The Middle School offers a number of different opportunities for student involvement and development well beyond the classroom. Whether honing their leadership skills, planning a student fundraising initiative or joining one of the many MS clubs, the Middle School's thoughtfully crafted programs provide a safe, creative and nurturing environment for students to have fun while learning.
Middle School Student Council
The Middle School Student Council is run by three officers who are elected by their class in the spring of their seventh grade year. Student Council terms begin in the eighth grade and their responsibilities include planning and managing the Middle School dances and the annual seventh and eighth grade Girls' Powder Puff football game, decorating the halls at Christmas, planning spirit-raising events for the student body and coordinating the major fundraiser (Penny Wars) to help fund their activities and to donate to a charity of choice.
Prejudice Awareness and Peer Leadership Organization
Prejudice Awareness and Peer Leadership Organization (PAPLO) was founded to foster leadership opportunities for eighth grade students. The group is a self selected core of students who are dedicated to building a middle school culture that is tolerant, open and accepting of diversity on every level.~ Students engage in Social and Emotional (SEL) based discussions around issues of concern and organize activities that are presented to all of the other students through Chapel, advisory or special event programming.All of the projects, workshops and programs are student initiated and planned with the help of two faculty sponsors. Each year PAPLO sends seven representatives to the No Place for Hate Youth Summit at the State Capitol. The event, sponsored by the Central Texas chapter of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), is an all day event that helps middle school students from all over the area learn the leadership methods, practices, values and vocabulary around building cultures of tolerance, mutual understanding and respect at their own schools. As a result of this long-running work by PAPLO, the middle school has been designated a No Place for Hate Campus by the ADL.
Clubs
Enrichment clubs at the middle school offer students a tremendous opportunity to connect with their teachers and realize extracurricular interests and talents in a small group setting. Each trimester students enroll in clubs that interest them and each of those clubs is sponsored by one or more of the faculty or staff in the St. Andrew's community. Students participate in clubs on Friday afternoons and a diverse array of interest areas and enrichment are offered. In the 2011-2012 school year St. Andrew's Middle School is offering a wide range of clubs; Creative Writing, Logic Games, Documentary and Mockumentary Film Making, Creative Percussion, Strategic Gaming, Speech and Debate, Rock and Blues Band, Yearbook and Cru Tube, Book Club, Legos and Robotics, Creative Visual Arts, Movie Making, Juggling, Outdoor Survival, Scrabble, Math Wars, Chinese Culture, Small Engine Repair, Sport Medicine and many more.
Middle School Special Activities
The Middle School sponsors several events every year to help build community and provide some fun for the students. In August, the annual Middle School Swim Party at West Austin Athletic Club kicks off the school year followed by the Student Council-sponsored Fall Dance and the Winter Fun Night. And, after the last Final Exam, the end of the year is celebrated with the annual Pizza-Powder Puff Palooza. Each of these events provides a lot of laughs and lasting memories for Middle School students.