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Middle school is where the action is - young people are figuring out who they are and who they want to be. The answers to life’s big questions change every day - the questions themselves change every day! Brain chemistry is a swirl, the world is expanding from a very small and self-centered place of early childhood to an enormous playground filled with opportunity and challenge and excitement. Middle School people are vulnerable, emotional, playful, serious, challenging, earnest in their beliefs, highly ethical, highly aware of inequity, simple and complex. Middle school people always need to understand “the why” before they dive into tasks and ideas. Middle school people will run the world someday soon and they need the skills to be able to lead based on core values and to discern truth when everything seems phony. There is no other place I would rather spend my time.
Joel Hathaway, Principal of Glenwood Springs Middle School (Home of the Cougars!) in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. (University of Connecticut, Eastern Michigan University, Western Carolina University)