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. While there are traditional leadership roles, such as student government, available to LWGMS students, there are also many ways that different kinds of students can cultivate different kinds of leadership.
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, who 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.
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.
Walls to bridges
The principles that guide our school have always focused on social justice and activism, and in 2015/2016 we introduced a new curriculum called Walls to Bridges, a title that comes from Angela Davis who in her 1974 autobiography said, "Walls turned sideways are bridges." Walls to Bridges is a social justice curriculum that focuses on activism, leadership, and voice. Throughout the year, students participate in monthly workshops on issues like identity and ally-ship, as well as explorations of direct action campaigns both in history and in current events. In our school, whether in a history class or a science class, students look for models of leadership and activism as they hone their voices, whether in the arts, politics, or other community activism. And explicitly in Walls to Bridges, we ask the 8th graders to explore questions about equity, tolerance, privilege, and justice.
2015/2016 Direct Action Campaign: #Peequality
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, Centerstone. At Centerstone, students volunteer in the food bank to sort food and work on the food line, as well as participating in ground maintenance. As part of the Rites of Passage curriculum, seventh graders take part in a wide variety of service projects including a two day city exploration focused on the needs of Seattle residents and our annual St. Clouds Cooking Project. The eighth grade project is connected to our neighborhood and larger Central District community. Additionally, all students participate in an off campus experience during their ThinkTank Week as a means of extending the academic curriculum and as a way to facilitate connections for the students. In addition to these grade level service projects, we encourage our students to participate in two all school service opportunities.
For the 2016/2017 school year, LWGMS continues to foster relationships with the St. Cloud’s Cooking for the Homeless program, Centerstone, Angeline's Center for Homeless Women, and Bailey Gatzert Elementary.
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.
Social Justice Film Festival
L-Dub’s 4th Annual Social Justice Film Festival was held at the Broadway Performance Hall, and we are so grateful to all of our students and families who joined us in support the Class of 2017. Thank you also to the Alhadeff family for making the event possible and supplying wonderful Majestic Bay popcorn!
As part of the Social Studies class and the Walls to Bridges program, each eighth grader worked with her classmates to agree on a topic, generate a thesis, create a storyboard, integrate interviews, videos, and still photos, and edit a five-minute film that will inspire our audience to act, to think, and to discuss issues important to our students.
At the end of the screening, guests jumped on smartphones and voted for their favorite films. The results were tallied and real time and Ms. Hearn announced the winners...
Best Thesis:
The Dark Side of Disney
By Amy and Anabelle
Best Call to Action:
Living in a Hateful World
By Madison, Georgia, and Hazel
Most Original Idea:
More Than a Diagnosis
By Celia C. and Olive
Best Overall:
I Am More Than a Body
By Megan, Charlotte, and Nadia