My child still spends a lot of time with her entering cohort, since they have the same language classes and thus tend to have other classes together too, but child also has a great new group of friends including kids from other feeders and new entries. Middle school is a great time for kids to find those with whom they have more in common. One way the school has helped has been with lunch clubs. Rather than just require all kids sit in the same place for lunch, on any given day they host 6-7 official lunchtime clubs per grade (actually either 6th grade or 7th plus 8th grade combined) and/or guest speakers in different parts of the building. PLus, lots of the teachers hold their classrooms open, and certain kids gravitate toward certain rooms, like the science room, theater room or art room. As a result, kids don't have to stress about whether there will be someone to sit with at lunch. They find their own interest groups, and I think a lot of my child's new friendships are based in this. Very happy with how the transition to middle school has gone for my child. That sounds great, I would have loved something like that when I was in Jr. High. Smart kids, passionate about learning need ways to find each other beyond Honors classes and Dungeons & Dragons. What about sports or extra-curriculars? I know it has to be hard right now with such limited space, but do you know anything about future plans when there are more students and more space? Like, track & field or cross country? Or baseball/softball? Theater/drama/thespian/debate? You mentioned MUN, which is very encouraging. |
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They already have several competitive team sports -
coed cross country, winter/spring track Girls basketball, boys basketball Girls volleyball Girls soccer, boys soccer Boys lacrosse, maybe boys lacrosse girls softball coed swimming In addition, lots of noncompetitive afterschool activities - running clubs, photography, literary magazine, school newspaper, rock band, cooking club, singing, book club, school play, fit club, flag football, etc. I'm missing a lot, I'm sure, but it seems there are plenty of options for everyone. |
plus a competitive chess team and a debate team who've both won competitions this year. |
Thank you, PP! We're a couple years away from DCI, but this sounds very encouraging and exciting. DC's cohort talk about it from time to time among themselves, but most of them don't have much information to go on. One more question - is there another school trip (or multiple trips) that families are planning? YY doesn't have a school trip to China now, but families can still join a group plan. Is there something like that at DCI? |
Do you know which competitions they won in chess? My kids compete in chess and we have not run into any kids from DCI all year and I always look out for DC schools. |
Google can answer that for you. Here's one (scroll down to 2015 Greater Baltimore Scholastic Champions): http://www.mdchess.com/ |
| Thank you, DCI parent, for the information! We are at a feeder and very excited about DCI. |
Thanks! Found it: http://www.mdchess.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=404:2015-greater-baltimore-final-standings&catid=106&Itemid=524 It looks like they had a 4 person team participating while all the other middle schools teams had 2 thus they got the highest score. |
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plus a competitive chess team and a debate team who've both won competitions this year.
Do you know which competitions they won in chess? My kids compete in chess and we have not run into any kids from DCI all year and I always look out for DC schools. Google can answer that for you. Here's one (scroll down to 2015 Greater Baltimore Scholastic Champions): http://www.mdchess.com/ Thanks! Found it: http://www.mdchess.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=404:2015-greater-baltimore-final-standings&catid=106&Itemid=524 It looks like they had a 4 person team participating while all the other middle schools teams had 2 thus they got the highest score. Um, looks like they would have been second overall instead of first if limited to two players. So, what's your point? That's how scoring works. And if you care to look closer you'll see the DCI team did well in lots of tournaments and would have come in "first" in others by some kind of "smaller team" criteria you seem to think is better. Why the scrutiny of these middle school kids' accomplishments? Because you are raising chess pros? Of course, apologies if I am misinterpreting your response and assuming negativity that isn't really there. |
How sad that the other middle schools could only find 2 students to compete. Maybe if they attended a more competitive school such as DCI, they could field a larger team? |
Lol--if that's what you need to believe to make yourself feel better. |
+1 So, essentially DCI is twice as competitive in Chess? It's not my DC's preferred activity, but it's encouraging for the cohort. |
Do you know which competitions they won in chess? My kids compete in chess and we have not run into any kids from DCI all year and I always look out for DC schools. Google can answer that for you. Here's one (scroll down to 2015 Greater Baltimore Scholastic Champions): http://www.mdchess.com/ Thanks! Found it: http://www.mdchess.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=404:2015-greater-baltimore-final-standings&catid=106&Itemid=524 It looks like they had a 4 person team participating while all the other middle schools teams had 2 thus they got the highest score. Um, looks like they would have been second overall instead of first if limited to two players. So, what's your point? That's how scoring works. And if you care to look closer you'll see the DCI team did well in lots of tournaments and would have come in "first" in others by some kind of "smaller team" criteria you seem to think is better. Why the scrutiny of these middle school kids' accomplishments? Because you are raising chess pros? Of course, apologies if I am misinterpreting your response and assuming negativity that isn't really there. Just pointing it out, that's all. bc when people hear that a team "won", everyone thinks that it was done with the same number of players. |
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Just pointing it out, that's all. bc when people hear that a team "won", everyone thinks that it was done with the same number of players. |
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Ok - so to recap we have learned that DCI middle schoolers can choose 2 electives (some take a '3rd' language as an elective) and there are a bunch of extra curricular activities offered during lunch and after school for a fee.
OP - does this answer your question? |