Middle School Campus Life

Middle School Mission Statement
The Winchester Thurston Middle School inspires future leaders by holding students to high standards and challenging them through a rigorous curriculum. The knowledgeable and supportive faculty understands and responds to the unique needs of adolescents, fostering in each student a sense of confidence, ethics, responsibility, and respect for others.

Advisory Program
WT recognizes the importance of adolescent development in the life of a Middle School student.  As a result, our Advisory Program provides a support network where various issues can be addressed both formally and informally.  Each student is assigned a faculty advisor each year. Advisors will become familiar with the individual learning styles and developmental stages of each of their advisees

• Establishes a secure environment in which each student can develop a one-on-one relationship with an adult
• Provides students with the tools needed to make responsible decisions and become responsible citizens within the WT community and the community at large
• Allows for each student to participate in several small Advisory Group meetings each week

The Advisory Program's central focus is the Leadership Academy.

Leadership Academy
The Leadership Academy program is a cornerstone of the Middle School experience. It challenges Middle School students to work with a vision of shared leadership and the belief that each student contributes an element of leadership in their own way. 

Experiential Challenge and Training
Using a series of experiential tasks, students are able to define leadership characteristics and strengthen their skills in the areas of team building, self-reliance, and self-awareness. 

Student-Driven Community Service
At the heart of Leadership Academy is the concept of philanthropy and the idea of making an impact on the community and the world.

Each grade level is charged with finding an organization or cause that they are passionate about, and subsequently develops a year-long project in which they create, organize, develop, and execute the project from start to finish. Upon completion of the project students report back their accomplishments to the organization and analyze what they learned about leadership throughout the process.