Eighth Grade

Students with science goggles examining rocks

Confident, Capable, Empathic, and Compassionate Human Beings

Eighth grade is a year of preparation as students get ready for the transition to high school. Students think critically and delve deeper into their worldview as they evolve from an observer of the world to a participant. As leaders of Westside’s Middle School, students focus on self-reflection, empathy, connection to one another, and legacy. Students are stretched to look inward in order to identify and pursue their passions and to explore many subjects that will shape who they are.

Students engage in transformational experiences in the classroom and in the community in order to grapple with tough problems, learn through service, and apply what they have experienced to create real-world solutions now and in the future. Also pushed to look outward, students explore questions like “how can I come to embrace, not just tolerate, what makes others different from me?”, “how can I lift others up, and make their experience a better one?” and “how can I critically question the world around me?” The end result is graduates that are confident, capable, empathic, and compassionate human beings.

As the world became chaotic for all of us, our experience with Westside never faltered. They made it clear our child would be known and heard, that she would be empowered to be a critical thinker in person or virtually, and that they would hold dear what our family discovered these past years... that emotional health is paramount to unlocking the door to not just learning, but to understanding the world around us.”

Middle schooler reading to two preschoolers
Girls doing calligraphy in Mandarin class

8TH GRADE CURRICULUM HIGHLIGHTS

  • Chemistry
  • Algebra
  • Expansion & Imperialism
  • Revolution & Change
  • Memoir Study

INTEGRATED PROJECTS & EXHIBITION OF LEARNING

  • Propaganda Project
  • Chinese Night Market
  • Science Fair
  • Capstone Project

EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION & FIELD TRIPS

  • Camp Orkila Kayaking
  • Graduation Retreat
  • Bainbridge Island Historical Museum
  • Holocaust Center for Humanity
  • Chinatown

LEARNING AT WESTSIDE

SPECIALISTS