The transition to middle school at Alcuin brings what may feel like monumental changes. There are new classrooms, new teachers, and a new schedule that introduces something different — yet elevated.

What doesn't change in this transition is an important question: what does a capable, independent person need to know? In the Toddler Montessori years, that question is answered with tasks like dressing themselves and care-of-environment work, including cleaning and taking care of greenspaces. In the IB Middle Years Programme, it looks a bit different. In seventh grade, students don't just prepare meals like they did in years prior. Instead, they enter a culinary arts semester as part of their Design course, where they are handed $200, kitchen equipment, and a task of feeding 60 to 70 hungry classmates.

The meal prep project is a culmination of all of the skills they learn through the Montessori program and continued in this course, and it's much more than dicing and sautéing. Each week, a pair of students takes on the role of head chef as they plan a menu, navigate dietary restrictions, do the grocery shopping, prepare, and serve a hot meal for the entire class. Students clean up when the meal is done and complete a written reflection, breaking down their process afterward. The weeks when a pair isn't cooking, they're tasting new foods and watching how other teams solve the same problem differently.

Practical life skills do not end at the stairs leading to the middle school; rather, they are enhanced with conviction as our students enter a new chapter of what practical life means. They use real scenarios, real money, real dietary restrictions, and real decisions to continue this important work, all under the guise of something delicious.