Community students filed into the main entrance of Clague Middle School, laughing and preparing their middle school presentations. Middle schoolers ran by as the warning bell rang, rushing to get to class on time. Mia Rubenstein, a junior at Community, was instantly brought back to three years ago when she was one of the students walking the halls of the school.
“I went to Clague, my old middle school. I know a lot of the teachers have changed, but just being in the building and sharing with the students why I love Community so much was so special,” Rubenstein said.
For the second year in a row, CHS Forum Council organized a way to connect with the middle schoolers to inform them about Community and how they can apply. Being a part of Middle School Outreach was an important opportunity for Rubenstein. As she explained about her class: “My grade, we are below 132 students, and we’ve exceeded the waitlist.” Rubenstein didn’t feel great about this, but she also believes it means that the juniors who are at Community really want to be there. That is something she shared with the eighth graders. During the presentation, Rubenstein talked about the “Small School Feel” and shared stories about her experience in Community’s theatre program, CET. She described how she looks forward to going to school every day and how attending Community was the right choice.
Rubenstein believes it’s important to share stories about high school, not just statistics. Community stands out with all of the stories and opportunities it offers. Rubenstein told a story about when she left class early after a test to get a drink from Sweetwaters. She used the story to highlight the freedom of the free campus that is a staple of Community and one of the important talking points of the presentation. Even though the story is short, she believes the students will be more intrigued and interested in a personal experience rather than telling them the same facts as any other high school.
“They can get data from any school,” Rubenstein said. “You have to show them what you love about [Community].”
The Middle School Outreach Program doesn’t only help inform middle school students about Community, exemplifies who goes to the school, which makes the presentation more meaningful. Anna Chomistek, a freshman at Community, remembers CHS students coming into her advisory class when she was an eighth grader. She feels that hearing about Community from students who have different experiences widened her view and helped her to decide that Community was the right fit for her.
Rubenstein, who didn’t recall high school students coming to her school to talk about Community, suspects that if the Middle School Outreach program existed during her eighth-grade year, more people would’ve applied. She has confidence that many people don’t apply mainly because they don’t know what Community is and what it represents.
The importance of going to the middle schools is clear to Rubenstein. She sees Community as a place where people can take control of their learning and hopes she conveyed that to the eighth graders. Middle School Outreach has been a way to share what Community is with as many people as possible to ensure everyone has a chance to be a part of the alternative high school experience known as Community.
