Joshua | Grade 8

Favorite Subject
My favorite subject is Biology because it’s interesting and relevant to everyday life. My teacher was excellent, which made a big difference. She kept the work challenging but not overwhelming. The curriculum touched on the anatomy of cells and neuroscience, which was timely given what is going on in the world.

Favorite School Activity
My favorite school activity is definitely cross-country. I enjoy running with my friends and pushing myself to continue to improve my times. I also like the courses we run; they are always changing and in beautiful locations.

Favorite School Tradition
I think most people would say Congé, which is definitely a highlight. However, I also enjoy other traditions including Field Day, Wacky Wednesdays and spirit days.

Favorite Space on Campus
My favorite place on campus is Syufy Court because of the turf and new play structure. It was a basketball court previously, so it was used less frequently and crashes were painful.

Best Part of Your Day
My favorite part of the day is advisory because we get to interact with kids from different grades in the Middle Form. I also enjoy lunch and recess because I’m able to see all my friends in addition to those in my class.

Favorite School Project
By far one of my favorite projects was the protein synthesis comic for biology. We created a comic about the stages of building a protein from transcription to translation. I thought it was a fun way to learn how something worked and an interesting project overall.

Benefits of Single-Sex Classes, Coed Community
Because Convent & Stuart Hall share the same campus, I think we get the best aspects of both single-sex and coed schools. While most of our classes are single-sex, band is coed, and we get together with our Convent classmates for different activities throughout the year.

Last Book Read That Was Not Assigned
Scythe by Neal Shusterman. Part of the Arc of a Scythe series, the story is about a future generation where people live forever and they have to figure out how to manage the population. It makes you appreciate the natural life cycles.

Future Career Path/Fields of Interest
I’d love to work somewhere in the tech industry. I don't know where yet, but the fact that it's always changing makes it very interesting.

How You Felt Supported This Past Year
It was nice to be able to return to school last fall despite the pandemic. At times, the rules felt a bit onerous, but I appreciate that they were necessary to keep all of us safe. The teachers were very supportive and accommodating, particularly when it came to adjusting the curriculum from 55-minute classes to two hours in the new block schedule. It was also very convenient to be able to take the COVID tests and get vaccinated right there on campus.