About CMS
Mission Statement
The goal of Campus Middle School for Girls is to provide a safe challenging environment where all girls can:
- Develop their creative and intellectual powers
- Develop their love of learning and a passion for excellence
- Gain a sense of emotional and physical well-being
- Celebrate cultural differences
To this end, we aim to promote confident, enthusiastic, and responsible young learners through a combination of small class size and a curriculum emphasizing the development of academic skills. We welcome all girls to come learn with us regardless of race, color, nationality, or ethnic heritage.
History
Campus Middle School was founded in 1993/94 when two school friends, Samantha Singer and Maya Fineberg, decided that they were not being challenged enough at school and suggested to their parents that they be home schooled, at least for one year, as an experiment. The school was started with nine girls, three professional teachers and many parent volunteers. While it was not to be home schooling, the caring, small-group atmosphere was still an academic "home away from home," hence the original name, Home Hi.
From the beginning, keeping Home Hi/CMS as a school for girls only was a priority for parents in that it offered a unique educational setting unlike anything else offered in the community. Emerging from the educational literature at that time were studies which suggested that in our nation's middle schools, bright girls were often not being challenged to meet their potential. These parents viewed Home Hi/CMS as a way to help their daughters achieve academically in a nurturing and caring educational environment but also stressed the goal that through hard work and high standards, the students' feelings of self-worth would be enhanced.
After this first year, it became clear that the experiment had been a success. Brigitte Pieke, mother of Samantha Singer, stepped forward to turn CMS into a non-profit organization and became the school's director. In the spring of 2005, Brigitte Pieke retired as Director of CMS. Rhonda Cromwell was appointed as the new Director. During the 2005-2006 school year, the CMS board members voted to change the school name from: Home Hi Middle School for Girls to Campus Middle School for Girls.
While Campus Middle School has grown year by year, its original concept and basic academic structure have remained constant: namely to provide motivated girls with the best possible education in a safe, supportive, small learning environment.