Seventh grade is that year when middle school is no longer new, but students aren’t typically recognized as leaders, because well, they’re not 8th graders. At OLG, 7th graders take on a defined leadership role in our Faith Family program, where they assist 8th graders with lessons and activities for mixed grade level meetings. As a class, 7th graders experience several learning opportunities out in the field, especially related to social justice and missionary discipleship. By the end of the school year, they design a class capstone project that makes a tangible impact on some of Seattle’s most vulnerable communities. In 8th grade, they are already experienced leaders who have learned models of love of neighbor, knowledge of the world around them, and personal growth.
From Mr. Santos, your Homeroom Teacher
“I’ve been teaching middle school since 2005. Seventh graders are in constant flux. They change their opinions, their friend groups, their likes and dislikes, their mood — if you have a 7th grader, chances are, you can identify with this and more. We start the year off by writing a core virtue essay, because despite all the changes they face, I urge them to remember the values they’ve learned from their parents and previous teachers, and to let those values endure. With all the challenges adolescence brings, we do a lot of work in 7th grade — work that has out-of-the-classroom impact on our community. That tends to give them a solid focus and purpose greater than themselves. So wish us the best this school year!”
Service Project
Part of every grade’s experience at OLG is a class collaborative service project. OLG has developed relationships with a variety of community organizations to share two mutual interests – service and learning. For seventh graders, we learn about missionary discipleship and our call to serve the poor and vulnerable. Poverty, especially urban poverty, is a complex matter that is not only a humanitarian issue in the city of Seattle, but also a very political one. Our service of making lunches for clients of the Matt Talbot Center entails learning about several components of poverty: homelessness, addiction, rehabilitation, discrimination and much more. Beyond making sack lunches, our students will become educated about the greater issue about WHY and for WHOM they are providing nourishment. Additionally, students design a class Capstone Project to support one of the following issues at a local level: economic justice, global women’s equity, care for God’s creation, immigration and movement of peoples, and education.
The Haggerty Leadership Award
Throughout the year, we love to see our seventh graders showing leadership in faith, academics, service and co-curricular activities. In our community, we have a very special recognition at the end of the seventh grade year, called The Haggerty Award, named after Joseph Haggerty, a former Principal of OLG. Students can apply for the award in the spring, by writing a leadership essay, and the student who has demonstrated the most consistent leadership skills in the above areas will have their name engraved on a plaque and receive a scholarship from the school for their Eight Grade year at OLG. It is our way of recognizing outstanding leadership from our Seventh Grade class.
That’s a wrap, sports fans. Again, I’m looking forward to teaching your child as they embark on this journey (inescapable cliche). If you (parent or student) need anything, don’t hesitate to reach out in person or via email: jcsantos@guadalupe-school.org.
