West Junior High School

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Diversity is king at West Junior High School. The school boasts one of the most diverse student bodies in the Columbia School District, and students also have a wide variety of academic and extracurricular resources at their disposal. Fifty different clubs, support groups and sports teams are available for students to join. The activities range from the conventional, including football, cheerleading and glee clubs, to narrower niches, including Students Against Violating the Earth (S.A.V.E.), the Aerospace Club and Future Farmers of America.

“We celebrate our diversity and we work really hard to understand and appreciate the multiculturalism in our building,” Principal Sandra Logan said.

In regards to academics, West supports a broad range of programs to teach students at all skill levels. On one end of the spectrum, the school hosts the district’s middle school English Language Learners (ELL) program. On the other, it is home to a strong gifted and talented program for advanced students. West also offers courses in five foreign languages, including Latin and Japanese. Logan said a language offering this large is a rarity in most middle schools.

“That is shocking to me,” she said. “A lot of school districts in the state don’t offer that many. For the Columbia Public School District to offer that in an eighth and ninth grade building, that’s phenomenal.”

The West student body contains 975 students split between the eighth and ninth grades. Students begin their middle-years education at one of Columbia’s three middle schools, completing sixth and seventh grade in those buildings before moving on to the junior high schools. Eighth graders are taught in a traditional middle school method in which the students are separated into three “teams.” The 130 or so students in each team are taught their core curriculum by a group of three instructors, each specializing in a subject. This allows for smaller class sizes and greater academic support for students.

While West excels in most areas, Logan admits that, like other schools of its size and demographics, the school lags behind in some Missouri Aptitude Testing areas. Logan said that the school is maximizing its resources to get all students in line with statewide requirements.

“The curriculum is difficult and we have high expectations for our students. Many, many of them do wonderfully,” said Logan. “Now that we are giving the MAP test every year, third grade through eighth grade, we can see how individual students are gaining, and where they are lacking so we can assist them.”

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