Diversity at Maret
Active Voices
As Maret students explore and debate ideas in the classroom, they find themselves motivated and encouraged to continue their learning beyond our campus. Adopting a sense of social responsibility and taking an active role in the community at large are key components of a Maret education. Opportunities abound to venture forth, test new talents, and learn through doing.
The outside world comes to Maret on a regular basis as well. A series of highly regarded, engaging guests visit our campus to address assemblies, lead classroom discussions, and demonstrate traditional cultures to students at all grade levels. Exposure to the ideas, customs, arts, and professions of people beyond Maret strengthens our students’ expanding global awareness.
Multicultural Day
Seventh grade students, in conjunction with their World Cultures and Geography classes, select a country, study all aspects of the history and culture of that region, and team with their classmates to present their new knowledge to the Maret community. Interested upper school students and parents lend their expertise and talent so that the entire school is able to enjoy the insightful and entertaining Multicultural Day presentations.
Service Learning
Service learning is an innovative teaching approach incorporating community service into traditional academic courses. The Lower School has a long-term partnership with a class of three-year-olds at Martha’s Table’s Early Childhood Program. Year after year, every lower school class designs and leads several lessons with the help of their teachers. Our students cherish the opportunity to impart their knowledge and take on a nurturing role for young children.
In Middle School, students participate in a coordinated environmental curriculum linking service learning to class studies. Fifth grade students focus on improving the Maret environment, helping to keep the campus clean and tidy, and encouraging use of the School’s recycling program. Sixth graders broaden their attention to the greater Washington, D.C. environment and seventh graders study the Chesapeake Watershed. By eighth grade, the scope becomes global, with a mock United Nations conference focusing on global warming and other crucial issues.
In the Upper School, students in ninth grade history focus on hunger and its relationship to major historical events. The class participates in a service retreat in which they serve in soup kitchens, homeless shelters, food banks, and children centers. Ninth grade currently partners with Share Our Strength and Save the Children to help build schools in Ethiopia. Other upper school courses regularly feature service learning components with some examples being Chemistry in the Community, Civil Liberties, and Spanish Studies.
Horizons at Maret™
Horizons at Maret is a six-week summer and Saturday enrichment program that began in 1999 for economically disadvantaged students enrolled at our partner school, H.D. Cooke Elementary. Continuity is key to the success of the program: H. D. Cooke students continue their Horizons participation from kindergarten through sixth grade. Many teachers and classroom assistants—Maret faculty, alumni, students, and parents—teach and mentor for Horizons at Maret year after year.
Independent Study Week (ISW)
One of the most popular programs at Maret is our Intensive Study Week—ISW for short. Every February, students engage in a week of handson- learning. Regular classes are suspended while students immerse themselves in a variety of non-traditional education experiences. Some students use the week to expand their vistas, traveling to Honduras, Paris, or Guatemala. Others spend their time closer to home, studying the Cultures, History and Civilization of Senegal or The Past & Future of Historic Anacostia. Community service options during ISW open a whole new world of learning. Students may delve into hands-on urban construction projects in the Building a Future in D.C. class, or create an independent study such as delivering meals to AIDS patients, serving as a teacher’s aide, or spending companionable time with the elderly.
