For kindergarten students, a Force and Motion unit becomes an opportunity to investigate scientific concepts, apply them in the real world, and learn from students across campus. What happens when a kindergarten science lesson moves beyond the classroom? On Lower Campus, it might look like a golf club in the hands of a five-year-old, a…
Inside Innovation Diploma’s Fall 2026 Design Briefs At the start of each school year, junior and senior Innovation Diploma students in the Upper School begin with a real design brief from a real organization. Something that they have been preparing for and building towards since their freshman year. Design Briefs are not a simulation. Not…
Read More from When the Work is Real, the Learning is Different
Every fall, something remarkable happens in the Upper Campus gym. The bleachers buzz with anticipation. Students in red, pink, green, and blue pack together on one side, draped in scarves, and wearing hats and gear in their House colors. On the other side sit the newcomers: every sixth grader and student new to Mount Vernon,…
Read More from You Belong Here: Inside the Middle School’s Annual House Sorting
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