Ask a Mount Vernon Grade 9 student what they’re passionate about, and you might not get a straight answer right away. That’s okay. In fact, that’s the point. The Inquiry Pathway gives students four years to turn personal curiosity into sustained exploration, real-world experience, and original work. It begins not with a predetermined subject or…
Read More from Starting with Question Zero: Inside the Inquiry Pathway
The Upper Campus gym was dark, and the screens on either side of the stage played a video in front of a crowd, which began with Emma Neal (Class of 2029) on the cross-country trail writing a note, then folding it into a paper airplane and launching it into the air. The plane flew over…
Read More from Mount Vernon Launches the 2026–27 School Year with a Milestone Moment
Every summer, Mount Vernon gets to work. But this summer? This one was different. From the upper campus athletic complex to the Lower School hallways, this has been a season of meaningful change, the kind you can see, feel, and be proud of when you walk through our doors this fall. Here’s a look at…
Read More from While You Were Away: A Summer of Transformation at Mount Vernon
The Lower School Activities Hall has become an immersive celebration of creativity, collaboration, and student agency thanks to a Grade 5 fashion and design installation led by Lower School Arts teacher Dianne Johnson and Lower School Maker teacher CeCe Tahtinen. What began as a reflection on students’ growing interest in fashion design evolved into a…
In Upper School AP Environmental Science, Lisa Lariscy is asking students to do something deceptively simple and incredibly complex: explain a global issue, its impact, and a sustainable solution… in just sixty seconds. “The challenge is fitting something incredibly complex into one minute,” she says. “You have to show what the problem is, why it…
Read More from One Minute. Two Global Challenges. Two Student Voices Receiving National Recognition.
As Commencement approaches, the Mount Vernon community has spent the past several weeks celebrating the accomplishments, relationships, and lasting impact of the Class of 2026. From the Senior Luncheon on April 22 to the Honors Ceremony on April 29, and the Seniors’ final day of school on Friday, May 8, each milestone created space to…
Read More from Celebrating the Journey of the Mount Vernon Class of 2026
The arts are more than a discipline; they are a catalyst for connection, expression, and impact. That belief came to life in a powerful way during last Friday’s Arts in Action Day, a thoughtfully designed, Lower School experience that immersed students in the transformative power of the arts, and has become an annual springtime tradition….
Read More from Arts in Action Day 2026: A Celebration of Creativity, Connection, and Purpose
After nearly three years of vision, generosity, and collective momentum, Mount Vernon’s Let’s Do This campaign is approaching its finish line. What began in October 2023 as a bold idea is now on the brink of becoming reality, setting the stage for new spaces that will serve students for years to come. What comes next…
Read More from Building What Comes Next: Let’s Do This Approaches the Finish Line
For the past four years, each spring, Grade 6 students step into the role of urban planners through the Future Cities Project-Based Learning (PBL) experience, an immersive, inquiry-driven journey that challenges them to answer a powerful question: How might we design a sustainable city of the future? This signature Grade 6 experience has evolved into…
What happens when students are given not a prompt, but a problem? In Mount Vernon’s Innovation Diploma (iD), that question is not theoretical. It’s the foundation of learning. And in Mod 3, through a first-of-its-kind partnership with Inspire Brands, students stepped into the role of brand strategists, navigating ambiguity, uncovering insights, and delivering solutions that…
Read More from Inspire Brands x Innovation Diploma: When Students Become Strategists