Upper School at Wheeler
Students in Wheeler’s Upper School of Grades 9-12 embrace academic challenges, take risks, work hard and find joy while doing all of the above! Our students are high achievers who know how to collaborate. They are confident public speakers who are also good listeners. They know relationships matter while they are finding their own voice. Each is prepared to take the next steps to college and life.
Our Philosophy
It is our belief that giving students (that’s you!) the opportunities to take risks, embrace challenges, and find great joy in the learning process is as important as what each student learns. We hope that you, with the support of teachers who are experts in their fields, will not only graduate with a strong foundation of skills for college but that you will develop interests that will sustain you throughout your life. You can take a traditional path through a rigorous curriculum that is expansive and inspired. You can also take a road less traveled through our Design Shop seminars and follow a studio approach to learning with project teams and critiques that mirror the world of innovative design thinking.
Our Program
The Wheeler Upper School is academically rigorous, artistically rich and athletically competitive. Curricular disciplines are not so much crossed as melded — 11th graders in a short story elective create a three-part fictional podcast in Wheeler’s Digital Production Studio, for example. An intentional curriculum focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion, health and wellness, metacognition and social-emotional learning. We build the ‘muscles’ of empathy and resilience. We share, listen and laugh together. We disagree with respect and we learn with purpose.
Our Co-Curriculum
Upper School students participate in a variety of co-curricular experiences. Through Wheeler’s signature Aerie Approach, we connect students with passionate interests (from quantum physics to learning Turkish) with academic mentors from the surrounding colleges and the Providence community. Community Service Learning (CSL) is an important part of the Upper School experience at Wheeler and a graduation requirement. The program is designed to broaden horizons, foster individual responsibility, and strengthen leadership skills through a commitment to service. Through structured reflection, students assess the impact of their service on the organization, the community it serves, and themselves. Opportunities exist to assume leadership roles as members of clubs, class officers, and participants on one of our many academic and athletic teams.
Contact Neeltje Henneman (neeltjehenneman@wheelerschool.org), Upper School Head, for more information.
Upper School Administration
See Our Stories
We’re joining the co-heads of Upper School Latinx Affinity, Mariluz D. ’29, Aaron P. ’27, Sofia P. ’29, and Carlos P. ’27, in wishing everyone a happy National Hispanic Heritage Month! The annual celebration of Hispanic and Latino history and culture runs from Sept. 15-Oct. 15. In this video, the co-heads share why the month is personally meaningful to them.
As Mariluz mentions, Latinx Affinity will hold its first meeting of the school year this Thursday. It’s just one of our many club activities and community events and programs at Wheeler this week. A list of some of what’s happening is below, and more details are available in last Thursday’s e-newsletter. Plus, families can always see a full calendar in the portal, and you can check out a complete schedule of fall sports games at wheelerwarriors.org. And here’s a friendly food reminder: you can see what our CulinArt Dining Services team is serving up at bit.ly/upcomingmenus.
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MONDAY
– Yom Kippur, school is closed in recognition of the holiday. We wish all those observing a meaningful experience.
TUESDAY
– Lower School Back to School Night.
WEDNESDAY
– Wheeler Family Association (WFA) Presents: Homecoming Committee Planning Meeting
– Diversity Committee Meeting. All members of the community are welcome to attend!
THURSDAY
– Pre-K to K Parent Info Session
– LGBTQ+ Family Affinity Group
– Upper School Back to School Night
FRIDAY
– WFA Presents: Meet-Up and Walk for Parents and Guardians
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We’ll see everyone back at school on Tuesday – and go Warriors!
Sep 20
The Class of 2027 came together for their senior retreat at Wheeler Farm last night. 💛💜 Here are some lovely moments with our seniors as they celebrate each other. We’ll share some fun video moments in a future post! #classof2027🎓
Sep 18
It’s a beautiful day for our 9th-, 10th-, and 11th-Grade Retreats!
Sophomores started things off by looking a few years ahead, writing letters to their future selves that they’ll open during Commencement Week of their senior years. This is one group of 10th-graders who gathered outside of Stimson House for their writing session.
We’re excited to see where the retreat, and the next three years at Wheeler, takes them!
Sep 18
“How is an ice cube like a crayon?” Let’s spend a little time with a group of 2nd-graders who are exploring that question with Hamilton Science Teacher Katie Belida P’41.
“Before trying to ask young students to understand solids and gases, it’s important for them to understand material properties and how they can change,” Ms. Belida says. “First I wanted to get them separating material from property and connecting property to function and use. We used plastic because it’s waterproof, but it’s also light, and the best way to help them internalize that, make space for the language, and make it sticky in their brains, particularly for dyslexic learners, is to give them experiences with it.”
Ms. Belida likes to start with open-ended lessons such as this one, where students can explore questions like, “How does clay change when you heat it up?” and consider whether the effects of heating and cooling are reversible or irreversible. “We spend time describing what they’re seeing,” she says.
“This is like the foundation of chemistry in 2nd-grade,” Ms. Belida adds. “Today the students got to experiment with some cool materials with different properties to unlock some of that knowledge. So when they are looking at the ice on the screen, and I’m asking them how it’s changing and whether we can undo that process, they just had that physical experience and can answer that question.”
So, how is an ice cube like a crayon? Ms. Belida explains, “Both are meltable and both went from a solid to a liquid in the presence of heat. And unlike clay, which gets harder and cannot be reversed, you can reverse that change so you can harden that melted crayon and you can still write, and you can still refreeze that ice and it will still be of use to you. Thinking about these things [and discovering the answers] are already in our students’ brains, they just haven’t named it.”
Sep 17
