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
More than 100 pieces of donated soccer equipment. Cross-divisional collaboration. A student-designed experience that connected Lower School learners with Upper School athletes through a shared sense of purpose; this is what’s possible when students are empowered to lead. For Finn Douglas, a Grade 5 learner, the inspiration for his Summit experience began with a simple…
Read More from Building Connections Through Purpose: A Grade 5 Summit Experience
The Mount Vernon experience is intentionally designed around choice. Choices increase as students move through each division. In Upper School, students choose their pathway: Inquiry, Innovation, or Impact, each offering opportunities to explore passions, solve real-world problems, and design their journey of purpose. Yet, some experiences transcend pathways altogether. The Global Exchange Program is one…
Read More from More Than Travel: A Fully Immersive Exchange Experience
What does it mean to truly understand a cell? In Grade 7 Science, it means being able to redesign it. Through a transdisciplinary unit that blends science, humanities, and design, students move beyond memorization and into mastery, applying complex biological concepts through inventive, real-world analogies they create themselves. For Grade 7 Science Teacher, Chelsea Kennedy,…
Read More from Learning That Sticks: How Real-World Connections Deepen Scientific Understanding