The student culture at UPCS is one of excitement, engagement and support. Students come to school excited to learn. They are fully engaged in class and have deep personal relationships with the faculty. The teachers at UPCS are not simply teachers-- they are mentors and advisors for their students on academic and personal issues. With their relentless passion and an unflinching belief that all students can achieve at high levels, teachers motivate students to succeed and drive the achievement of the school. One student explained, “the teachers are not just our teachers; they are also our mentors and advisors. They are like our family.”
Students Develop Identities as Readers, Writers, and Thinkers: At UPCS, all students encounter frequent success as learners. They develop identities as readers, writers, and thinkers. Even friendships at UPCS are built on mutual support for academic success. The love of learning which students develop provides them with a powerful source of intrinsic motivation that they use to persevere through the challenges and obstacles that on their way to college.
UPCS Student Culture | | One year, a young boy from Iran entered UPCS without a word of English. Four of his classmates took it upon themselves to learn enough Farsi to exchange the niceties with him; the boy’s father, a graduate student at Clark, tearfully thanked the students for their efforts.
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Students take collective responsibility for success:Education at UPCS is not driven by teachers alone. Students at UPCS take collective responsibility for ensuring that their fellow students are successful. Students support one another to grasp new material in class and at home. Juniors and seniors formally and informally mentor younger students, just as previous classes have done for them. Even friendships within the UPCS community revolve around academic success and support.
Staff deliberately promote and nurture this culture of peer support. They structure classroom activities around group work, reinforce positive behaviors such as reaching out to help a classmate or offering words of encouragement, and most importantly, model this behavior in their interactions with students and other teachers.
Intentionally fostering a culture of excellence: Creating this culture is deliberate. It begins with the August Academy orientation sessions where students begin their acculturation to the school. During that time, before the other students arrive in the building, expectations are made clear and routines and rituals are established. Older students at UPCS, along with adults, reinforce behavioral norms for their younger peers.
Mentorship and Support for College: Creating a culture where all students develop the belief that they will attend college is supported by multiple layers of mentorship. Younger students are assigned formal mentors through the student council. Upperclassmen help middle school students complete their homework after school and may reward a good progress report with a trip to the local ice cream shop.
At the same time, upperclassmen have Clark undergraduate mentors who introduce them to campus culture.
And all the while, the committed teachers at UPCS develop long-term mentoring relationships for all students. This ensures that every student has strong relationships with peer and adult mentors who help them stay on track for college. The size of the school (231 students) is such that every student has a close relationship with at least one faculty member to whom they can turn for support.
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| Related Files |
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Reflections on Student Culture
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| "Everyone knows everyone. We're all one big family." - Seventh grader | | "I'm a nobody and I think I'll be a somebody at that school." - Sixth grader before coming to UPCS |
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| From UPCS' First Valedictory Address
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| "
The essence of University Park
Campus School
is meeting people who are as honorable, as humble, as filled with integrity,
and as great as Tony Mastrorio. His greatness
lies in is humility and selflessness. He is a beacon of light who sheds an
illuminating radiance upon everyone around him. The promise of this school
transcends the books, and the building, and the curriculum. The promise was
bestowed on me when I met Tony: my friend, my coworker, my teacher, and a
gentleman scholar whose dedication, determination, and commitment to hard work,
I sought to emulate myself. The gift of rivalry is a promise of meeting someone
whose impact on you will influence you for the rest of your life. Someone who
will implant in you seeds of faith, of desire, of courageousness, and of
confidence that in any arena, big or small, academic or extracurricular, one
will sprout with the promise of reaching beyond the stars." - Damian Ramsay, the first valedictorian of UPCS
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