Meet the Middle School’s Eighth Grade Leadership Team

The members of Colorado Academy’s Eighth Grade Leadership Team fanned out across Sixth and Seventh Grade Advisory classrooms one day in late August 2025 to lead “getting-to-know-you” games with the younger students, many new to CA’s Middle School and all in just their second week back on campus. Only a few days into their roles, the Leadership Team members laughed with a mixture of nervousness and relief as the Advisory groups seemed to enjoy untangling themselves from the “human knot” or playing the “animal name game.” It was the first of many such sessions led by the Eighth Graders, who would steadily deepen their engagement with their peers throughout the school year, tackling subjects such as digital citizenship, belonging, and kindness, as well as advising them on Middle School life in general.

 

Far removed from the traditional “student government” concept, yet integral to CA’s Middle School program for more than a decade, the Eighth Grade Leadership Team has, in the past several years, gained increasing stature as “the primary service program in the Middle School,” according to Principal Nick Malick, who since his arrival at CA in 2023 has been looking closely at how to make service central to the Sixth through Eighth Grade experience.

“What we’re asking all of our kids to do is to serve their school in some way,” explains Malick. “In the case of the Leadership Team, we’re asking them to step up and serve at the highest level: work with Sixth and Seventh graders as a role model, sit on the Admissions Committee and Preview Day panels, help run Orientation for new students. These are the leaders we expect to be our closest partners in making this the place that every Middle Schooler deserves.”

For the members of the Eighth Grade Leadership Team, the role is a unique kind of challenge: both a chance to make their school better and a powerful opportunity to test and grow their own skills, from speaking in front of a group to inspiring change. 

 

According to Logan Adrian, “I haven’t been in a leadership role ever, and I felt like taking a risk this year.” Adds fellow Leadership Team member Elin Olmstead, “It’s very scary sometimes, and then also it’s just a big change. You have to handle a lot of different things that are new—you’re managing a class mostly by yourself, with one teacher’s help. It’s a lot.”

 

At the same time, the rewards of being part of the Eighth Grade Leadership Team are hard to overstate. Explains Logan, “It’s definitely a joyous experience. When you go into an Advisory one day and you give a valuable lesson to the students, and they actually listen—that makes you feel happy, like you gave them something that they could carry on, possibly throughout their lives.”

“There’s a maturity level we hear from these students sometimes that’s just shocking,” says Social Studies Instructor Eric Augustin, who leads the program along with Science Instructor Cate Dance. “For me, the definition of leadership is observing, noticing, and then caring enough to act—and doing it every day. You can’t do this job if you have those blinders on that so many kids this age are still wearing. You have to understand, in a genuine way, that your job is to care about other people.”

Building a team

More than 30 Seventh Graders—nearly half the class—applied last spring to join the 11-member Eighth Grade Leadership Team in the fall, submitting videos and written materials and seeking recommendations from teachers and Advisors. According to Dance, who conducted interviews and reviewed every student’s application alongside Augustin, most of these hopefuls could have made excellent leaders.

 

“The hardest part of the whole process is telling kids ‘no,’” Dance acknowledges. But narrowing the group to a final roster of 11 doesn’t mean those not chosen don’t measure up, she adds. “These are all great students, and we know they will find plenty of opportunities to lead at CA. It’s little things that tip the scale—there’s no single type of model student.”

In fact, the hyper-focused “model” student may well not be an ideal fit for the Leadership Team, notes Augustin. “We’re trying to identify those kids for whom this could be the nudge that changes their trajectory, where we think this might give them confidence in those abilities we already can see that they possess.”

As Malick explains, the Eighth Grade Leadership Team may be a coveted role—but it is not for everyone. “We’re looking for those students who have that innate desire to serve, who are already drawn to the idea of giving back and making the school better.” 

Team member Ellie Cesafsky is a case in point. “I had someone come up to me who was new on my Lacrosse team,” she relates, “and she said, ‘Hey, I don’t really know what drill we’re doing—could you help me out?’ I was really glad that she chose me; that’s what inspired me to think about applying for Leadership Team.”

 

Yet there’s no Eighth Grader who lands on the team knowing everything there is to know about leading a group of 11- or 12-year-olds. (“Not knowing everything” is one of those little things that tip the scales in an applicant’s favor, states Dance.) Before school even begins, they participate in all-day training sessions designed to bring the team together and help put them in the shoes of Sixth Graders. They get their first taste of their new responsibilities during a special Orientation for first-time Middle Schoolers, and the learning continues throughout the school year.

Weekly meetings allow the Eighth Graders to debrief after spending time with Sixth and Seventh Graders, as well as prepare for their next challenge, whether it is leading a group game with the younger students or running a brainstorming activity about “ways of being.” Week after week, the students give up Study Hall periods to talk about the words they’ll use with their Sixth and Seventh Graders, rehearse the ways they’ll motivate and encourage small groups working together, and think about strategies for managing both time and attention. Throughout the year, they take the stage alongside classmates during Middle School Town Hall meetings and other events to help set a tone for their peers and represent CA in front of visitors.

 

The commitment is real, and success comes gradually. 

“For the past two years,” says Elin, “you may not have realized how much you needed that Study Hall time. Now, you have to manage your work a lot better.”

According to Eighth Grader Tara Cady, “I feel like at the start, it’s always a little rough. And then, once you get the hang of it, it’s smoother from there on, and you just start feeling a lot more comfortable.”

 

Adds Eighth Grader José Alonso, “When you’re trying to get the younger kids’ attention, it takes a lot of energy and time.”

 

“Instead of being a leader first, I really try to be their friend,” George Bruno explains, “so they can get to know me. First try to become closer to them, and then hopefully they will start to listen.”

 

The ‘habit’ of service

The notion of collective responsibility, of serving others in the community, is a touchstone for the members of the Leadership Team. It is also core across the entire portfolio of social emotional programming that all Middle Schoolers experience outside of the academic curriculum. This includes regular Advisory meetings, a Student Activities Committee (SAC) made up of elected representatives from each grade, clubs focused on sustainability and inclusion, and many more.

For Eighth Graders in particular, service is a focus. Through the Advisory program, all students in the grade participate in service projects around campus while the Leadership Team is “pushing in” to Advisories on Tuesdays—for example, assisting Lower Schoolers with an art project, working with Pre-K Buddies, tidying buses and Middle School spaces, or writing letters to first responders.

In Tara’s words, “I feel like CA is a place where everyone sort of steps into a leadership role, even if it’s not SAC or the Leadership Team. You can do it just by being a friend and being a leader to those around you.”

 

The broad slate of opportunities—aligned with CA’s mission to create curious, kind, courageous, and adventurous learners and leaders—affords every Sixth through Eighth Grade student their own path to “get into the habit” of service, notes Malick. “A lot of the conversations we’ve had in the Middle School over the past several years have been about how we can mold and shape our program to advance that notion of collective responsibility. We’re not just looking to educate straight-A kids who get into the Ivy League school of their choice; we’re trying to nurture good people, courageous kids who want to make their world better.”

The approach seems to be working. Malick can name numerous students who served on the Eighth Grade Leadership Team or contributed to the Middle School’s culture in other ways who have gone on to win election to the Upper School Community Council. Others have been selected as members of the Community Leadership Team, a group of Seniors who are trained to mentor Ninth Graders.

This year’s group of Eighth Grade leaders attests to the program’s impact, as well. 

For Daphne Dias, it was her own Sixth Grade experience with an Eighth Grade mentor that convinced her to sign up in turn. “I was super nervous going into Sixth Grade, and my Leadership Team person really helped me be less nervous and also just get to know the Middle School. I want to do the same thing this year.”

 

Underscores Maddie Hioe, “I really liked my Leadership Team people the past two years—they helped me feel a lot more like part of the community. This year I really wanted a chance to meet a lot of other people from different grade levels and help build the community, too.”

 

“I feel like the leadership opportunities at CA are very safe spaces,” observes Gigi Snyder Hanks. “They’re places where you can try something, and then when you make a mistake, people will support you, and there’s all the great teachers and staff who are setting good examples, too.”

In art class, she continues, a Seventh Grader she had met while leading one of her first Leadership Team sessions approached her shyly a few days later. “He came up to me and said, ‘I’m very interested in being in leadership next year.’ I told him, ‘Well, you can always ask me anything.’”

 

Indeed, it is the hard work and dedication of Eighth Graders—standing, alone and sometimes nervously, in front of a roomful of younger students to try to guide them—that are inspiring the next group of Middle School leaders. 

As Ellie Cesafsky explains it, “There’s always some things that you have to work through and figure out on your own, but I feel like everything we’re doing is worth it to help these kids. Even being on this team—everyone in this group is so passionate about this, and everyone wants to be here. That just makes it all the better.”