Enrichment Activities
AVID
AVID students have applied, interviewed, and been recommended to be in the AVID program, during their seventh and eighth grade years. The AVID class prepares students for high school and college readiness. Along with attaining tools and strategies in Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading (WICOR), it also provides opportunities for leadership, and to build relational capacity.
Business Academy
HMS is designated as a Business Academy. Exploratory teachers work with the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), a non-profit organization focused on teaching entrepreneurship in low-income areas across the country. In sixth grade, students learn about career paths through the Exploring Careers course where they learn about different career clusters, academic planning, personal finance and economics. In sixth and seventh grades, Project Lead The Way (PLTW) provides amazing learning experiences for our students where engaging, hands-on classroom projects empower students to develop knowledge and skills they need to thrive in an ever-changing, technological world in which they live. Through PLTW, our students become creators and producers, not just consumers. They learn to program their devices, not just play or chat on them. They do this through two courses, "Innovators and Creators" and "App Creators." Students learn how to create feasible and marketable concepts for apps to solve problems in their world, and culminates in an end of the year competition in May. In eighth grade, students are introduced to entrepreneurship as a potential career path and learn the value of entrepreneurial thinking in any career they choose to pursue. Various business topics (sales, marketing, expenses, ethics, credit, etc.) are explored throughout the year. Students complete a Business Plan project where they develop a business plan for their own start-up idea. Students quickly see the value of their core classes by creating a business start-up, and developing a plan based on research and customer data. Business plans incorporate math, science, English, as well as overlap into other leadership extracurricular activities on the HMS campus.
Ecology Club
The Ecology Club provides students the opportunity to learn more about the science behind the interrelationship of organisms and their environment. Students dedicate themselves to learning how they can help their community, school, and self through sustainable life choices. Club members not only help with campus beautification once a week, but they also volunteer once a month to clean a public area in our community. Students created up-cycled projects, helped with our school's recycle program, raised charitable contributions to aid the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, volunteered at the local Madrona Marsh, and cleaned the streets with Tree Musketeers. The Ecology Club planted a California Native Garden on campus to promote drought and water-usage awareness. Students also started an organic fruit and vegetable garden on campus to promote healthy eating and the importance of organic farming.
MESA
Math, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) is a statewide STEM program in coordination with the University of Southern California (USC). Students meet once a week and participate in hands-on STEM activities that lead to community competitions and USC campus visits.
Student Advisory Group
The HMS Student Advisory Group plans student activities, campus awareness campaigns, spirit weeks and school-wide fundraisers. Elected student officers also participate in School Site Council meetings to collaborate with administration, parents, and teachers in creating goals to evaluate our school programs.
WEB
"Where Everybody Belongs" (WEB) is a middle school orientation and transition program that welcomes sixth graders to make them feel comfortable throughout the first year of their middle school experience. Built on the belief that students can help students succeed, the program trains mentors from the eighth grade class to be WEB Leaders. As positive role models, WEB Leaders guide the younger students to discover what it takes to be successful during the transition to middle school.