All-In for Community

It’s unusual for an independent school to have students from three-year olds all the way through graduating seniors together on one campus as we do here at Rutgers Prep. We actively seek out opportunities to take advantage of this unique element of our learning community.

At our recent mid-winter community-wide art project and Prep Rally, we were reminded once again of just how lucky we are. Our art project this year was a perfect response to what felt like a long string of grey days; our students took some time out to exercise their creativity in the service of adding some splashes of color to our campus landscape. 

Every lower- and middle-school classroom awaited the arrival of their Upper School buddies, at which point the painting could begin! The collaborative energy amongst our students was palpable, and resulted in great cross-divisional connections and some lovely visual surprises for folks who are walking across campus to our dining commons. 

Meanwhile, middle school faculty members Heather Masterpol & Danielle DiVincent had been preparing to reprise their roles as seventh grade flash mob choreographers. Both teachers enjoy dancing and have taught dance, so an all-class dance project is an excellent way to build on their interest and experience.

“We encourage students to think of it as a service… when other people see you dancing, it makes them feel good. There are often a few students who are initially resistant, but then we tell them that every students who has gone through the Rutgers Prep Middle School for the past six years has danced, and pretty soon they’re all up and dancing,” explained Masterpol.  

Masterpol and DiVincent produced a private YouTube video to help the students learn the dance, and then every spare moment became an opportunity for our seventh graders to work on their dance moves.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to see a different side of kids; when you see a quiet kid who starts busting a move, you can see just see the change in the way the other kids are thinking about them,” added DiVincent. And at this year’s Prep Rally, the Rutgers Prep seventh graders were a huge hit with their mid-winter flash mob.

Other community-building events from this year’s Prep Rally included multiple rounds of tug-o-war, a dunk contest, a hula hoop contest, a paper airplane contest, and a rousing round of Hungry Hungry Humans (modeled after the children’s game, Hungry Hungry Hippos)... you sort of needed to see it to believe it. And fortunately for us, every single student at Rutgers Prep had the opportunity to do just that!