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At Newman, hands-on learning is not limited to the lower grades. In the Upper School, students participate in experiential learning activities both in the classroom and through extracurricular activities. Below is just a sampling of some of the experiential learning activities that the Upper School has to offer.
Over the past several years, the Executive Committee has increasingly become an integral part of the Newman community. The function of the committee, comprised of students and faculty members, is to “responsibly oversee the orderly administration of student government, student activities, and many clubs and extracurricular activities.” The Upper School Student/Parent Handbook continues, “Executive Committee is an active participant in discussing important issues and in some cases formulates proposals and recommendations for consideration by administration.” Many extraordinary programs have originated with the Executive Committee, such as Arts Week, Wonder Week and the Tolerance Class.
Since 1951 and the fifty-five years hence Newman School has chosen to personalize the experience of its ninth grade students beyond the classroom and the teaching of the tenets of Civics and our government, to providing an eight day experience in the shadows of our Nation’s Capitol.
Annually the entire class travels to Jamestown, Williamsburg, Charlottesville, and Washington D.C. to visually experience, first-hand, the distinguished homes of two of our early Presidents, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and to understand and absorb the experiences of the early settlers of our nation and provide for the elementary foray into the provisions of our democratic foundation in the various locations where these difficult decisions were rendered.
Colonial Williamsburg, the Yorktown Battlefield, the U. S. Naval Academy, Mount Vernon, Monticello, the University of Virginia, Capitol Hill and the Capitol, and the White house are a few of the many locations visited by the class. In addition the Newman generated program provides visits to the U. S. Holocaust Museum, Arlington Cemetery and laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns, the Washington National Cathedral, Embassy Row, Ford’s Theatre, the Smithsonian Museums as well as the National Archives.
The Big Brother/Big Sister Program at Newman School pairs senior and freshmen students for the entire academic year as a way to welcome the younger students to the Upper School. The intent of this program is for the upper classmen to build and foster appropriate and supportive friendships with their freshmen little brothers and sisters. The pairings are always made in the best interest of the younger students and with much deliberation and input from faculty and students. There are two large activities during the course of the academic year which are specifically held to facilitate this program. And if parental permission has been given, freshmen are allowed to go off campus for lunch with their big brothers and sisters once a month. Our hope is that these relationships help the younger students in their adjustment to high school and contribute to a greater sense of community within the School.
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