How do we celebrate the wonderful arrival of our new and returning students and families? In our usual grackle-way of course! We make an 80’s style sitcom intro for you to enjoy! We are so excited to welcome a new class of Waterloo freshmen, an amazing group of transfer students…and all our dynamic, funny, talented…
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Traditional high schools are really good at teaching academics, but what about the other skills teenagers need to thrive in the real world? What about emotional intelligence? It’s the kind of thing you might expect to hear about in a commencement address… along with “forks in the road” or “oh, the places we’ll go.” But…
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Have you ever been on a class trip? Where did you go? What did you do? Plenty of schools embark on class trips to unique cultural destinations to explore and expand young minds – some turn them into mission trips building local relationships and engaging in acts of service. At Waterloo, we’ve taken many of…
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Education at Waterloo School is inspired by several different learning models. One of those is well known by some and a bit of a mystery to others: Project-Based Learning (known by those familiar with it as ‘PBL.’) Just what is project-based learning? How does it work? And what does it look like in practice? What…
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It’s Big Cheese time! Welcome to our annual (lighthearted) campaign that helps us lead our amazing, ambitious high school students reach their potential. We’re investing in people The Big Cheese is not just about raising money — it’s about making a real impact. But how do we do that? Earlier this fall, our families hosted…
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Your senior year is a great time to be in high school! Will you coast through the finish line, or will you make the most of the time you have left? Dr. Christina Swan (admissions, sciences) and Craig Doerksen (director, humanities) recently had a chat about how Waterloo empowers seniors to get a head start…
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Are you curious about what it’s like to experience the capstone Junior Project here at Waterloo School? In their third year, Waterloo students take on the exciting task of completing a Junior Project. This is a project that showcases each student’s unique interests and skills developed during their time at Waterloo and helps colleges see…
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This week I watched our students argue in court over 100 million dollars worth of stolen artwork and a museum’s allegedly fraudulent insurance claim. The judge was a real Texas judge. The courtroom was a real (Zoom) courtroom. But it wasn’t a real trial. In fact, it was a Mock Trial, and the students in…
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“I hate you, Mr. Doerksen.” When spoken by a student to a teacher, those words can go in a lot of different directions! Not all the possibilities are as bad as they seem. The student’s squinting eyes and sly grin looking past her classmates down the the table to where I sat suggested her meaning…
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I was in Atlanta recently at an education conference and a colleague who I’d not seen since we had started Waterloo wanted an update on how we were doing. Being an educator he asked an important question, “How do you know what you are doing is working?” So I shared with him one of the…
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