Middle School Signature Programs

Each year Middle School students participate in class trips, which often extend the school curriculum outside the classroom, help students and their new teachers deepen their relationships, and allow students to connect with each other.Sixth graders stay close to home for a five-day Wasatch Adventure. The week is filled with paddling, rafting, climbing, and exploring in and around the Wasatch Front with local organizations.

Seventh graders adventure to the Teton Science School in Jackson, Wyoming, for a week of field science. They spend each day in the wilderness of the Teton Mountain watershed, examining flora and fauna and hiking the trails.

Eighth graders culminate their middle school experience with nearly a week in Washington, D.C., exploring the rich experiences our nation’s capital has to offer.

The Middle School Arts and Ensembles program is an immersive, in-depth study on an art form and/or collaborative experience and students participate in this class for the entire year. Arts and Ensemble courses offer students an opportunity to meaningfully collaborate with students from all three Middle School grades and represent themselves and their school through their chosen medium. Students may choose a new ensemble each year or commit to their passion over the course of two or three years in band, orchestra, dance, studio art, or theater. 

Seventh-grade International Night makes real the ideal of “breaking bread together,” uniting recently resettled refugees and Rowland Hall families in an evening of food and friendship. The giant potluck dinner, cooked and provided by seventh-grade families, reflects the diversity of our own families’ backgrounds and presents opportunities for students to share stories and cultures.

International Night celebrates the culmination of a yearlong world studies class, which highlights the cultures and challenges of the world’s refugee populations as well as those in our local community.

In the 1960s, the Winter Sports program began at Rowland Hall as a physical education program when we were housed on the Avenues Campus and had limited athletics facilities. The tradition continues today as our Winter Sports program allows our students to connect with seasonal physical and athletic pursuits, some of which take advantage of Salt Lake City’s geography, climate, and unique setting as a metropolitan area with immediate and extensive wilderness access and/or the resources available as a former Winter Olympics host city.

Today, the Middle School Winter Sports program is an extension of our Middle School physical education program. Our goal is to expose students to new sports and recreational activities that may become lifelong pursuits and in turn, improve physical and emotional well-being. All Winter Sports courses include guided instruction for skill development and enhancement and are designed to keep students physically active throughout the course. All Winter Sports options are selected to maximize student physical and emotional safety and have been determined by the school to be of educational value.

Middle School students participate in the Winter Sports program, which begins in mid-January and continues for five Friday afternoons. The academic schedule is shortened on these days so students can participate in activities such as downhill skiing and snowboarding, ice skating, cross-country skiing, backcountry skiing, curling, yoga, basketball, tennis, squash, SCUBA training, and rock climbing.