In the blink of an eye, your kids will have grown up and be ready to move on to the next phase of their lives. The lessons they learn and the experiences they have in school will help guide them through college and into careers.
Fortunately, you can set your child on a fulfilling path with the help of Midland School, a college preparatory school in Los Olivos that is a leader in progressive change. Its Portrait of a Graduate features seven core competencies.
- Connection to place and environment
- Being of use
- Diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice
- Craftsmanship
- Literacy and voice
- Critical thinking and analysis
- Problem solving
Students become competent in these areas through Midland’s rigorous place-based and experiential academics that connect their schooling to the world beyond Midland’s campus.
Connection to place and environment
Students connect to place and the environment by learning how to observe and engage with the world around them. At Midland, they learn about what natural resources are available, how humans interact with their environment, and how to care for a place and its inhabitants.
Midland takes advantage of its 2,860-acre campus, starting with their 9th-grade natural and social science course, Midland 101. Students learn everything from how to use a map to the names of their surroundings to the ecology, soils, trees and everything in between. By understanding the connection students have to this land and to those who cared for it before them, students learn how to properly care for a place, and through doing so build ethical responsibility to it. Midland strives to continue this connection to place throughout a student’s four years both in their academics and through mission-driven extracurriculars like Outdoor Leadership and Natural Horsemanship. For example, one student’s senior project was focused on writing and illustrating a guide to wildflowers found on campus.
Craftsmanship
Building a strong work ethic helps students prepare for both a college-level education and their adult lives. Using that work ethic, Midland students have, for example, created computers from scratch using 3D printers, made ceramic vases, and crafted jewelry in the metal shop. A popular project in recent years has been crafting paipos, traditional Polynesian bodyboards, out of wood reclaimed from old Midland cabins.
Problem solving
Problem solving helps students to identify problems and potential solutions, to plan using available resources, and to evaluate successes and failures.
“Having the necessary skills to identify solutions to problems is one of the skills that employers look for in employees,” according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Midland prides itself on its rigorous courses that challenge students while supporting them. The immersive learning experience means students are more likely to implement the skills they learn into everyday life.
“Our students enter college equipped with the hard skills they need — ready to analyze texts and ideas deeply, write essays on nuanced topics, tackle complex math problems, engage authentically in scientific inquiry — in addition to the soft skills of time management, organization, collaboration, independence, and self-advocacy, skills that will benefit our students well beyond their academic careers,” according to Midland.
Diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice
Building a strong community is vital for learning. Students deserve to feel loved, accepted, and cared for while being shown that their voices matter. That’s why Midland celebrates identity and the diversity of cultures and ideas.
Ellie Moore, Dean of Academics, shares, “Over the years we have doubled down our efforts to make Midland an increasingly diverse, inclusive, equitable and just educational community for all its students, faculty and staff. While the work of DEIJ is often siloed in curriculum, such as within a Humanities classroom, Midland is such a tight-knit learning community that this is the work of all of us, everyday.”
Learn more about Midland’s seven core competencies and how they can prepare your student for college and beyond at midland-school.org.