Pioneers | Junior Program

Students entering grades 4 and 5 find great success as Pioneers, because at the Junior Program we understand the age-group and are responsive to their needs. Students this age often react emotionally to the world around them. They excel in structured environments where they know what is expected of them, and our schedule of supervised check-ins, courses, and activities has been built with this in mind.






Pioneers are under constant supervision at the Junior Program. Our staff makes sure that they wake up on-time in the morning, take daily showers, brush their teeth, eat properly (only one dessert allowed!), and get to where they need to go throughout the day. Choice is a big part of our Program, and our staff helps Pioneers make appropriate choices about how they spend their time. We gently push Pioneers to try new things—like Japanese cooking or beginning tennis—because we know that it helps students build character when they find success outside of their normal comfort zones.


For Pioneers, learning is sponge-like. They absorb as much from their social interactions at the Junior Program—such as learning to respect “body boundaries” and how to work with others in a group—as they do from our academic courses and activities. In the classroom, Pioneers are obsessed with the “how” of the world. They like to understand how things work and are related, so we tailor Pioneer courses and activities to emphasize hands-on demonstrations, labs, and structured play.

Because Pioneer students are more adult-oriented than older students, they tend to be comfortable expressing their emotional and physical needs to our staff and let us help them without embarrassment. The result is that we are able to create a safe and nurturing environment at the Junior Program that allows Pioneers to expand their range of interests, develop a sense of independence, and have fun discovering the joy of learning.