Student Activities

PDS students are involved in a range of activities, many of which develop out of their own initiative, while others are long-established programs at the school. These activities allow students to give service to the PDS and larger community, demonstrate social activism and encourage community building. They are organized either on a school-wide basis or by division or grade-level and meet as part of activity block or during lunch times and after school. One of the most popular is the annual, all-school pumpkin carving (photo at left).

Read about social justice initiatives.

• All-school activities, which are scheduled periodically during the academic year, introduce students from throughout the various divisions to each other and help to develop a sense of community by fostering team spirit and collaboration among the members of each group.
• Drives are organized in the various divisions by advisor groups, specific clubs or organizations or individual students to raise money or collect materials for various purposes throughout the year. Recent drives have been sponsored by the Aids Walk (NY) Team, the Afghan Girls Club (raising funds for girls’ education in Afghanistan), The Heifer Project, Adopt-a-Family and food drives for local pantries. The primary purpose of these drives is to offer aid to others, although groups such as the Student Annual Fund Committee and the Prom Committee, among others, direct their efforts toward school needs.
• Within divisions, there are weekly assemblies and buddy groups as well as social activities, such as middle school dances and the upper school prom. This year the middle school participated in two off-campus excursions: 5-6 students attended the Ramapo Anchorage Outdoor Education Center in Rhinebeck and students in the 7-8 took a two-day trip to Frost Valley Environmental Education Center in Ulster County.

Among the school’s numerous clubs are Youth Against Discrimination and a very popular and award-winning Model Congress; school publications include the yearbook, produced by the upper school and the award-winning middle school literary magazine, Made-You-Look, and newspaper, Four Points. The middle school student council is an elected body of students from grades 5-8 and upper school students are elected to serve on the Standards Committee, which advises the head of school on various issues. Upper school students are also active as trained peer counselors and often get involved in other area or national organizations, such as SADD.