Middle School: Grades 6–8

Welcome, Winged Lions!

Rowland Hall is thrilled to welcome students and families to our campuses for the 2023–2024 school year.

The year kicked off on Wednesday, August 23, with smiles, hugs, and excitement. As students and families poured onto campus, they were greeted by an enthusiastic team of faculty and staff, said hello to old friends (and met new ones), and, for many of our youngest learners, gave a hug or a high-five to Roary, our trusty school mascot. And as the week went on, students had even more opportunities to connect, settle in, and prepare for an exceptional year of learning, including by gathering for Convocation and our annual Back to School Bash. Alumni even got in on the fun at the All-Class Reunion.

We invite you to enjoy some of the images captured during the first days of school.

Community

On June 1 and 2, visitors to Rowland Hall’s Eccles Library on the Lincoln Street Campus were treated to an exciting opportunity to step into Utah’s past.

Around the room, 30 prototypes of museum exhibits, designed by eighth graders, showcased fascinating areas of Utah history, including homages to the state’s extreme sports, performance and public art, inventors, and local activist movements, among other topics. There was even an exhibit that recreated the area around Delicate Arch and one designed in the style of a Navajo hogan.

As visitors made their way around the library, poring over the models, students shared how and why they decided on their ideas, as well as fun tidbits—for example, the group behind an exhibit on the history of the Utah governor’s mansion shared that a Christmas tree sparked a fire in the mansion in 1993, while the group behind Pixel Pioneers, an exhibit dedicated to Utah’s long connection to the tech industry, introduced visitors to the Utah teapot, a 3D test model created in 1975 by University of Utah researcher Martin Newell that’s become a standard reference object in the computer graphics community.

This event was the culmination of a month-long learning opportunity designed by Mary Jo Marker, eighth-grade American studies teacher, and Brady Smith, eighth-grade English teacher, that asked students to think about the role museums play in society, and allowed them to connect with historians from the Utah Department of Cultural and Community Engagement (CCE), who are currently designing a new state history museum that’s scheduled to open in 2026. The teaching team wanted to give students a chance to pitch their own ideas for museum exhibits to CCE, believing the opportunity would help them think beyond an audience of their teachers and peers, as well as connect their ideas to the larger community through this real-world opportunity.

We wanted them to understand their ideas have value and to think outside the classroom box for their audience.—Mary Jo Marker, eighth-grade American studies teacher

“We wanted them to understand their ideas have value and to think outside the classroom box for their audience,” explained Mary Jo.

To kick off the project in early May, the eighth graders met with Kat Potter, a former Rowland Hall faculty member and a current parent, who is now deputy director of the CCE. Kat partnered with Mary Jo and Brady during the year to design the project, and during her visit she shared with students the need for the museum and what her team is working on, then invited the group to pitch their own exhibit ideas. “Their challenge was to make an engaging, interactive exhibit,” said Mary Jo.

To help the students prepare to take on that challenge, Mary Jo and Brady held in-class discussions about the role of museums and what makes for engaging exhibits, and had students interview community members, including Rowland Hall fourth graders who have been studying Utah history and residents of the Columbus Senior Center, to get their ideas about what would be interesting in a state history museum. The students also had the chance to analyze current exhibits at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art and a variety of national museums during their visit to Washington, DC, and to reflect on which exhibits were engaging, which were not, and why. This helped them as they began working on their own exhibit pitches and making decisions about how to engage viewers with the people and events that have shaped the state.

Best of all, the real-world connection to the future museum helped to deepen learning and drive students, who knew they may be contributing ideas that will influence the team of historians. It’s clear the teachers are proud of what the students came up with and how their work may potentially help shape the museum.

School is often fully teacher-facing, but I think having students prepare a big project for the outside world is motivating, and hopefully gives a different perspective.—Brady Smith, eighth-grade English teacher

“We were incredibly happy with how the project went,” said Brady. “We had an excellent turnout from parents, community members, and staff from the Department of Cultural Engagement. The latter gave the kids great feedback and suggested that the projects would impact their thinking about the museum going forward.”

Brady added that he also hoped that this opportunity has helped the eighth graders understand how the past year of studies applies to the bigger world and will inspire them to continue to think of ways they can share their knowledge beyond the classroom.

“School is often fully teacher-facing, but I think having students prepare a big project for the outside world is motivating, and hopefully gives a different perspective,” he said. “I hope they see how everything we’ve done throughout eighth grade has concrete applications to public-facing work.”

Authentic Learning

Every year, sixth graders at Rowland Hall read The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton as a central part of their English curriculum.

It’s not an easy book. In case you haven’t read it, or it’s been a while, this coming-of-age novel deals with some heavy topics: class warfare, education, friendship, love, and death. It’s a lot to handle, and at times can seem overwhelming. Luckily, the students have had Mary Lawlor there to lead them through.

“It’s a novel where they can’t believe these things keep happening. There’s a lot of tragedy,” Mary said. “There are times when they look at me like, ‘Are we old enough to be reading this?’ and I let them know they’ve got it.”

Mary knows her students can handle the tough stuff because she has the unique gift of really understanding sixth graders. It's not a talent many people have.

Mary knows her students can handle the tough stuff because she has the unique gift of really understanding sixth graders. It’s not a talent many people have, as parents, teachers, and even sixth graders themselves will tell you. After all, sixth grade is a weird stage of life. These kids are in middle school now—and once again the youngest in the building. They have to go to several classrooms a day and deal with multiple teachers. Friend groups may be in flux, and, to top it all off, puberty may be starting to hit. They all feel like outsiders at one point or another. But Mary lets them know she’s there for them, because in many ways, she's one of them—often seen as the oldest sixth grader at Rowland Hall.

“She has the gift of being able to be so vulnerable in front of her students and so open,” said colleague Mary Jo Marker. “That allows students to be vulnerable as well, and to allow themselves to be seen. She has a knack for seeing a child for who they are.”

Sixth graders share Mary Jo’s sentiments. When you ask these students about Mary, they tell you about how she empowers them, allowing them to set individual goals, work through problems, and learn to express themselves. “She’s really supportive,” said sixth grader Sasha L. “She lets you have your ideas and have control of what you are doing.”

Mary also brought this approach to coaching students, whether on the volleyball court or the cross-country field. “She let us pick our own personal goals and it could be anything we wanted as long as we worked towards it,” said sixth grader Adrian J. “When we reached our goals she congratulated us and let us know how well we did.”

And Mary’s interpersonal gifts extended beyond her students to the benefit of the entire Rowland Hall community. Her colleagues describe her as the school’s cheerleader, who is always willing to step in and help, give advice, or just be there with a smile and a hug.

"Mary is a model for what a citizen should be in our community. She’s always willing to do whatever needs to be done,” said Lincoln Street Campus Director of Arts Sofia Gorder. “She doesn’t talk about it, she just does it, and her actions speak louder than words to encourage others to do the same.”

Mary is a model for what a citizen should be in our community. She’s always willing to do whatever needs to be done. She doesn’t talk about it, she just does it, and her actions speak louder than words to encourage others to do the same.—Sofia Gorder, director of arts

Middle School Assistant Principal Charlotte Larsen said it is uncanny how Mary is able to anticipate the needs of others. “She was my mentor during my first year of teaching. One day we had been working hard, and she looked at me and said, ‘You’ve bonked, you need to go home,’ and she was absolutely right,” Charlotte said. “She does that for so many people. She sees them and she understands what they need.”

Mary has been at Rowland Hall for 27 years and is moving on to new adventures. She knows it won’t be easy, though. She said she “grew up at Rowland Hall.” In her time here she hasn’t just been a teacher and coach, but also a parent: her two sons and two stepdaughters are all proud Rowland Hall graduates and all, at one time, got to be her students.

“I always have had Mary as a teacher,” said senior Mikel Lawlor of life with his mom. “But I was really excited when I finally got to be in her classroom because I had seen in the past how people were just magnetized to her.”

That magnetism is evident when you watch Mary with her students. It is not uncommon to see a swarm of them around her as she walks down the hall. They come to her not only to talk about assignments and the books they are reading, but also issues they may be having or the cool new sneakers that just dropped. It isn’t just current students either: you can often find former students hanging out in her room because they remember their time with Mary as sixth graders, and how she truly appreciated them.

“I think sixth graders are the funniest things that have ever walked the earth. They are so eager and silly and gross,” Mary said of the student group she has taught for more than two decades. “This is the year when they straddle childhood and young adulthood and are in the middle of it all. The juxtaposition of that and how they handle their learning and how they manage themselves is so charming and so magical.”

Mary Lawlor saw magic in the kids she taught, and made sure the only outsiders in her classroom were in the pages of a book. Her students will never forget that.

People

“I am so ready to retire,” said Mary Jo Marker.

It was 1 am, and she had just arrived at the Salt Lake International Airport with 80 eighth graders in tow after spending a week on a tour of Washington, DC. It was one of numerous trips Mary Jo has taken with students over her 27-year tenure at Rowland Hall. This trip was different, though, because it was her last.

Mary Jo is, in fact, retiring.

Mary Jo’s tenure at Rowland Hall began in a strange way. She was taking education classes at the University of Utah and had to present a US history lesson plan in the classroom of her professor, who was also a teacher at Rowland Hall. The next thing she knew, she was being asked to teach a full section of the course to a group of Rowland Hall 10th graders.

From the very beginning Mary Jo wanted to improve her skills and never stopped pushing herself.—Alan Sparrow, former head of school

“The teacher quit, and they needed someone to step in,” she said. “It would never happen now, but I don’t think I even had a contract for more than a week after I started teaching.”

That trial by fire experience shaped the teacher Mary Jo would become. She started learning on the job and hasn’t stopped since. She is a teacher who doesn’t believe in coasting, but instead has always been up for a challenge—and is always ready to learn something new. “From the very beginning Mary Jo wanted to improve her skills and never stopped pushing herself,” said former Head of School Alan Sparrow. “She was and is an outstanding teacher. It was a joy and a privilege to work with her.”

Mary Jo’s pursuit of excellence is something she has pushed for her students as well. US history can be a difficult subject, and there are many parts that can be uncomfortable or difficult to comprehend, but Mary Jo doesn’t try to sugarcoat hard truths or dumb down complicated material. She believes in the abilities of her students. “Ms. Marker is very matter of fact when she talks to us,” said eighth grader Meg H. “She lets us know exactly what she expects from us, and that she knows we can do it.”

It's been more than two decades since he was in her classroom, but Nate Kogan ’00 remembers Mary Jo the same way. “She had high expectations of us as a class and left a lot of responsibility in our hands,” he said. “She empowered us to rise to a higher bar of intellectual challenge.”

Nate now teaches history at Rowland Hall—in fact, he teaches the same course once taught to him by Mary Jo, and her methods made an impact on him. When he was first teaching at a school in Texas, he remembered, he went back through his high school materials to try to “reverse engineer” lesson plans and emulate Mary Jo.

“She demonstrated how important it is to have high lofty goals for your students and know that they are totally capable of reaching them. That confidence in students is a really empowering thing to provide,” Nate said. “It’s something I felt from her and something I have tried to convey in my own classroom.”

She demonstrated how important it is to have high lofty goals for your students and know that they are totally capable of reaching them. That confidence in students is a really empowering thing to provide. It’s something I felt from her and something I have tried to convey in my own classroom.—Nate Kogan ’00, Upper School history teacher

Mary Jo’s teaching hasn’t only happened in the classroom. She’s led kids on adventures all over the state and the nation, and these are some of her favorite memories. She has been on multiple class trips filled with long bus rides and rainy campsites. She’s taken part in Interim trips, including sailing in San Diego, golfing in Palm Springs, or the “Tour de Tooele,” which had her and Paul Christensen leading a pack of kids on bikes through Utah’s West Desert. “These were the experiences that became grand stories for the students later,” she said. “The best were the ones where I came and thought, ‘This is hell, and I love it.’”

Mary Jo’s other treasured memories from her time at the school don’t come from big events, but from little moments such as student interactions in the hall or small talk in the faculty lounge. She also recalled the impact of having her own kids attend Rowland Hall. “I had to learn to keep my professional hat on and let them have the experience of other kids, not rush in and be a mama bear,” she said. “I also got to learn a lot by seeing my colleagues as my kids’ teachers.”

Now it’s time to make memories beyond the campuses of Rowland Hall. Mary Jo says she plans to travel and will be taking lots of trips that she won’t have to plan around events like parent-teacher conferences and Back to School Night. She says she will enjoy being the master of her own calendar. “I am looking forward to not having to be somewhere at 8 o’clock if I don’t want to be somewhere at 8 o’clock,” she said.

After all, that’s what retirement is all about. And Mary Jo Marker is ready for it.

People