Middle School Arts Week: ‘The Bravest of Performers!’

For the 25th year in school history, students at the Friends Academy Middle School immersed themselves in a weeklong sojourn to explore the world of the arts — everything from lyric writing, to clay-making, to acting, and so much more.

During Middle School Arts Week, students step out of their academic classrooms and regular routines to dive into forays of their choosing from the start of each day until they go home in the afternoon. “The program exists to give students the opportunity to deeply explore other sides of their brains and discover new passions,” says Mr. Andrew Geha, the Director of Arts at Friends Academy.

“We look to create opportunities and workshops different from what they do in their regular curriculum,” he adds. “We’re not going over the music that we teach in orchestra or the unit we teach in ceramics. We’re bringing in unique and special opportunities to help students explore and discover new skills and new ways to apply skills they are already developing.”

Students are doing much more than exploring new disciplines; they’re learning life lessons that speak to the heart of Friends Academy’s mission and values.

“Some schools treat arts education as an add-on, but Friends Academy knows it’s essential,” Mr. Geha says. “Arts education builds fundamental skills that students will use for the rest of their lives, regardless of the career path they choose. Students learn team work and collaboration, creative problem solving, critical-thinking, and resilience. Often, students can be hesitant to try new things for fear of messing up, but our approach is to help them understand that we all make mistakes, and we can use those mistakes to launch ourselves forward and make new discoveries. When you hit a wall, instead of seeing an obstacle that makes you feel stuck, look for the opportunity to leap over it.”

Educators at Friends Academy understand the impact that an immersive arts week can have on the full-child development of middle-school adolescents.

“Middle school is a time in our lives when we’re figuring a lot of things out for ourselves," Mr. Geha says. “We’re discovering the things we are passionate about and pursuing them to the nth degree. It’s how we start to figure out who we are, where we stand, and how we can make our voices a part of the world in an impactful way. What we have learned over the years from Middle School Arts Week is that when you give these kids a container in which they can thrive, they will impress you every time.”

Here are the containers in which they thrived . . . 

The Middle School Play

Students in the Middle School’s theater program had a chance to rehearse their play, Myth Perceived, during Arts Week — and close out the week with multiple performances during the school day and at night on the Dolan Center stage.



Told over four chapters, the original play was a collection of stories that explored how we see the world and the world sees us. It featured 60 middle-school students performing on stage and working behind the scenes, with the help of 10 students from the Upper School.

The 65-minute performance included an original musical adaptation of the “Ugly Duckling” fairy tale; it explored big questions about heroic actions; it expressed the depths of different personalities, with students live-painting new art pieces on stage in vibrant hues; and it included a breathtaking performance from students on aerial silks to help tell the story of Pedro Linares Lopez, a Mexican folk artist who dreamed up the fantastical creatures of the Alebrijes.



The show drew packed houses and rave reviews. After the opening night, one faculty member wrote an email to the Friends Academy community: “It is thought-provoking, inspiring, creative, and will move you in ways you will never expect! And all the while, you have to remind yourself, these are middle-schoolers! The young people you see in our halls are transformed on stage through their hard work — and the work of our amazingly talented arts department — into the most colorful characters, confident singers and dancers, and the bravest of performers!”



Lyric Writing

Students explored the creative process of songwriting by learning how lyrics and music intertwine to tell a story. They discussed what makes lyrics meaningful, including themes, emotions, rhythm, and rhyme and after writing lyrics, worked with simple melodies and musical structures to transform their words into a song. By the end, students had created an original song that reflected their voice and creativity.

Movement & Acting

From jazz to hip-hop, students learned different styles of dance while working on techniques and tricks. No matter their starting level, all students found the beat and met the challenge in this let-loose and have-fun freestyle dance workshop.

Drumming With Friends

Students in the fifth and sixth grades learned about different types of percussion instruments (traditional and non-traditional) and explored the world of percussion.

Students in seventh and eighth grades performed an intermediate percussion ensemble piece after learning about different types of rhythms and meters, as well as techniques and listening skills.

Soundtrap Studio 

Creativity, engagement, courage were the prerequisites for students who created their own music using loops, beats, and digital instruments.

Shadow Puppet Theater 

Fifth- and sixth-graders designed and built their own shadow puppets using paper, sticks, and simple materials to explore how light and shadows work together to bring characters to life on a shadow stage. 

Tape Sculpture Studio 

Seventh- and eighth-graders created life-size sculptures by wrapping layers of tape around an arm, leg, or body form to create hollow sculptural shapes. Once the forms were cut and reassembled, they built figures that could sit, stand, and strike a pose.

Epic Origins: A Comic Design Workshop 

Students created original characters, immersive maps, and comic books. They started by creating a vibrant poster of a main character, utilizing dynamic action poses and bold colors to make them pop. Next, they illustrated detailed maps of their characters' universes to chart their journeys. And then they were given the creative freedom to bring it all together by telling their hero’s journey in the comic book.

Clay Tic-Tac-Toe Boards

Students created their own tic tac toe boards using slab rollers and other clay tools.  They also made eight 3D mini pieces of X’s and O’s to make a completed and cohesive set. 

Clay Dragon Eyes 

Students sculpted and carved clay around a glass dragon eye while adding lots of reptilian textures to their designs.

Digital Art Mindfulness and Meditation 

Fifth- and sixth-graders used Apple Pencils to create everything from mind-bending optical illusions and intricate mandalas to zen tangles and satisfying squiggle-based designs. 

Mind-Bending Digital Animation

Students used Procreate to master the art of the Fixed-Point Morph. By keeping the eyes and teeth perfectly still while the rest of the face transforms, they created surreal, looping GIFs that are as impressive as they are unique.

Suminagashi Print Making

Inspired by fantasy and mythology, students learned the ancient technique of Suminagashi paper marbling to create flowing ink patterns on water. These unique marbled papers became the foundation for a mixed media assemblage revealing a mysterious presence beneath the surface. Students explored techniques for building depth, contrast, and mood using a variety of art materials and their own imagination.

Character Fusion Print Shop

Students learned the pro skills of linocutting — designing, carving, and inking your own custom stamps. The best part? Every student’s carving was a piece of a bigger picture. They collaborated with classmates to "mash up" designs, swapping heads, bodies, and legs to create thousands of hilarious and wild character combinations. 

Batik

Students experienced the mesmerizing art of Batik, an ancient resist-dyeing technique that uses hot wax as a resist medium and vibrant fiber-reactive dyes to unveil intricate motifs.

For more photos of Middle School Arts Week 2026, visit our Flickr album >>>


Photography by Alvin Caal & MaryJo Allegra / Friends Academy