Welcome, Parents of Alumni!

When it comes to learning about wise spending and saving, you can never start too young.

“It’s important to make sure kids are growing up with financial knowledge,” said Samantha Hill, the Upper School’s entrepreneurship and innovation teacher.

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It’s also important to start building that financial knowledge early, which is why, in late October, upper schoolers spent two days teaching first and third graders about smart money choices.

Teaching something to someone else—especially to younger kids, because you have to put it in a language they will understand—helped me to reinforce my own knowledge.—Jane Borst, class of 2026

This project—assigned to students in both Samantha’s Business & Finance and Entrepreneurship classes—ties into the Jump$tart Teen Teach-In program, which brings high school students into elementary classrooms to teach personal finance lessons. It’s a win-win opportunity: not only do the older students engage with their class lessons in fresh ways as they prepare to teach, but it also introduces the younger students to important financial concepts.

To prepare for teaching, the students tapped into the knowledge they’ve been building in class this fall, as well as reviewed Jump$tart materials on the topics they’d be presenting: “Needs and Wants” for first graders and “Saving, Spending, Borrowing, and Lending” for third graders. They split into pairs or groups, depending on how many students they’d be working with, and each team chose how they wanted to present the information to the students. It was a valuable exercise.

“Teaching something to someone else—especially to younger kids, because you have to put it in a language they will understand—helped me to reinforce my own knowledge,” said junior Jane Borst. “I also had to be prepared for any questions they would ask, so I had to go more in depth than normal.”

Students chose to present their topics in several ways, from presentations to a variety of games (for example, one group asked first graders to sort pictures of items—such as clothing, a teddy bear, water, and a puppy—into “wants” and “needs” columns). Whatever the approach, the younger students were engaged, active, and thrilled to interact with the big kids.

“They were all so sweet and funny. They seemed to enjoy themselves the whole time too,” said junior Eliana Jansen, who also found the experience beneficial. “It helped me solidify my knowledge by helping others learn, as well as made it more memorable by having a fun experience associated with the information.”

For Samantha and the Lower School teachers, it also served as a reminder of the real benefits of cross-divisional collaborations, including deeper learning, increased student confidence, and even joyful moments. The latter was certainly true for junior Duke O'Neil, who was assigned to a group of Ms. April’s first graders—10 years after being one of her students.

“It was super cool to come full circle and teach some of her class,” said Duke. “My personal favorite part was watching the kids really grasp onto the ideas. We spent a lot of time and effort composing a fun lesson for them, and seeing them really have fun with it and learn something gave the assignment purpose.”

Perhaps most importantly, these opportunities also strengthen bonds between age groups, reminding all students that they’re valued and important to their school community.

“They’re all connected,” said Samantha. “They’re all Winged Lions.”

Experiential Learning

Starting middle school is an adventure in many ways, but not many students can say their experience included tackling high ropes obstacles up to 25 feet in the air while their classmates cheered them on. For Rowland Hall’s sixth graders, though, this is just one way of settling into the new school year.

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Every September, Rowland Hall’s Middle School holds a week of class trips designed to allow students to get to know one another, and their teachers, outside the classroom. The sixth-grade class trip, known as Wasatch Adventure, engages students in a variety of exciting Utah experiences (see call-out box) and serves an important purpose: to build a sense of belonging and self-confidence in the newest members of the Middle School.

Wasatch Adventure consists of four days of Utah experiences. This year, students—divided into three groups—each spent one day at a ropes course and glassblowing demonstration, hiking and paddleboarding, and visiting the Hill Aerospace Museum and Ogden Dinosaur Park. On the final day, all sixth graders gathered to raft the Provo River and enjoy a BBQ lunch.

To accomplish this goal, Rowland Hall’s sixth-grade team is intentional about the trip’s activities. Some focus purely on bonding, while others—such as a visit to the Huntsman Mental Health Institute’s ROPES Challenge Course, a high ropes course nestled in the Salt Lake foothills—also aim to build students’ confidence.

On one particularly bluebird morning, the trip’s purpose could be seen in action within the sixth graders visiting the ropes course that day. After spending the morning engaged in a variety of on-the-ground team-building activities that developed the skills they’d need for the high ropes course—such as communication, self-advocacy, and trust—they were finally harnessed, helmeted, and ready to take on the obstacle course towering above them. As Taylor Swift’s voice echoed off the red brick building and the concrete retaining wall that enclose the course, the first climbers began their ascent. Soon, their supporters began calling out guidance and encouragement.

“Wait, Anna. Step down,” coached a member of the group holding the belay lines of a teammate moving across an unstable bridge above their heads. Across the lawn, another cluster of students, spotting a classmate making his way across a cargo net, began to cheer. “Good job!” called one. “Amazing!” cried another.

To any onlooker, it’s clear this activity serves a purpose beyond the fun of a ropes course.

“They’re learning to build trust and develop strategies, as well as to express their emotions in a safe space, through activities designed to promote these skills in a stress-free environment,” said sixth-grade English teacher Kate Siwicki as she observed the group.

The experience and its takeaways are also in line with a larger goal: to help the new sixth graders succeed by giving them thoughtful, purposeful support, particularly in the earliest weeks of the school year.

“The beginning of the year is really intentional,” explained sixth-grade math teacher Chad Obermark, known as Mr. O, who leads the grade-level team behind not only Wasatch Adventure, but the full sixth-grade experience. “What’s best for students is most important.”

The beginning of the year is really intentional. What’s best for students is most important.—Chad Obermark, sixth-grade math teacher

And what’s best for students moving from elementary school to middle school—one of the most significant rites of passage of childhood—is plenty of guidance as they learn to navigate a new chapter of their educational journeys. After all, this is a time known for big transitions: a different campus, a more complex schedule, class changes, multiple teachers, lockers, even new ways of being graded.

“It can be daunting,” said Mr. O, “but there are ways we set them up for success.”

This starts by establishing a solid foundation of support during the first weeks of the year—roughly the 10 weeks between Hello Day and Halloween. Teachers are mindful of using this time wisely and in ways that help every student feel safe, welcome, and supported so they can succeed academically. Opportunities such as Wasatch Adventure can be particularly useful in building a sense of belonging, as the low-pressure social activities help students feel more connected to the school community and build a more cohesive group. The outcome of the week is especially evident among the students who joined Rowland Hall in sixth grade.

“After Wasatch Adventure week, we come back and you completely muddied the waters of who’s new and who’s not,” said Mr. O.

The team also uses these weeks to build students’ confidence in their new day-to-day routines. A helpful tool for teachers is advisory, which takes place during the last hour of the school day for sixth graders. A component of all Rowland Hall middle schoolers’ schedules, advisory is intended to be students’ home base while at school and is used to foster a healthy middle school community. Each small group, guided by an assigned teacher, is a safe space in which students engage in everything from social-emotional learning to academic advising. Six teachers serve as sixth-grade advisors: the grade’s four MESH teachers—Mr. O (math), Kate (English), Dan Trockman (science), and Susan Phillips (history)—as well as PE teacher Bobby Kennedy (BK) and French and Spanish teacher Sam Thomas.

“Advisory is one of my favorites,” said Warren B., a ski racer who joined both the Middle School and Rowmark Ski Academy this year. A member of BK’s advisory, Warren likes the pause that the period provides between a day of learning and the Rowmark training and homework that await him after school. He appreciates that advisors help their students understand what’s expected of them as sixth graders and coach them to success.

Zoe Y., a member of Kate’s advisory, also called out this support, noting that she likes how time in class is even used to build skills such as filling in planners or finding an assignment in Canvas. This focus on time-management fundamentals—alongside empowering students to grow their independence in other ways—is an important part of the Rowland Hall program, and essential to helping the sixth graders begin to manage their own learning.

“The way that it’s structured, you can ask questions and you can know the teachers will answer and they will help you,” said Zoe.

To further support these freshly minted middle schoolers, Rowland Hall’s program includes a unique feature: time for every student to see their four MESH teachers every day. Not only is this structure helpful for the age group, which only a few months ago saw the same homeroom teacher daily, but it allows this core group of teachers to get to know every sixth grader—and to remain nimble based on what they see. Each week, the MESH team comes together to make advisory plans, and they bring their classroom observations to those discussions.

“We make a plan a week out, to give the kids what they need,” explained Kate. For instance, if students seem low energy, the team can discuss ways to engage them. The group also thinks about how to strengthen the Middle School community by furthering student connections.

“We’re really trying to use advisory to give students common experiences and link them to the community,” said Kate.

As an example, this fall, advisors have built in time for students to reflect on their first all-class novel, Wonder, and discuss topics such as how hard it can be to enter a community and how to make someone new feel welcome. These discussions among students who have recently entered a new division can be quite moving.

“They put a lot of themselves in the characters’ perspectives,” said Mr. O. “These kids, coming from the Lower School, are willing to be vulnerable, share ideas, and make mistakes”—all things that contribute to a healthy, welcoming community.

And day by day, moment by moment, this intentional work around belonging and self-confidence is also helping the sixth graders understand their role in positively impacting the school community. Jacob R., the grade’s first Winged Lion Award recipient, is one student thinking about how he can make his school a better place.

All I want to do is have a positive impact on the community, to be at my fullest every single day.—Sixth grader Jacob R.

“I was really proud,” said Jacob about the recognition, which is given each month to one student from the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades who demonstrates community-valued characteristics, including hard work, collaboration, consideration, friendliness, respect, and honesty. And while Jacob is honored to have been his grade’s September winner, he also shared that making his school a better place is something he’s committed to, no matter what.

“All I want to do is have a positive impact on the community, to be at my fullest every single day,” he said.

It’s an inspiring perspective, and one that teachers, families, and friends of the sixth graders will continue to see in the coming months, as students move away from the settling-in period of the early weeks and, over the remainder of the year, fully become middle schoolers—a transformation that even seasoned teachers like Mr. O continue to be amazed by.

“It’s unreal, the difference,” he said.

Belonging

Students are not the only learners at Rowland Hall. Every day, teachers are finding new ways to practice their craft and make education more impactful and resonant to the children in their classrooms. And this fall, in Tiya Karaus’s second-grade classroom, that meant starting small. As small as a bug.

The study of insects has been part of the second-grade curriculum for decades. The students learn about the anatomy, the biology, and the ecological impact of various bugs. This year, though, Tiya partnered with music teacher Susan Swidnicki to add a creative layer to the lessons.

“Working together allows us to try new methods and get feedback in real time,” Tiya said. “It makes it easier to put ideas into practice and refine and iterate on them through constant check-ins with each other.”

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Before starting, the pair came up with a number of ideas of how the unit could be structured and how to make the lessons as cross-curricular as possible through the addition of music, movement, creative writing, and more. “We were looking for ways to put more child-friendly creativity into the day,” Susan said. “We wanted to do something that would engage the children and add meaning for them.”

It started with the basics, as it has in years past. The students learned the biological and anatomical features of insects, worked bugs into their math problems, and read both fiction and non-fiction books on the subject. Then, on Fridays, a new layer was added: they took all of their knowledge and set it to music.

“We usually didn’t have a set plan in place; we wanted to let the kids lead and then help them build upon it,” Tiya said. “That feeling of creation at the moment allowed us and the students to find and learn unexpected things.”

During the Friday sessions, the students would explore their knowledge of insects by creating dances that turned them into honeybees, and by playing instruments that helped turn stories into songs.

The creative exploration of insects led to the students seeing things differently across the board.—Tiya Karaus, second-grade teacher

“The music tells us certain points in the story. It’s hard to forget when you are listening to the music,” said second grader Ember H. “It’s really hard at first but it gets easier and easier.”

The kids did more than expand their knowledge of insects. Allowing the children greater freedom to be self-directed required them to use and improve social and collaborative skills. Without a teacher as the central focus, the students had to regulate their own behaviors more closely. Listening and finding compromises became much more important.

“We got to do special things,” said William J. “We acted out The Very Clumsy Click Beetle and we all worked together to make the songs.”

The lessons learned on Friday went beyond the walls of the music room and into everyday classroom activities. “The creative exploration of insects led to the students seeing things differently across the board,” said Tiya. “They’re becoming more open to exploring new ideas and finding different ways to express themselves.”

Susan sees it as the children embracing their potential. “The child is a whole child. They are an artist and musician and a dancer and a creator and a reader and a mathematician and scientist, and they are all equally important,” she said. “By putting the academic and the creative together, they learn those different aspects shouldn’t be isolated and compartmentalized.”

The child is a whole child. They are an artist and musician and a dancer and a creator and a reader and a mathematician and scientist, and they are all equally important. By putting the academic and the creative together, they learn those different aspects shouldn’t be isolated and compartmentalized.—Susan Swidnicki, McCarthey Campus music teacher

The partnership between Tiya and Susan will continue for the rest of the year with an exploration of the Great Salt Lake and a study of native Utah animals. This continued collaboration is a great benefit for the students, and also a benefit for them as both work to improve their pedagogy, even as veteran teachers.

“I’ve brought that musicality back to my classroom,” said Tiya, and it can be used for more than just lessons. “Using rhythms and movement with the kids is so much more comfortable and effective than asking for their attention in more traditionally used ways.”

“I am constantly finding ways to integrate the academic curriculum into music classes,” added Susan. “Whether it’s incorporating a book into a lesson or bringing in other subject matter, there is always a way to find that bridge.”

Teachers at Rowland Hall are preparing students to go out into an ever-changing world. By being lifelong learners, and embracing collaboration, they are teaching not only through instruction but also by example. These are the lessons Tiya hopes her students will carry with them long after they have forgotten which bugs have zero wings and which have four.

“I want them to remember the importance of working together,” she said. “And I want them to look for ways to learn, in any way they can.”

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Watch the second graders perform their original skit, “The Very Impatient Honey Bee”:

Academics

For decades, the Rowland Hall debate team has been a force on the local and national scenes. Now, they’ve gone global. 

This October, the top teams from the squad headed to Asia for their first international tournament at the Taipei American School (TAS). There, they faced off against teams from China, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Vietnam, as well as some of their peers from other top debate schools in the United States. Rowland Hall’s selection to participate was partly due to the Advanced Research Debate class’s involvement last year in the International Public Policy Forum global essay contest. 

“Our goal with that contest was to get our scholarship out to a larger audience, and share the research with other teams,” said debate coach Mike Shackelford. “We did not imagine that it would end up taking us halfway around the world for such an amazing opportunity.” 

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The opportunity comes at a time when Policy debate, before now a uniquely American speech and debate event, is taking its place on the global stage. Each year, the World Schools Debating Championships holds a tournament involving teams from 70 countries that’s gaining prominence, and, as a result, more international tournaments are being planned. Mike wants Rowland Hall to be among the first American schools to embrace the trend. 

We value the national debate community because it is a larger network of gifted students and strong debate teams. And now that the community is global we want to be a part of that too.—Mike Shackelford, debate coach

“We value the national debate community because it is a larger network of gifted students and strong debate teams,” he said. “And now that the community is global we want to be a part of that too.” 

The eight AR Debate students chosen to compete in Taipei all jumped at what they saw as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The style of the tournament and the topic being debated (intellectual property rights) were familiar to all of them, but the surroundings and the culture were a whole new experience. Being good hosts, TAS arranged for a number of uniquely local experiences for the teams, and parent chaperones June Chen and Renee Utgaard arranged additional day trips outside the city. The students experienced the natural beauty of the Shifen Waterfall, participated in an authentic tea ceremony in the town of Jiufen, ate countless dumplings and miles of noodles at night markets, and took in the view from the top of Taipei 101, one of the tallest buildings in the world at 1,667 feet.

For 12th grader Aiden Gandhi, the experience of exploring the city and immersing himself in the culture greatly enriched his learning. “Being there with my team was an amazing experience and one that will definitely stick with me,” he said.

While the team took time to play, they were nothing but business when it came to the competition. They were able to close out part of the bracket, sending Isabella Utgaard and Chloe Vezina into the semi-finals, and the team of Eli Hatton and Aiden Gandhi into the finals. They finished with the second-place trophy, and Eli and Aiden appreciated the lessons learned from debating in Taiwan, and the widening of their debate circles. 

“The sense of community is amazing,” said Eli. “We dedicate so much time to this activity, and it’s amazing to meet others who do as well. We have a connection to them that we don’t have with other people.” 

I’m really hoping this becomes a regular thing. It’s not just the opportunity to travel and see new places, but also to see the expansion of debate and the new perspectives that it brings.—Chloe Vezina, class of 2027

Every member of the team agrees that the trip would not have happened, or been as memorable, without Mike’s leadership and support. Rowland Hall’s debate coach for 17 years, Mike has worked tirelessly to promote scholarship and research practices in the event and foster not just champions but learners for life. 

He’s also a lot of fun. 

“He was really into getting out of his comfort zone and encouraging us to do the same,” said 10th grader Emery Lieberman. “It didn’t matter what we did, seeing the ocean or having an eating competition at the beef noodle festival, Mike wanted to make sure it was special.” 

The team sees this is just the start of Rowland Hall’s time on the international stage, and is excited to see what comes next.

“I’m really hoping this becomes a regular thing,” said sophomore Chloe Vezina. “It’s not just the opportunity to travel and see new places, but also to see the expansion of debate and the new perspectives that it brings.”

Debate