Students in seventh grade at Watertown Middle School have the opportunity to take an afterschool class called “Leadership,” working with college students from the Leadership Institute at Harvard University.

     Every year, the class decides what project it would like to focus on. This year, the class decided to go to a homeless shelter. Unfortunately, the homeless shelter that was selected was closing earlier than originally thought, so the class had to think of a new plan.

     Another part of the class did go as planned. The students worked in small groups on worldwide problems and presented their work at Harvard University. Some examples of the subjects students worked on were gay rights, stereotypes, homelessness, and hunger. The students expressed what they felt about these somewhat controversial issues.

      The WMS students took the public bus to Harvard Square and had 30-45 minutes on their own to eat and do their own thing. After that, the group reconnected and met up with Charlie, a Harvard student that runs the WMS leadership class with seventh-grade math teacher Phil Oates.

     Charlie gave the students a short tour around Harvard. Every student was fascinated and all everyone could hear was, “This is so cool! I want to go to college here!”

     Once the short tour was over, it was time to give the presentations for the leadership class and some Harvard students. The WMS students presented their projects in a very luxurious room.

     Overall, the students enjoyed sharing their projects with the other students and thought it was a very fun experience. Everyone learned a lot from this great experience, and over time they have definitely learned how to become more of a leader! 

–May 21, 2013–