth grade. In the late spring, elections are held to choose representatives for the coming year. Nominations are made, a debate by candidates follows, and finally the election takes place. Fifth-grade elections are held during each trimester of the students’ fifth-grade year; representatives in fifth grade rotate each term.

Student Government Eligibility:

1.) Students must have a C average (5.0) or above to run.
2.) Students may not run if they have more than three detentions or violations.
3.) Students must be approved as candidates by the team of teachers at that grade level.

Responsibilities:

• The student must be a positive role model for all middle-school students.
• The student must maintain an academic average of 5.0 or above.
• The student must present results of homeroom meetings in student government meetings.
• The student must be involved in at least one extracurricular activity.
• The student must maintain fewer than three detentions or dress code/gum violations.

If, once elected, a student government member has trouble maintaining this standard, appropriate steps will be taken in the best interest of the school and the student.