Academics
Middle School

Clubs and Activities

The following is a list of extracurricular activities that are open to all students in the Middle School -- unless a grade level is specified. There is no fee for the after-school activities -- unless registration is required. A calendar will be posted on KnightSite each Friday for the following week to indicate which extracurricular activities will be available for the week. A detailed description of each activity follows the summary.

Middle School Clubs

List of 23 items.

  • Academic Team

    Advisor: Mrs. Butler
    Academic team is open to students in grades 5-8. The club offers friendly competitions in math, science, history, language arts, literature, art, music, drama, and world languages. One goal of the club is to develop a team to represent GSB at the Academic Team Competition of Morris County. This club meets one day each week after school.
  • After School Musical – Grades 5 & 6

    Advisor: Mrs. Southerland
    Students in grades 5-6 can take part in two after-school musicals each year. Recent past performances have included Annie, The Lion King, Sleeping Beauty, and Aladdin. Students rehearse after school one day each week, with additional rehearsals before the performance.
  • Classical League

    Advisor: Mrs. Butler
    Classical League is open to students in grades 7-8 with an interest in the cllassics. There are trivia matches regarding Greek and Roman mythology, history, language, and grammar. In addition, Latin students can compete in Certamen Princeton in March. This club meets one day each week after school.
  • Current Events Club

    Advisor: Mrs. Barrett
    The Current Events Club allows students to engage in casual and informative conversation about relevant topics that are of interest to them. The club is open to all students in the Middle School and is perfect for anyone who wants to be more informed about the larger world.
  • Documentary Club

    Advisor: Mrs. Schnurr
    Documentary Club is open to students in grades 7-8 who would like to explore (through documentary films) environmental and socio-cultural issues throughout the world. Topics will include animal captivity; industrialized food systems, and agricultural practices; diet and health trends; gender inequality; bullying; poverty; and social justice. We will screen two to three films each month and dedicate time for group discussions and reactions to the film, alternate views, filmmaker bias, and ways to affect change. Documentaries are rated for ages 14+ or below by Common Sense Media. Because some may contain provocative, controversial, and/or sensitive content, a documentary list and permission form is distributed to interested students at the beginning of the school year. This club meets one day each week after school.
  • Earth Day Every Day

    Advisors: Ms. Baer
    Earth Day Every Day is a group for students interested in environmental issues and activism. We will educate ourselves on both local and global environmental issues and implement changes around our campus in order to become a more sustainable and aware community. This group also help organize a fundraiser and Earth Day activities. This club meets one day each week after school.
  • Half the Sky

    Advisors: Ms. Syed and Ms. Katz
    Half the Sky Club is open to girls in grades 5-8 who are seeking to raise awareness of human rights issues for women and girls around the world. “Women hold up half the sky,” in the words of a Chinese saying, and their empowerment is thought by many experts to be the potential key to alleviating poverty and extremism. We will meet to understand the global rights disparities that girls face in other countries, with the eventual goal of designing a campaign to promote awareness and fundraise to support the education of girls in Nepal. Last year, we raised enough to support over a dozen girls for a year of school! This year, we will have a chance to write to them. This club meets one day each week after school.
  • Jr. Knight Voices and Jr. Gillharmonics

    Advisor: Mrs. Southerland
    Jr. Knight Voices is an auditioned group of students in grades 5-8 who rehearse once a week to learn musical pieces for our Middle School concerts. Students must be a member of the regular 5-6 or 7-8 school chorus to participate. Jr. Knight Voices also participate in various school events throughout the year. This group is about making a choir, not about soloists, so you won't have to sing individually very much at all! Anyone is welcome to audition. Students in grades 7-8 may also be asked to join the Jr. Gillharmonics. The groups rehearse one day each week after school.
  • Knightly News(cast)

    Advisor: Mrs. Johnson
    Knightly News(cast) is open to all student in grades 5-8 who are interested in reporting our Middle School news in a newscast format. Students will be anchors, reporters, photographers, camera operators, writers, and editors to put together a newscast twice each year, which is broadcast in advisory in December and in May. This club is a great way to learn about news reporting, enhance student writing and journalism skills, as well as publicize all the awesome events going on in the Middle School. This club meets one day every other week after school.
  • Library Advisory Club

    Advisor: Mrs. Carruthers
    The Library Advisory Club works together to help make our library a most excellent space. Students assist with selecting materials for the library, organizing the space, and creating promotional materials. If you are excited about sharing your love of reading, this is the club for you. This club meets one day each week after school.
  • Math Boost

    Advisors: Ms. Lasher, Mr. Corrado, Mrs. Chandra and Mrs. Schnurr
    Math Boost is available from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. at least one day a week for each grade level. Students should come with specific questions or with assignments, tests, or quizzes on which they need help. This is a good time to get instruction on lessons missed due to absence.
  • Math Challenge Club

    Advisor: Mr. Corrado
    Math Challenge Club meets to work on math-based logic puzzles and explore different ways of solving problems. We will also look at some classic number theory problems and strategy games.
  • Middle School Robotics

    Advisors: Mrs. Johnson and Ms. Syed
    Middle School Robotics is for students in grades 5-8 who want to learn, build, play, and have fun with an assortment of robots. The club meets one day every two weeks after school.
  • Middle School Student Council

    Advisors: Mrs. Lyons and Ms. Hogan
    The Middle School Student Council serves as a liaison between the administration and the student body to provide an avenue for productive communication and action. The student body elects an eighth-grade student as president and a seventh-grade student as vice president. Each advisory elects a representative and an alternate to attend meetings and volunteer for activities. Representatives communicate with advisories and other student council members about dances, fundraisers, spirit activities, and new ideas. This class meets once each week during the school day: flex period or lunch.
  • Mountain Bike Club

    Advisors: Mr. Roslund, Mr. Ort and Dr. Lutz
    Mountain Bike Club teaches Middle School students basic mountain biking skills and techniques by starting with easy/novice riding situations early in the year and progressing to a more intermediate level by the end of the year. Bike and trail maintenance are also taught. Riding trails will include Home Winds Farm, Natirar, and other local trail systems.
  • Outdoor Club

    Advisor: Ms. Baer
    Outdoor Club is a chance for all Middle School students to explore the beautiful GSB campus. Driven largely by student interest, the club travels to all corners of the school and explores the stream, pond, woods, and garden in order to learn about all the organisms that share our campus. Students will learn about wild foods, plant and fungi identification, and help with on-campus projects such as the tree nursery and seed saving for the pollinator garden. This club meets twice each week, after school, in the fall and spring. Some off-campus hikes are also scheduled for interested students.
  • Ping Pong Club

    Advisors: Mr. Bednarsky, Mr. Ross
    Ping Pong Club is open for students in grades 5-8. Students are invited to play ping pong and board games. The club meets one day each week after school during the spring semester.
  • Reading Buddies

    Advisor: Mrs. Carruthers
    Do you like to read to younger children? The Reading Buddies partner one-to-one with preschool and prekindergarten students to read to them four times each year. Reading Buddies sing songs (always in a group), read with our buddies, and do small projects. Reading Buddies is a highly-rewarding experience and lots of fun. The number of buddies is limited to the number of preschool/prekindergarten students.
  • Ski Club and Snow Boarding

    Advisors: Mr. Ort and Mrs. Carruthers
    Ski Club and Snow Boarding Club is open to students in grades 6-8. The club sponsors five Friday night trips in January and February to Camelback Mountain.
  • Spanish Hour

    Advisor: Mrs. Smith
    Spanish Hour is open to any students who need additional review and practice. Spanish help is available by appointment after school.
  • Woodworking Club

    Advisor: Mr. Ort
    The 5th and 6th grade Woodworking Club meets each Tuesday from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the woodshop. Students have the opportunity to design and build small projects and further their experiences in woodworking. 
  • Yearbook

    Advisors: Mrs.Tuohy, Mrs.Swartz
    The students will be responsible for assembling the Middle School yearbook. They will be actively involved in taking photographs, planning interesting and creative pages, handling layouts, and meeting deadlines. The club will meet on Mondays from 3:00 – 4:00.
  • Yo-Yo Club

    Advisor: Mr. Corrado
    Yo-Yo Club teaches students in grades 5-8 some basic and advanced yo-yo tricks and some of the skills to make their own tricks.
Gill St. Bernard’s is a private, coeducational day school for students age three through grade 12, located in suburban New Jersey. Each of the three school divisions provides a rigorous, meaningful, and age-appropriate curriculum, and all students benefit from the environmental learning opportunities that exist on our 208-acre campus.