School Traditions

All-School Convocation, begun in 2009, is celebrated on the Friday of the first week of school every year. Two of the students' favorite parts of All-School Convocation are the student body president's welcome address and the high fives given to first graders by the new senior class. Prior to 2009, each division held its own convocation ceremony.

Since 2009, the Upper School Student Council has presented distinguished graduates with its Alumni Hall of Fame Awards. This award honors alumni for their contributions to their former school community and the community-at-large.

The annual Baccalaureate Service is held in St. Margaret's Chapel on the Thursday evening before twelfth-grade graduation ceremonies. This quiet and reflective service focuses on the growth and achievements of the senior class. It features interfaith readings, an alumni speaker, and student music. Rowland Hall's baccalaureate service dates back to the 1890s and is a cherished tradition.

The Upper School Student Council organizes the annual Battle of the Classes—a two-week period of spirited games and competitions between the grades during April. Regardless of which grade wins, our spirits are raised by the frivolity of the week!

The annual Home and School Book Fair is an event our whole community looks forward to each fall. The Lower School librarian and Home and School volunteers have organized this three-day event for over 20 years, and proceeds from book sales benefit the school's libraries. The school's partnership with The King's English Bookshop guarantees that this is a successful fundraiser at which our children and parents find a variety of books and gifts in time for the holidays.

Since 2004, Rowland Hall Upper School students have come together to kick off the school-wide Fall Canned-Food Drive with a concert called Canapalooza. Proceeds benefit Crossroads Urban Center's Emergency Food Pantry. The concert lineup features an eclectic mix of student and teacher musicians. Throughout October, Rowland Hall students collect and contribute tons of food to support a local food pantry and the state's food bank. 

The Christmas Dinner Giveaway has been conducted by Crossroads Urban Center and hundreds of Rowland Hall volunteers—students, faculty and staff, families, and alumni—every December since 1995. This important event provides holiday dinners for over 1,200 families in need each year. 

Beginning School and Lower School students celebrate the end of school with Color Day, an annual event that has each age group wearing a different brightly colored T-shirt to indicate their grade level. Featuring games, relays, water play, music, dancing, and lots of smiling faces—Color Day has been a tradition at Rowland Hall since 1982

First graders spend part of the fall and winter learning about the beauty and importance of the world's rainforests. To accompany their study, they have, since 1993, held their annual First-Grade Penny Drive to raise money to purchase a section of the rainforest to be preserved.

On Grandparents Day, we enjoy meeting grandparents who come from nearby and far away to join us for a short program, tours, and classroom visits. Grandparents Day replaced Special Friends Day in 2011, which had been an annual event at the school for many years.

Since 1975, Upper School students have enjoyed Interim, a weeklong experiential program unique among Utah schools. Students have the option of participating in a variety of in-town and out-of-town experiences that may include film studies and videography, learning about the world of public radio, cycling the Wasatch, hiking in Moab, river rafting, or exploring environmental issues.

Learn more about Interim

Throughout the school year, kindergartners and seniors have the opportunity to get to know each other through campus visits that include art projects, outdoor play, and a tour of the Upper School for the younger students. During Senior Week seniors and kindergarteners exchange gifts which include class flags and handmade bookmarks.

The first recorded Middle School Class Trip took place in 1995. Today, each Middle School grade takes a weeklong fall trip to bond, explore, and learn.

Learn more about Middle School class trips

The inaugural Ninth-Grade Class Trip took place in 1995. Each year the entire grade travels to Camp Roger in the Uinta Mountains where students, advisors, and teachers learn, play, hike, and eat together. They get to know one another while studying biology, collecting and analyzing data, learning to navigate an alpine environment, writing poetry, and making art.  

At the final assembly of Lower School children and parents in June, Stepping Back is the highlight of the day. Each grade, in this tradition dating back to Rowland Hall boarding school days, takes a step back as they “graduate" to the next grade level for the coming school year.

Third-Grade Biographies have been presented every May since 1986. Each year, third graders research a historical figure and execute their public speaking skills, much to the delight of their classmates, teachers, and parents. Albert Einstein, Michelle Obama, Rosa Parks, Alexander Graham Bell, Eleanor Roosevelt, and more make their appearances...in costume.