Writing &
Research Center

From fourth grade through eighth grade, every student takes classes in the Hillsborough campus I-Lab, where they practice hands-on prototyping, use tools and machinery, and learn coding and computer science—all within the framework of design thinking.

“Our guiding principle,” said I-Lab Director Angi Chau, “is that the core computer science curriculum is meant to be accessible to everybody, whether or not they have done a lot of coding before.” 

As part of creating a beloved community, students in lower school classes begin the year by creating sets of class agreements and sharing things about themselves with their peers. In the second grade, students participate in an identity project, reflecting on who they are and what is important to them before creating their own self-portraits. 

In April, the Nueva community gathered to raise funds for student financial assistance at our virtual Be a Maverick Benefit.

Last spring, Director of Internships Katie Saylor met with biology teachers Paul Hauser and Jehnna Ronan to explore ways to offer students hands-on internships for those interested in lab-based sciences here at Nueva. Out of their conversations came a new biology internship offered this summer, where students helped to design new lab experiments and to refine existing experiments in the 10th grade biology curriculum.

On Sunday, May 22, community members past and present gathered at Hillsborough and, through Zoom, around the world to celebrate 30 years of brilliant teaching and music-making by our very own Sin-Tung Chiu. If you were unable to attend, you can still enjoy the touching tributes and inspiring performances by the Nueva String Ensemble, current and former violin students, and Sin-Tung himself, accompanied by Nueva alumnus Dmitriy Cogan, on this professionally produced video. Log in to my.nuevaschool.org to watch here.

Mavericks Making Waves is our latest roundup of exceptional student and faculty accomplishments and activities happening beyond Nueva's walls. 

Pre-kindergarten students have spent the last few months learning about the artist Dale Chihuly and the amazing sculptures that he creates. When they began to create their Chihuly-inspired sculpture using transparency paper, they asked, "What is the whole school made a piece of the art?"

How do our cultures shape the stories we tell? This was the starting question first graders in Emily Mitchell’s class explored when they read and dissected eighteen interpretations of the fairytale Cinderella from across the globe.