This is Us!  A Home for Middle School

When middle school students returned in August, they found a place of their own on the K-12 campus. During the summer, the EMS community pulled together for a “Moving Day” to create a middle school hub on the upper floor of the Auditorium Building. It’s now a space where the middle school principal, teachers, and students regularly interact and collaborate, a place to navigate the distinctive developmental years together as their own community. 

Building community

Strategically, EMS has been in conversation about ways to support grades 6-8 within the broader school. Erika Gascho joined as Middle School principal last year and heard the ongoing questions of “Where does the middle school live? Where do we belong?” The middle school team, along with school administrators, facilities department, and high school teachers, grappled with the questions of how to move forward. Ms. Gascho recalls, “Together, we envisioned how we could use the spaces we already had in the school to have a place where middle school can say ‘THIS IS US!’” 

The school wide classroom shuffle also resulted in high school departments grouping together in other locations. Karen Suderman’s classroom is now located in close proximity to Ben Bixler and Nathan Hershberger on the hallway outside the dining hall, providing for informal interactions in the Bible Department. “It’s nice there’s a sense of collegiality in the department and we can easily kick ideas around being so close together!” Ms. Suderman reflects. 

Jodi Herzler took the opportunity to design the layout and furnishings of her new space in the old art room to support her roles as both high school English Teacher and College Counselor. Her students’ desks are surrounded by rugs, lamps, reading nooks, and cozy tables set for talking about college opportunities which makes the space flexible yet inviting. She’s still neighbors with fellow high school English teacher, Mary Cranston, who also made the move downstairs, allowing for continued collaboration.  

Shaping identity

As the school year is underway, students are navigating the new layout and finding benefits of the changes. “We really want to keep the interactions and community that happens across the grade levels and there’s still many opportunities in chapel, lunchroom, and Bigs and LIttles program,” Ms. Gascho emphasizes. “However, we are seeing opportunities that we didn’t even anticipate with the proximity of having the classrooms together. The middle school team is really checking in with each other and supporting our students. I see us setting up a strong foundation for high school and beyond.” 

Middle school students are living into that belonging as they linger in their hallway, deciphering the photos of their teachers as middle schoolers on the bulletin boards. They dart in Ms. Gascho’s office for a mint between classes and chat with friends they pass. Eighth grader, Zach Powell, notes, “The move makes everything so easy. My friends and classes are always near and it’s less chaotic than moving all over the school.”