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.