Students All Smiles for Grade Level Activity Day
On a chilly Saturday morning in February, KUA students said so long to their regular routine of morning classes in favor of the school’s biannual Grade Level Activity Day (GLAD). The event, which occurs on a single day during each of the Fall and Winter trimesters, is required of all students, with each class year taking part in its own unique activity designed to resonate with their standing on their KUA journey.
“Our Grade Level Activity Days are designed to build students’ grade-level-based connection through shared experiences,” Assistant Head of School Dr. Angela Yang-Handy P’28 said. “Activities were intentionally developed to challenge students to learn new skills and introduce them to varied perspectives. It was a day full of inspiration and fun!”
For KUA’s ninth-grade students, a trip to Whaleback Mountain encouraged the school’s youngest community members to embrace new challenges, and to also accept support from those offering to lend a helping hand. All 55 first-year students participated in the trip, which brought students back to the same mountain they climbed last fall during KUA’s annual Mountain Day.
“It was a perfect blend of grit, fun, and joy,” Ninth-Grade Dean Michele Winham P’25 said. “It was amazing to experience one of the things that makes living in New England in the winter so unique together as a class. With the support of our fantastic faculty skiers, students embraced the challenge, pushed themselves outside their comfort zones, and had a blast in the process. I’m so proud of our students for diving into this adventure together.”
Students in the 10th grade, meanwhile, learned valuable life-saving skills that enhance their standing both as community members and as citizens of the greater world. Students received hands-on training from members of the Tracy Health Center on methods like CPR, the Heimlich maneuver, and other first-aid tactics that could prove useful long beyond their time on The Hilltop.
Juniors, on the other hand, are entering an important stage in which they are beginning the college-application process and making decisions that will impact the trajectories of their professional careers. As such, KUA’s Office of College Advising organized workshops featuring real college admissions counselors aimed at giving students an inside-look at how applications are processed, and admissions decisions are made. Students even tried their hand at reading mock applications and deliberating their merit with an admission committee of peers.
“The goal was to give students practical insight into the actual components of an application,” Senior Associate Director of College Advising Derek Gueldenzoph P’22 '26 said. “By allowing students to debate the relative merits of applications, we’re providing them the tools to project how their own information on a college application might be received.”
KUA’s senior class, with less than 100 days until graduation, spent their morning workshopping ethical dilemmas as introduced by alumni and parents. Students bounced questions off lawyers, judges, medical professionals, and diplomats, to name a few, who all share the experience of having once studied on The Hilltop.
The dialogue encouraged students to think about life beyond KUA, in hope of preparing them for challenges they may face down the road. Ethics Day speakers included U.S. District Court Judge Samantha D. Elliot P’26, retired United States Agency for International Development Designer and Project Officer Lee Hougen ’56, and Kraft Sports and Entertainment Content Operations Manager Matisse Baumann ’12, among others.
“Ethics Day was an eye-opening experience thanks to the alumni who donated their time to share their experiences,” said Isobel ’25, who plans to study biology at Carnegie Mellon in the fall. “They highlighted the complexity of ethical issues and showed us how many different perspectives there can be. I learned that there isn’t always a clear-cut ‘right’ answer, but by considering all the variables, I can better evaluate the situation and find a thoughtful solution.”
