Friends, I hope you are relaxing with family and friends, with hobbies and food you enjoy, and without too many regular obligations. I am spending my time away from school with friends-who-are-family in Portland, Oregon, feeling grateful for them and for the opportunity to connect. As part of her research for The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown investigated the relationship …

The 2017-2018 Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest is kicking off at Crossroads! Created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, the contest asks students to memorize and recite a poem for in-school competition, with the opportunity to advance to regional, state, and national finals. According to the organization, “since 2005, Poetry Out Loud has grown …

Originally from China, Olivia Wang came to St. Louis during her undergraduate years through an educational partnership between Guangxi Teacher University and Webster University. She graduated with bachelors degrees in both English and teaching. Olivia stayed in St. Louis to teach Kindergarten at The Chinese School, one of three charter schools within the St. Louis Language Immersion Schools (SLLIS) program, an experience …

Friday, December 1, 2017 and Saturday, December, 2, 2017 For the last seven years, Crossroads has held our Book Fair at Left Bank Books in the Central West End. We especially appreciate the partnership because Left Bank and it’s leadership are committed to social justice — not to mention it’s an excellent independent bookstore with knowledgeable booksellers. How it works: 1) …

Friends, Recently, the director of the COCAbiz program asked me a provocative question: What do schools contribute to the region? I value that we are a private school with a public purpose. The primary way, of course, that we strive to improve the health of our region is through our students. As I see it, though, Crossroads’s commitment to equity and …

Chaley Poth was a student herself this time last year, completing her degree in mathematics and secondary education at St. Louis University, also her parents’ alma mater. In many ways, Chaley finds herself right where she’d hoped to be after graduation. “I was forced to like math growing up,” Chaley says, “and now I love it.” Why the emphasis on math …

Since 2003, Crossroads has offered our high school students the opportunity to design and execute a semester-long Mastery Learning Project (MLP), an in-depth inquiry drawn from an existing area of student interest. English department chair Sarah Pierson Wolff directs the program, which she and colleagues see as particularly valuable preparation for the independent thinking required by collegiate and professional work. …

Last month, art and culture magazine Hyperallergic featured Erin Falker’s (2006) work as Assistant Curator at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit. There, Falker helped develop the special exhibition Say it Loud: Art, History, and Rebellion, “a two-part exhibition that commemorates the 1960s rebellions, observes the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Detroit Rebellion, and compares …