Student Life

The LWGMS experience is more than just academic classes. LWGMS students have many opportunities to meet as a school, celebrate together, participate in clubs, serve their community, and engage in healthy competition.

Every student is a member of a small, multi-grade Respect and Responsibility (R&R) Advisory Group. Lead by faculty and staff advisors, R&R groups comprise “big sisters” and “little sisters” who meet on a weekly basis.

All students take physical education in classes designed to teach health, self-confidence, and positive body image. Additionally, a full range of athletic opportunities is offered after school (soccer, cross country, volleyball, basketball, bouldering, track and field, and ultimate frisbee) and most LWGMS students participate in at least one sport at school per year.

Many opportunities are also available to explore individual interests through co-curricular activities such as robotics, glee club, dance, coding, and numerous other clubs.

At LWGMS Every Student Is a Leader

There are many opportunities for leadership at LWGMS. We believe there are varied styles of leadership and that any student can be a leader.  Students may take on traditional leadership roles in student government, but other opportunities to cultivate different kinds of leadership are also available. 

Every LWGMS student is expected to lead a group discussion, run their own student learning conference, and greet and tour guests at Open Houses. Every eighth grader is a leader in the school, and is responsible for planning R&R group activities, mentoring their younger “sisters,” and leading by example.

Leadership opportunities available to all students can be found in the following activities:

Student Government
Green Team
Yearbook staff
Theater: stage manager, assistant director, choreographer, music director
Open House tour guides
School representatives at off campus events
Sports team captains
Collaborative projects in all classes
R&R sister mentors
Leading class meetings
Outdoor program leadership
Cleaning crews

Student Government

The Student Government at LWGMS consists of three branches of government: a Student Council, a Community Board, and a Judicial Committee.

Student Council
The Student Council’s purpose is to address issues raised by students and class representatives. The Student Council President runs Monday Morning Meetings, talks at open houses and other events, meets with class representatives, and meets with Head of School about school-wide issues or any issues that have been brought to the student government's attention. Student Council Representatives communicate with their class at class meeting. Representatives talk about their meetings and take issues from class meetings. The representatives must take all issues to the council even if they do not agree with the issue.

Community Board
The Community Board’s purpose is to coordinate clubs, school events, and fundraisers. The Community President runs Monday Morning Meetings, talks with clubs, updates front hall board, and is in charge of the community representatives. Community Board Representatives are elected from each grade to communicate with club representatives and are also in charge of fundraisers, dances, and other events involving students.

Judicial Committee
The Judicial Committee’s purpose is to address issues raised by faculty and staff. The committee will discuss issues with Head of School and advise her on how to solve these problems. The mission of the Judicial Branch is to give student input to school administration on solving problems raised by teachers. 

COMMUNITY: A CHORUS OF STRONG VOICES

Social Justice

Through activities such as meeting with their representatives in state government or spearheading sustainability projects for their school and local community, students at LWGMS learn that each of them has the power to effect change in the world.

Service Learning

Service Learning is an integral and rewarding part of the LWGMS experience. The goal of the Service Learning program is for students to recognize their own abilities to improve their communities and nurture a sense of responsibility and pride as students take action to improve their local and global communities.

Each student takes part in a grade-level service project, every year. These projects focus on our local community. The sixth grade class is linked to our neighbor, Byrd Barr Place. At Byrd Barr Place, students volunteer in the food bank to sort food into grocery bags for their Home Delivery Program. Seventh Grade students will each spend a half day at Angeline's Day Center for Women in Downtown Seattle. At Angeline's, students will help prepare and serve lunch to the guests at the center. The eighth grade project is connected to our neighborhood and larger Central District community. Students will help compile backpacks full of food for students at Leschi Elementary who are experiencing homelessness. These backpacks get distributed to students for their time away from school during breaks when they do not have their regular access to school breakfast and lunch programs.  

Past service learning projects include: reading with students from Bailey Gatzert Elementary, Water 1st International’s Carry 5 Walk for Water, Washington Low Income Housing Alliance’s Housing and Homelessness Advocacy Day, YWCA’s Thanksgiving Basket Drive, United Nations Foundation’s GirlUp Rally, Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Beat the Bridge, American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, Country Doctor Community Health Center’s Spa Day Drive for domestic violence shelters, and fundraising for the Maasai Girls Education Fund.

R&R

Every LWGMS student is a member of a small, multi-grade Respect and Responsibility Advisory Group. Led by faculty and staff advisors, R&R groups are composed of “big sisters” and "little sisters" who meet on a weekly basis. Throughout the year, R&R Groups work on many of the following initiatives through activities, workshops, and conversations:

• Community building and group cohesion
• Orientation, school citizenship, and school business
• Goal-setting, reflection, and self-assessment
• Tools for school and learning
• Life skills, healthy development, and self-care
• Moving on to high school
• Real-world connections and service learning
• Personal passions, hobbies, and interests
• Rituals and celebrations

Clubs at LWGMS

LWGMS students propose and manage their own clubs. Clubs meet for an hour each week. Take a look at this year's clubs!

• DIY Club
• Board Games Club
• Baking Club
• Cozy/Comfort/Chill Club
• Culture Club
• Sunshine Club
• Drawing/Art Club
• Parks & Rec Club
• Drama Club
• Detective Club
• Bike Club
• Girl Empowerment
• Glee Club
• Green Team
• Roots and Shoots for Change
• Yearbook Team

Student Services

Academic, Social, and Emotional Support for All Students
Middle school is a time of great change for adolescents: physically, emotionally, and socially. The social and emotional well-being of students is a crucial part of Lake Washington Girls Middle School’s mission. To this end, a concerted effort is made to help students mediate and resolve conflicts; discuss developmental issues openly, safely, and productively; proactively respond to negative interpersonal dynamics and/or behavior swiftly and efficiently; and celebrate successes.

Goal-Setting
Fall term all students meet one-to-one with Student Support staff to set specific measurable academic, social, and personal goals, and create trackable strategies in their effort to achieve these goals.  During Winter and Spring Term, students reflect on their progress. They reassess the goals and strategies of the previous term,  analyze the factors connected to successes, and challenges of each, and write new goals and strategies or modify old ones as needed.

Learning and Life Skills
The Student Services Department provides Learning and Life Skills instruction to all 6th graders and to 7th and 8th graders upon request. Learning and Life Skills instruction focuses on all aspects of learning, from organization and time-management to the impact of self-regulation and mindset on long-term success.

Academic Resource Center
ARC is an after-school study center that provides a quiet work space, allows for access to school materials, is staffed by academic support staff, and facilitates faculty consultations. ARC staff is familiar with the school culture and curriculum and works closely with Student Services staff to best support students in attendance.

Hike Like a Girl

Lake Washington Girls Middle School’s outdoor program is one of the unique ways we offer our students opportunities beyond the classroom. Every summer, our teachers lead a variety of outdoor adventures, and any L-Dub student can sign up. We offer a rigorous financial aid package for these trips as we believe that every student should have the chance to experience the challenges and the excitement of living in a small group in the outdoors.

The scope of our outdoor education is expanding as we look for more opportunities to support the whole student. Our trips range from novice to advanced, and all expeditions expose our students to new environments and new outdoor and leadership skills. The outdoor program at LWGMS uses the principles of Leave No Trace in teaching students the skills for enjoying the backcountry and the outdoors. We cover all areas of outdoor education including basic first aid, water safety, cooking, map reading, and navigation in order for our girls to develop skills in environmental stewardship, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, community building, and leadership.

For beginners, we offer a trip to the Olympic National Park where students hike along the beautiful Washington coast and enjoy backcountry campsites with spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean. For intermediate adventures, students can sign up for a trip to Eastern Washington and spend a week enjoying the backcountry of Lake Chelan Recreational Area and into Stehekin, the heart of the North Cascades National Park. For the more advanced outdoor trips, we have offered backpacking in the Enchantments and in Glacier Wilderness as well as kayak expeditions in the San Juan Islands.

Ride the Bus!

New to 2019/2020, L-Dub offers morning and afternoon fee-based school bus service in conjunction with our neighbors at Seattle Academy. Routes are available to and from pick-up points all around the city. Families also pool their resources to share transportation solutions, and students often form public transit and/or bus groups. We create and share an L-Dub Google Map and a roster of current families so that parents/guardians can plan over the summer.

L-Dub partners with Too Tasty Lunches to make the school-day little easier for you. Too Tasty Lunches offers a variety of meals and snacks made from locally sourced, organic ingredients designed to please even the pickiest of eaters. Contact Too Tasty Lunches with any questions.

Ordering

Too Tasty Lunches uses an ONLINE ORDERING SYSTEM BY BOONLI.COM to provide a secure and easy-to-use online ordering system which allows parents and guardians to view our lunch menu, order, prepay and manage student lunches from their smartphone, tablet or computer. Yet, all correspondence should go to tootastylunches@gmail.com.

Registration and ordering opens on August 20, 2019.

First Lunch Date: September 9, 2019