News & Events

Biotech Field Trip Inspires 4th Grade

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 04:00:00 +0000

Check out these future scientists—or future well-rounded citizens, whatever their chosen field!

Last week our 4th grade had a fantastic visit to the Omeros Corporation, a local biotech company co-founded and led by one of our own Evergreen parents. Students dove deep into the science of disease-fighting cells with hands-on activities.

They extracted real DNA from strawberries, used lab-grade microscopes to examine specimens from tarantula exoskeletons and kidney samples to their own hair, and—perhaps the highlight for many—discovered that liquid nitrogen might just be the coolest substance on Earth (almost literally!). After freezing flowers solid and then gleefully smashing them to pieces, the students wrapped up by tasting ice cream fresh made using liquid nitrogen.

Adventure Days in Middle School!

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0000

There's always a lot happening at Evergreen, but once a year, something changes in our middle school. Suddenly students are moving from room to room, focused, purposeful, and every space is occupied. Power tools are buzzing in the courtyard. Smells of chopped onions and melting chocolate drift out of the kitchen. Every corner of the BIG Lab makerspace is busy, with students on sewing machines, operating the laser cutter, checking their laptops, pouring resin, and more. The science rooms might have a dissection going on in one area, and a chemistry experiment in another. There is painting, dancing, filming happening.

This is Adventure Days, one of Evergreen’s signature programs. Each year, students in grades 6 through 8 devote the two days before Midwinter Break to a passion project of their own choosing—a culmination of weeks already spent drafting, designing, organizing, and planning. The goal is to try something new.

The whole process of Adventure Days emphasizes experiential learning and encourages creativity, real-time problem-solving, collaboration, and learning through trial and error ... because even with planning, things don’t always turn out as expected, but the process is the real learning time! And the finished products are pretty cool, too.

Head of School Halsey Bell shows his school spirit, thanks to this student's hair styling project!

Alumni Eagle Scout Project Featured on KNKX

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Check out this great piece on KNKX public radio, featuring 2022 alum (and daughter of long-time teacher Mrs. Rose) Araya Trujillo! She built a Little Free Library with a twist—her Little Free Music Library is now available at Third Place Commons in Lake Forest Park. From the idea to the execution, she made it happen.

Middle School One-Act Plays!

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Congratulations to all the performers and crew who collaborated on the middle school one-act plays last weekend! "The AI Play" and "All The Ways the World Will End But Not for You" were timely and fun theater pieces, and it was great to see an audience of family, friends, and some Evergreen alumni too!

These productions were part of Evergreen's "Middle Arts" program, our arts education curriculum for middle school (grades 6-8). All middle school students take two arts classes each semester, and over the course of their middle school years, they must also fulfill broad distribution requirements: two music, two visual arts, two performance arts, and one dance class. Offerings range far and wide, depending on the specialties of in-house and visiting faculty, and have included podcast production, graphic novels, improv, blacksmith arts using a forge, and so many more. At this age, the opportunity to try out hip hop dance, or watercolor, or video production, etc. can be a valuable introduction to new fields and new horizons.

Upper Division Theater InstructorVanessa Miller (right) with two theater alumni, who returned to see their younger siblings perform.

Campus Expansion Update!

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0000

If you've been near Evergreen lately, you couldn't miss the big new building just south of our current campus!

After months of construction prepwork -- digging, foundation work, and more -- the structure of the new building has risen relatively quickly. The Early Childhood Center is slated to open in September 2026, when it will house our preschool, prekindergarten, and kindergarten programs, all under the direction of the early childhood division head, a new addition to Evergreen's administration as of 2025. The new center has been designed from the ground up to support the specific needs, rhythms, and imaginations of our youngest learners.

It's exciting to watch as it emerges! Follow along here with updates shared by our contractors.

Evergreen's Approach to Technology

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0000

Evergreen’s Approach to Technology
Santosh Zachariah, Educational Technology Coordinator

To be a teacher here in the Seattle area—in the vicinity of Lake Washington and the Puget Sound, with tech companies seemingly everywhere—is to repeatedly grapple with questions like, “What is the world going to be like for our learners?" "How will technology shape it?" "How do we prepare them to thrive in it?” And every headspinning headline about Artificial Intelligence (AI) reinforces one main question: “Do we have the right fundamentals in place for our graduates to lead with curiosity, compassion, and courage 10-15 years from now?”

Learning to Use Technology with Confidence
At Evergreen, the approach we take is to continually provide learners with opportunities to build competence and confidence in working with a new technology. When we do this right, our students leave Evergreen as enthusiastic lifelong learners of these tools, confidently curious about how new technologies can be used to solve problems and contribute to communities.

As we choose which technologies to introduce and use in each grade, the primary questions we ask are:

How will this tool build students' self-confidence in learning new technologies?
Where in the school day will students have opportunities to use these tools in ways that affirm their competence?

The confidence students build from succeeding at increasingly difficult learning cycles will set them up to embrace and stay abreast of every technology that enters their lives in the future.

Technology from K-8: A Measured Introduction
We implement this approach through a 1:1 program where every student has a dedicated device from kindergarten onward, and at least one dedicated technology class each week. We build slowly: our kindergarten curriculum implements technology sparingly, while by the end of 6th grade, devices are used in every core class continuing through middle school. Subject teachers leverage the skills learned in technology class to give students wider opportunities to engage with the curriculum and to demonstrate their understanding.

By all accounts, this approach has served our graduates very well, starting with the middle school students who had their first 1:1 “Netbook” laptop back in 2008. Consistent with this approach, we don’t try to guess what sort of AI literacy today will best serve our graduates when they embark on their careers one to two decades hence. Rather, we keep abreast of generative AI in the same way we have other technologies as they emerged. When we see an opportunity to introduce it in a way that supports engagement and demonstration of understanding, we will try that with our 8th graders, and then gradually apply the lessons learned in the younger grades bit by bit until a new tool becomes an integral part of the curriculum.

What About AI?
At present, we do not see a place for student use of generative AI in the classroom and in assignments. That, of course, will change over time, as use of AI tools bleeds from faculty/staff-only use to increasing use with students. This reminds me of the days when Microsoft Word was growing in popularity and people regularly emailed attachments back and forth. Back then, we introduced typing in 4th grade in the computer lab, but by the time the students reached 8th grade systems had already evolved—students could submit essays directly to our shared network drives and receive teacher feedback as markup within Word. Today, we don’t teach “word processing” and 3rd graders are already submitting their first Google Docs.

A Thoughtful Approach
As the technology world continues to evolve at a rapid pace, Evergreen embraces these technologies in age-appropriate and informed ways, to ensure we are teaching our students based on the latest professional best practices. The foundation of this starts with faculty and staff training and building self-confidence, which then translates into classroom conversations about these very same things. Teachers in Evergreen classrooms demonstrate lifelong learning to our students in many ways, and the thorough research and understanding of how to implement new technologies is just one example of how we live out our mission.

As Evergreen’s Educational Technology Coordinator, Santosh Zachariah supports the adoption of technology in the instructional program. He has also taught technology in our Upper Division (4th-8th grade) for every one of the last 15 years. His two Evergreen alums (2014 and 2017) are now working in the Bay Area and New York City.

Boat Building and Maritime Exploration on the Olympic Peninsula

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Our 5th graders spent most of last week at Northwest Maritime in Port Townsend ... and they even made the newspaper!

The Peninsula Daily News featured our students in a piece about education at the maritime education organization, mentioning some of the many activities students participated in throughout the week, and offering a detailed description of the launch of a boat students built—down to the bagpipes accompanying the event!

At Evergreen, starting in 1st grade each class heads out during the year on an overnight camp experience. First graders are only away for one night and there are many parent chaperones; as they get older, the time spent at camp increases and the level of challenge of camp activities grows too, but the goal of deeper connections among students and a chance to try new things in a new environment remains the same. In 8th grade, students spend much of the year working towards our signature Global Studies Program trip—four weeks together in a developing country, a capstone experience that Evergreen alumni carry with them far beyond graduation.

Our New Construction Project: Demolition Begins!

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 04:00:00 +0000

The first major step towards construction of our new Early Childhood Center is taking down the existing older buildings on the site—and some of our kindergartners witnessed the action!

Construction will continue through the coming year, after which time our preschool, prekindergarten, and kindergarten classes will be housed in the new building, along with all sorts of multi-use spaces facilitating indoor and outdoor gathering and activities.

Middle Arts Performs "Shrek the Musical JR"

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 04:00:00 +0000

What's better than a chance to watch the enduring story of finding the true meaning of acceptance and friendship that is Shrek?

Watching it performed by our hardworking Middle Arts theater class students, and with a backstage crew also featuring many students!

Last weekend, Middle Arts theater classes performed Shrek the Musical, JR to crowds of family, friends, and fellow students that filled the Evergreen theater. This fun-filled, heartwarming production was a great show for all ages, and in true Evergreen fashion, students played a huge part—as actors, but also as stage managers, sound technicians, scenic painters, wardrobe assistants, backstage crew, and more—a total of 55 students took part!

Huge thanks go too to the many adults who made this show happen, under the direction of Upper Division music and theater teacher Vanessa Miller.

The Wonder Ball Is Coming!

Mon, 03 Mar 2025 05:00:00 +0000

Evergreen's annual Spring Benefit is just around the corner! Don't miss this year's Wonder Ball on March 21—visit the Spring Benefit page for all the details!