Bowditch Middle School

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Nathaniel Bowditch Middle School, is a middle School in Foster City, California on Tarpon Street and Beach Park Blvd. It was built in the late 1960s, and made use of the popular pod system of architecture that was famous during that time period. Bowditch is located in a residential area and across the street from a levee which follows the San Francisco Bay. Due to the affluence of Foster City and the families whose children attend the school, Bowditch has a highly involved parent community and is relatively wealthy compared to other area middle schools.

1 Staff
2 Subjects
3 Sport
4 California Distinguished School - 2005
5 Hours
6 After School Programs
7 Students
8 External links

[edit] Staff

Bowditch is currently headed by principal David Holcombe, who heads the staff of nearly 70. He formerly served as Bowditch's assistant principal, and Foster City Elementary School's Principal.

[edit] Subjects

Bowditch prides itself on the great number of courses offered. Among the many offered elective programs are art, sculpture, drama, music (both band and orchestral), cooking, journalism industrial arts, broadcasting, astronomy, marine biology, and French and Spanish. Additionally, all standard middle school courses are offered. Bowditch also has multiple advanced math classes for students that are ahead several years in math. It is among one of the few schools in the San Mateo-Foster City School District to offer geometry. It is also possible for a student to receive two elective periods in one year if a student is willing to combine Reading and Language Arts (Grammar, Spelling), etc., thus leaving themselves an empty period. To do this, the student must meet certain academic requirements.

[edit] Sport

Bowditch Middle School has a very dominant in the Art David Athletic League (ADAL). Bowditch currently has a co-ed golf team, a girl volleyball and basketball team, two boys basketball team (A, B), co-ed track and field, and wrestling. All teams are available to all grades. Bowditch also offers intramural football, basketball and volleyball.

[edit] California Distinguished School - 2005

Bowditch Middle School was awarded the California Distinguished School Award for the second time in 2005. It was the only Middle School to be eligible for that award in the district based on STAR test scores. The writers of the winning application were:
- Ms. Jasmine Amar [Lang. Arts - Reading]
- Ms. ??? Collins [??]
- Mrs. Amelia Hollingsworth [Lang. Arts - Reading]
- Mrs. Smith
- Mrs. Stovall [Former Vice-Principal]
as well two administrators from the schools district office.

It took four days to draft, edit, and finalise the submission paper. By March, they were named as finalists.

The award was accepted at Disneyland park in Los Angeles. The award is hanging near the main entrance of the office, alongside a picture of the team who went to Disneyland to accept the award.

[edit] Hours

The school day begins at 8:25 in the morning, and ends at 3:00 in the afternoon. Some students take a "0 period" and arrive earlier in the morning to take an additional class, normally in music.

[edit] After School Programs

Bowditch has many extracurricular programs. Student Council takes an active role in the school community, despite their recent failure to resolve a lack of communication between the students and administration, which resulted in the canceling of two field trips. Bowditch's music department is quite well known and the drama department puts on large scale musicals each year. Bowditch fields teams in tennis, basketball, soccer, volleyball, (girls), wrestling, and track & field, all of which excel locally. Bowditch's tennis program is so large that it is one of the only Middle Schools in the area to have two teams, both of which place in the top two spots of their league. Bowditch also sponsors other small programs, including K.O.O.L. Kids, an Elementary School student tutoring program.