Middle School: Grades 6–8

A center devoted to connecting learning and community. An array of classes focused on student-designed, college-level research. Ongoing opportunities for learners of all ages to solve real-world problems. A brand-new campus designed to promote innovation and collaboration. The outcomes of Rowland Hall’s newest strategic plan are numerous and impressive—and they’re still unfolding.

Today, the school is nearly four years into an estimated five-year strategic plan guided by an overarching vision, Developing People the World Needs, and centered on four bold strategic priorities that give students a meaningful head start academically and intellectually. Since the plan’s unveiling in April 2022, the school has regularly shared progress and outcomes from this work with the Rowland Hall community.

This diligent work from both faculty and school leadership has significantly elevated our school’s profile.—Brittney Hansen, assistant head of school for academics

“We made commitments to our community about this strategic work, and transparent reporting is essential to showing that we're following through,” said Brittney Hansen, assistant head of school for academics. “Strategic planning requires continuous assessment and iteration, and sharing that process openly creates genuine accountability. When we communicate both our progress and our areas for continued growth, we invite partnership and ensure that these priorities are driving real, lasting impact.”

When Brittney took on the assistant head role in July 2025, she knew it was important to gather the school’s progress into one place, both to illustrate what’s been accomplished and to identify gaps that need to be addressed before the plan wraps. With input from team members across the school, she assembled the Strategic Priority Four-Year Review, a record of how Rowland Hall has followed through on the commitments we’ve made to the community. First shared with parents and caregivers at this year’s State of the School on January 29, the review is available to all members of the community and reflects the ongoing impact of our strategic priorities on students, as well as their role in strengthening our reputation as a leading independent school.

“This diligent work from both faculty and school leadership has significantly elevated our school's profile,” said Brittney. “We've built deeper partnerships with the University of Utah, been featured in Independent School magazine multiple times, and continue to gain recognition as leaders in the delivery of rigorous, student-centered PreK–12 education.”

Read Rowland Hall’s Strategic Priority Four-Year Review (2022–2026)

Strategic Priorities

Every year, the Rowland Hall community gathers for the middle and upper school winter dance concert, an engaging event that showcases our dancers’ talent and creativity.

This annual dance concert is one of many traditions and rituals that connects the Rowland Hall community, making it an apt platform to explore this year’s theme, Immanent Flux, an exploration of the habits, rituals, and customs that help humans make meaning of our lives during times of change.

The theme was chosen during the dancers’ summer workshop, as students reflected on changes in their own community—particularly those that will occur when their divisions move to the Steiner Campus later this year.

“Students wanted to better understand what it meant to identify the parts of our daily life that leave a lasting texture on our memory, from the mundane to the supernatural,” said dance teacher Sophia Cutrubus ’18.

Listen to dancers talk about this year’s concert.

We invite you to join us as we explore rituals and traditions in Immanent Flux, the last winter dance concert on the Lincoln Street Campus. Performances will be held at 7 pm on Friday, February 6, and Saturday, February 7, in the Larimer Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are not required for entry, but a donation of $10 per attendee is suggested.

Arts

This month, Rowland Hall celebrated our fifth annual MLK Week, a time our community comes together in support of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of a world rooted in love, understanding, and solidarity. The 2026 event theme was Better Together.

This year’s MLK Week kicked off on January 14, with a community-wide event featuring writer and advocate Deepa Iyer, who shared her framework for social change and work around community building. Attendees were then treated to a performance by Bomba Marilé, an Afro Puerto Rican Bomba music and dance group.

Deepa and Bomba Marilé returned to campus the following day to support a daylong program for students. Beginning schoolers heard Deepa read from her children’s book, We Are the Builders!, and watched a short performance by Bomba Marilé. Lower schoolers also enjoyed a performance by the group before creating their own changemaker artifacts, which they shared in an on-campus parade. On the Lincoln Street Campus, middle and upper schoolers participated in storytelling, poetry, and music activities. These experiences, led by Deepa and fellow guest presenters Dee-Dee Darby Dufin and Ashley Finley, helped the students better understand the roles storytelling, art, and active engagement play in building better, more inclusive futures.

Finally, members of the Rowland Hall community gathered on January 19, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, in service and a call to action. Participants stocked, cleaned, and prepared food for the Crossroads Urban Center Food Pantry, as well as cleaned up the riverfront at the Tracy Aviary Nature Center at Pia Okwai. Others gathered for the Dr. King Rally and March at the University of Utah. Shout-out to Rowland Hall senior Imran Ibrahima, who was selected to read an essay he wrote about the power of affinity groups and being seen for who you are at the pre-march rally. Well done, Imran!

Community

“Warning,” reads a new sticker recently spotted at the Middle School. “Social media is one of the most addictive creations that mankind has ever made. Exercise caution while using.”

Designed by sixth grader Ethan S. and created in the style of a surgeon general warning, this sticker is one of several projects produced this fall by students in Danny Schmidt’s Foundations of Media Literacy class (others include personal narratives, video reflections, and analog social media photos shot on a Polaroid camera).

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“We top off the class with a media project—something fun that ties the learning together and lets students put something back into the world they find interesting,” Danny explained.

The Middle School is committed to helping students build practices that will help them stay safe online, understand the long-term consequences of digital footprints, and responsibly and skillfully navigate platforms and mediums.

Media literacy is a fundamental skill for today’s students, and while most sixth graders don’t yet have cell phones (Danny’s in-class surveys find it’s fewer than 20%), it’s inevitable that most will by the time they enter high school. Because of this, the Middle School is committed to helping students build practices that will help them stay safe online, understand the long-term consequences of digital footprints, and responsibly and skillfully navigate platforms and mediums, particularly in an age of misinformation and artificial intelligence.

“The point isn’t to scare the kids, but to let them know this is a big world,” said Danny. “I want them to be a little more self-aware about phones and what they do—and maybe more heads up and cynical.”

Through engaging discussion and activities, Danny prepares sixth graders to be critical thinkers online. They talk about safety and red-flag scenarios, and how to verify claims and find sources, whether they’re looking at a news story or TikTok video. One particularly eye-opening exercise happens during a discussion of AI, when students take the New York Times quiz “Which Faces Were Made by AI?” Everyone is surprised by how tricky it is.

Just as they build sharper critical-thinking skills online, students also learn how to protect their mental well-being in a digital world. Aware of how much sixth graders have going on in their brains, Danny encourages them to reflect on their values, both online and in real life, especially when it comes to friendship, a key part of adolescence. Students further explore how phones, apps, and digital platforms are designed to be addictive, and how they can reinforce thinking traps, or negative thought patterns.

“A constant use of tech puts things in our heads: inadequacy, constant comparison, shoulds,” said Danny. “We all fall victim to thought traps, but we can’t let them dominate us.”

Media literacy is one of four Foundations classes taken by every sixth grader at Rowland Hall. First introduced in the 2010s under the leadership of then Middle School Principal Tyler Fonarow, Foundations has become a major component of how the division prepares new middle schoolers for success, both instilling necessary skills and preparing them for secondary-level learning.

“The idea behind Foundations is to make the fifth-to-sixth-grade transition smoother and more welcoming to sixth graders,” said sixth-grade math teacher Chad Obermark, known as Mr. O.

The idea behind Foundations is to make the fifth-to-sixth-grade transition smoother and more welcoming to sixth graders.—Chad Obermark, sixth-grade math teacher

That’s because while seventh and eighth graders are ready to take more ownership of their learning, including by choosing several of their classes from the Middle School’s wide variety of extension and elective courses, sixth graders aren’t yet ready for as many choices. While their older peers choose up to six classes each year, sixth graders start by choosing only their world language and period 1 extension—an approach that bridges the elementary-style schedule they’re used to and schedules in grades 7–12. Foundations further ease this transition by giving students a glimpse of the elective experience, explored within a consistent cohort of peers.

“I felt like we all bonded,” said Elliot R., who took media literacy this fall, about learning with her cohort.

In addition to media literacy, sixth graders study computer science, which explores digital citizenship, computational thinking, AI, and coding, and health and wellness, which focuses on social and emotional growth and the development of interpersonal skills. The fourth area of study, debate, builds skills around public speaking, effective argumentation, and reflective listening—and has the added benefit of introducing students to one of the school’s signature programs.

“Rowland Hall has always valued the debate program because of its strong record of competitive success, but also because of how debaters perform in the classroom,” said Mike Shackelford, who has taught Foundations of Debate since 2014.

Like all Foundations topics, debate greatly benefits all students—in this case, shaping them into stronger communicators, researchers, thinkers, and advocates who effectively contribute across all their classes. Whether or not students choose to pursue debate after sixth grade, Mike’s goal is that everyone leaves the class feeling more confident and comfortable in public-speaking situations, knowing how to craft effective arguments and deliver them persuasively, and able to appreciate and analyze the perspectives of others.

It’s clear when talking with this year’s sixth graders that the goals of these classes are hitting the mark. The current group of debate students, for instance, is quick to call out the many things they’ve learned about themselves by taking the class. Pallavi L. said it helped her realize that she really enjoys public speaking, while Emily M. said it’s shown her she’s a good writer and strengthened her presentation skills. Many also talk about the transferable nature of the subject.

“It teaches many portable skills—skills that you can take with you and use for the rest of your life,” said Gavin F. “Debate enhances your confidence, improves your critical-thinking skills, teaches you how to research in depth, and makes you want to challenge yourself more.”

Importantly, sixth graders notice the care and intentionality behind Foundations, a program that’s designed to make them feel supported, understood, and ready to step into middle school with confidence. Student Christian S. may have said it best when expressing his gratitude for his first Foundations experience.

“I’d like to give a big shout-out to all the sixth-grade teachers for welcoming us into middle school with open arms and big smiles,” he said.

Academics