Many schools talk about character. Willow practices it.

Second graders interview and visit with elder friends from Fellowship Village Retirement Community for the service learning project “Investigating History and Honoring Our Elders.”

Everyone has a cleanup chore after Willow’s family-style lunch, fostering responsibility and respect for others.

Third graders challenge the whole school to reduce waste by setting goals to produce less trash, and see how planning and effort generate results.

Students, faculty, staff, parents and friends take part in a Community Gratitude Project as part of our annual Harvest Soup tradition. A mural displays tiles created by participants.

Fourth graders study food insecurity, organizing a food drive that collected more than 1,200 donations and fed 30 families for Thanksgiving weekend.

Second graders make a “compliment sandwich:” they provide positive feedback to each other, and learn how to give honest critique in a compassionate manner.

From day one, Willow students are encouraged to take risks in their learning. Two eighth graders had the courage to write, arrange music, direct and produce an original play, along with lower school students.

First graders adopt monarch caterpillars and closely track their evolution in science class before releasing them in a school-wide celebration.

In handicrafts, Willow students make prudent choices in selecting the right tool and to operate tools safely and responsibly — ensuring their own wellbeing and that of the group.

A student-led civic engagement project with the Pingry School underscored Willow’s faithfulness to sustainability by studying and mitigating the effects of storm water and foot traffic on our wooded campus.