MS Buddies is a program that matches up 6th and 7th grade Middle School students with Pre-Kindergartners in the Lower School.  It provides an opportunity for younger students to work with the "big kids", get familiar with the Middle School and form long-lasting friendships.  MS Buddies builds self-confidence in Middle School students who have just made the leap to a new division.  Together with the kids from Pre-K, they plant, make Halloween decorations, read stories and sit together for the holiday program.  The MS students take a trip to the Lower School playground and play with their buddy on the swings, slides and sandboxes.

"It is a chance for the older students to give back to the community.  They easily fall back to their Pre-Kindergarten selves when they enter the Lower School," says Kristen Donches, Middle School English Teacher.  "They curl up on the carpet with a buddy in their lap and read a story, help the little kids use scissors, or hold their hand on the way to the holiday program.  The look of awe on the Pre-K students' faces when they see their buddies is priceless.  They are so excited to see them each and every time we visit.  The benefit for all is that there is a connection across the quad between students."

In the fast-paced world in which these students live, this provides a time to just "be a kid".  Says Middle School History Department Head Emily Rubenfield, "The Middle School students carefully try to have a conversation with their buddy and you can actually see their wheels spinning as they reach back into their memories to remember what they loved to do when they were 4 or 5.  I'm not sure who enjoys it more, the Pre-k student or the Middle Schoolers."