Potomac Stories

Our Chinese 3 honors and Chinese 4 honors classes recently participated in an online language exchange with high school students in Zhangzhou, China. Students introduced themselves, discussed their school routines and hobbies, and quickly identified both similarities and differences in their daily lives. Students also practiced speaking and listening in real time, using the language in a natural and meaningful way. A highlight of the event was when students on both sides sang popular songs in both Chinese and English, creating a fun and memorable moment for everyone.

This exchange strengthened students’ language skills, deepened their cultural understanding, and broadened their views of the world. We look forward to continuing this partnership with our friends in Zhangzhou. 

To complement their case study on the Chesapeake Bay oyster population over time, Advanced Populations students visited the National Museum of American History's permanent exhibit "On the Water," which includes artifacts and stories from Chesapeake Bay oystermen. Among other items, students viewed a model of a skipjack, a traditional sail-powered boat that has been used to harvest oysters in Maryland for generations. In early December, the class will welcome a guest speaker, an expert on oyster restoration and co-founder of a family-owned oyster company in Virginia Beach, as well as a presentation by our own resident oyster restoration expert, SERC student Avery Miller '26.

Prior to Thanksgiving Break, ninth graders hosted grade 4 students in the Upper School as a part of the Personal Agency & Community Responsibility module of Foundations 9. Paired up based on interests and hobbies, students in both grades had a chance to make meaningful cross-divisional connections over lunch. Ninth graders look forward to hosting Middle School students twice more this school year, once in January with the fifth grade, and finally in April with the sixth grade.

The Advanced Science and Engineering Research Center (SERC) 11 students have had an enlivening few weeks filled with good-natured peer competition this fall. Dr. Natasha Hamblet shared the following prompt with students: “Design a lab activity that helps to explain the purpose of your research proposal and/or the relevance of your project. This activity should demonstrate your understanding of the work you are attempting to do and should aid your peers in understanding your hypothesis.” Students rose to the challenge and came up with imaginative activities such as: Blast Off – Bottle Rockets (Cait Toop), Silent Hangman (Luke Swiggart), Build It DNA Origami (Sophia Sultan), Race the Diagnostic Clock! (Kaydyn Godbee), Tarsal Coalition Band Gradient (Maddy Dolan), BVax Team Relay (Ellie Yu), The Bioplastic Challenge (Santi Cangahuala), and Database Mania! (Jacob Jackson).

During an Upper School Assembly on November 21, our senior emcees took the mic to run an extended version of our Friday afternoon Upper School meetings. Featuring brief share-outs from students and faculty, the assembly was a great way to hear from many different voices in our community. The highlight of the assembly was a speech by Mila Karmelia, B&G's facilities services manager, who received a standing ovation from students after sharing the many ways our B&G team supports our community. The assembly also featured a video filmed and edited by the emcees, which included students celebrating the people in their lives they are grateful for this Thanksgiving. It was a great community moment!

On Wednesday, November 19, our third-grade classes successfully navigated the world of engineering to create a thrilling Cardboard Carnival for the Lower School students! Students utilized the basic engineering design process as their roadmap, tackling the essential question: "How can we use the engineering design process to create something that others can use?" 

They learned how to plan and improve their designs to ensure their carnival games were fun, functional, and ready for our Lower School students. This process helped them understand that starting to design is the key to creating a successful game.

Most importantly, the students discovered that "sharing ideas and working together help us to create amazing things." Through powerful collaboration and creativity, our third graders worked as a team to design and build amazing, functional games and accompanying elements entirely from cardboard.