By Sadler Wilson
Home of Woodward students for two years. The place they learn academic importance, the place they foster hard working habits, and the place they grow in many ways. While some students don’t look at their middle school experience as positively as that sentence does, they all can agree that middle school is a time of change for students. Moreover, the Middle School has not only changed its students, but it has changed itself socially and physically.
Mrs. Leslie Widener is a 7th grade honors biology teacher who has been at WA’s Middle School for almost 8 years. Widener is also a Varsity Cross Country, Track and Dive coach. Widener reflected upon how homerooms have changed since her first year at WA in 2016.
“We are more involved with our homeroom today than back then, and the reason why is because every day of the week, Monday through Friday, we have an activity to do together during community time,” Mrs. Widener said.
The majority of interviewees agreed upon the fact that these new systems in the Middle School have created unity and a community. A factor that contributes to this newly built community is the House System that everyone in the Middle School follows.
Mr. Chris Hardin is a government and economics teacher in the Middle School and the head coach of Varsity Boys Wrestling. Hardin came to Woodward in 2017 and is a strong supporter of the House System and its benefits for the school.
“We have six houses; each wing of the building is a house,” Mr. Hardin said. “It’s a way for us to build community in the building… If you’ve seen Harry Potter, then you have seen the idea of the houses coming together, competing against each other and building comradery and competition amongst them.”
There are many smaller details that exist within the system. In particular, Mrs. Widener explained the method behind “house points” and how they work alongside the House System.
“The way that you earn house points is based on four categories,” Mrs. Widener said. There’s ‘academic excellence,’ ‘character,’ ‘outstanding performance,’ and ‘school spirit.’”
The House System was implemented into the Middle School in the 2021-2022 school year; therefore, it became a priority to speak with both freshmen and sophomores today, who were in the Middle School during the time of the switch.
Audrey Zents ‘26 experienced the implementation of the House System from her seventh grade year to her eighth grade year.
“It was a way to kind of connect with my friends and compete against each other, which was fun,” Audrey said.
Charlie Freer ‘27 shared the opinion of other student interviewees in regards to the activities that surrounded the House System.
“The House Systems were fun at first, but then they slowly got more boring over time because we had repetitive challenges, which wasn’t fun near the end,” Charlie said.
Another new addition in the Middle School is The Nest. The Nest is a place for students to go during the day to relieve stress or anxiety that has resulted from school. In addition to The Nest, there were many other renovations made to the Middle School. Mr. Hardin discussed the new renovations of the outdoor space, known as The Quad, and other changes around the school.
“The Makerspace is the old ‘Camp Field’ building, which used to be the student lounge when I first got here, and now it’s the Makerspace and high school robotics area,” Mr. Hardin said.
The WA Middle School has experienced many changes throughout the last couple of years; moreover, these changes have altered the experiences for middle schoolers today. Students are now able to receive positive feedback, which encourages them to become better people as they grow up.
“I think [the House System] is a fun way to give positive reinforcement, so whenever I see something positive happen, I am able to reward it,” Mrs. Widener said.
