Middle School Enhancements

Upon graduation, St. Luke's 8th graders will meet the Portrait of a St. Luke's Graduate:

• Reflects the love of Jesus Christ;
• Acquires and applies knowledge critically, analytically, and ethically;
• Demonstrates leadership, perseverance, and balance;
• Engages in community service;
• Embraces the lifelong pursuit of knowledge, excellence, and wisdom;
• Celebrates the uniqueness of every person.
   

Each year, St. Luke's assesses its curriculum and program to ensure a remarkable student experience. In addition, we are committed to helping each St. Luke's student reach the Portrait of a St. Luke's Graduate upon their graduation in 8th grade. 

St. Luke's developed the Middle School Journey enhancements to fulfill two critical needs: 

1. to help students meaningfully engage with core academics through enriching learning opportunities; 

2. to clearly define a program that ensures students arrive at the Portrait of a Graduate. 

With the Middle School Journey enhancements, each grade level in our middle school (5th-8th) has a clearly defined focus area for students to explore:

5th Grade Skills Development: The focus during 5th grade is on developing skills to help serve students throughout their St. Luke’s middle school journey. Skills include, but are not limited to, executive functioning, metacognition, organization, note-taking, time management, and active listening.

6th Grade Scholarship: The focus of the 6th grade is to develop students’ passions and discipline through interdisciplinary opportunities to develop the ability to collaborate and understand how their contributions can impact their team and peers.

7th Grade Citizenship: During 7th grade, students will focus on understanding what it means to become active citizens and involved community members.

8th Grade Leadership: In 8th grade, students will have ongoing opportunities to expand their leadership skills. They will apply the knowledge and lessons learned in 5th-7th grades to create a Civic Media Literacy Project. 
 

Each middle school grade level requires students to complete an End of Year Demonstration (EYD) to the community. The EYD is designed to help students engage with their grade level's yearlong focus. 

5th Grade Skills Development EYD: The 5th grade EYD is an independent study project that asks students to learn a skill (any skill of special interest that a student identifies! ) throughout the school year, and perform/showcase their newly learned skill at the end of the year.

6th Grade Scholarship EYD: St. Luke’s 6th graders will share a capstone science and engineering project that requires ongoing interdisciplinary work.

7th Grade Citizenship EYD: The 7th grade EYD is a driving change project that takes on the theme of social justice.  Students will research a topic of local or global significance and then present their findings to the community.

8th Grade Leadership EYD: As the oldest students on the St. Luke’s campus, 8th graders will take the knowledge and skills learned in middle school to create a Civic Media Literacy Project  (e.g., podcast, filming, writing or publishing, coding) that helps to make a change or impact in our community. 

Enhancements to our middle school program take the form of various new classes that help students engage with the theme of their grade level. These courses are designed to help students arrive at the Portrait of a Graduate in 8th grade, and to help students successfully complete their End of Year Demonstration. 

5th Grade Academic Enrichments
Skills Development 
Interscholastic Speech and Debate

6th Grade Academic Enrichments
School Newspaper (published quarterly)
Literary Magazine (published annually)

7th Grade Academic Enrichments
Social Justice
Entrepreneurship

8th Grade Academic Enrichments
Media Literacy and Production
KPAW School News and Announcements
 

The middle school journey includes enhancements to our already existing curriculum, academic, athletic, and visual performing arts programs. 

Middle school core academic classes are unchanged, and can be viewed below: