January 2015

Project Day
Project day
After a well-deserved break, the school was abuzz today! Regular classes were put on hold so that MacLaren students could show one another, the faculty, and parents what they had learned during the annual Project Week. During this week, students are expected to put in at least 30 hours of work on a project that emphasizes learning for learning’s sake. Middle school students are assigned a short research paper and a construction project. Ninth through eleventh graders write a longer, more in-depth research paper, and the twelfth graders divide into teams and use their knowledge of math and physics to create bridges out of balsa wood. This was the first time that all projects were presented on the same day.

Even in spite of a two-hour delay because of a beautiful snowfall through the night, students arrived ready to present what they had learned about animals and their habitats (sixth grade), medieval architecture and artifacts (seventh grade) and the economics of failed states (eighth grade). Twelfth graders put on quite a show for their fellow students testing the strength of their bridges. Some bridges explode pretty dramatically when they can hold no more weight! Because the high school research papers are not presented on this day, the ninth through eleventh graders had the most freedom to wander in and out of the different exhibition spaces, asking questions of the middle schoolers about their projects and remembering that they, too, had done similar projects not that long ago. With the morning delay, what was to be a rather leisurely four hours of presenting and admiring projects became a rather busy and bustling two-hour event for the 339 students, faculty and parents in the building. Even so, the enthusiasm and excitement remained high and everyone was genuinely pleased with the outcome of Project Week.

-Katherine Brophy, Director of Admissions and Marketing

Click here to see photos from the morning!

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