On campuses across the Baltimore region, students do far more than study for exams or compete on athletic fields.
At one school, a student-led tea club gathers to explore brewing traditions from around the world. At another, students practice juggling, acrobatics and aerial arts as part of a circus program woven into the curriculum.
These unusual pursuits may seem far removed from traditional academics, but educators say they reflect an important strength of independent schools: the freedom to cultivate curiosity and holistic development wherever it leads.
Whether it’s a niche club launched by a student or a decades-old program that has become part of a school’s identity, these activities offer opportunities to develop leadership, confidence, creativity and a sense of belonging. In an educational landscape increasingly focused on measurable outcomes, Baltimore’s independent schools continue to make room for passions that are harder to quantify but that leave lasting impressions.
For generations, independent schools have promoted academic excellence as their defining mission. But educators also agree that some of the most important lessons students learn happen outside the classroom.
Across Baltimore’s independent schools, participation in extracurricular activities, from clubs that prepare for professional careers to immersions into languages, has become a critical component of student development. These programs offer opportunities to strengthen confidence and explore interests that may ultimately shape college and career choices. Educational researchers have repeatedly found that students who participate in extracurricular activities are more likely to be engaged in school, develop stronger social and leadership skills and achieve positive academic outcomes. While athletics often receive the most attention, studies suggest that arts, academic clubs, student leadership organizations and service activities can provide many of the same developmental benefits — and in some cases may be even more closely linked to academic achievement.
Here’s a look at some of the specialized non- academic and non-athletic activities available at the region’s independent schools.
Circus Arts at The Waldorf School: Becoming the Most Interesting Person in the Room
At The Waldorf School of Baltimore, educational philosophy focuses on the whole child, including physical well-being. Physical movement, artistic expression and practical skill development are viewed as essential companions to academic learning. Growing and nurturing the body means learning how it works and what it is capable of doing.
The Waldorf School strengthens that concept through movement education, including juggling, balancing and other skill-based activities that challenge students to develop coordination, focus, perseverance and confidence.
“One of the things that Waldorf prides itself on is that by the time a kid graduates from eighth grade, they should have some skill in something that is an uncommon skill. They should be able to walk into a room full of adults and know that they have one skill or one thing about them that makes them unique within that room,” says Mikko Goodhill, a physical education instructor at The Waldorf School of Baltimore.
At Waldorf, movement is viewed as an essential part of education, helping students develop the focus, perseverance, confidence and self-awareness that support learning in every subject.
Circus arts, the school believes, do just that. Those arts are integrated into movement education, focusing on balance, hand-eye coordination and perseverance. The philosophy emphasizes mastering uncommon skills like juggling to foster self-assurance and resilience in students.
While circus arts are part of the regular curriculum at The Waldorf School, Goodhill also offers more in-depth after-school activities for deeper skill development in student-selected focus areas.
The program draws on the “spatial dynamics” approach, pioneered by Jaimen McMillan, which views movement as foundational to education. In spatial dynamics, body awareness, movement and spatial relationships help students develop coordination and focus.
Skills taught in the circus arts training program include juggling, plate spinning, poi (a New Zealand performance art), devil sticks, Chinese yo-yos (diabolos), balance boards/beams, unicycling and gymnastic pyramids.
The confidence it instills can be transformational, Goodhill said. “Just think about something that you had to work hard towards and finally mastered,” he said. “There is this good feeling that’s instilled in you when you look back at something that seemed impossible and you realize the process of learning it wasn’t anything like what I thought it would be.”
The process takes time. Instructions include repeating and mastering one skill before moving on to the next “At the end of the day, we love the kids here, and we want them to succeed. We want them to be confident,” Goodhill says.
While Waldorf students can compete in sports like soccer, basketball and track, the special body training offers complementary objectives, he said, and the kids “appreciate an outlet to have fun with movement that has really nothing to do with points.”
Health Occupation Students of America — Largest Club at Glenelg Country School
Glenelg Country School‘s Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) club is the school’s largest, with 31 members out of 320 upper school students. Started by a student who was an emergency medical technician, it has benefited from the guidance of Jane Shovlin, HOSA’s Maryland state coordinator and the mother of faculty member and STEM educator Ben Shovlin
The club is so large in part because Glenelg Country School (GCS) “attracts people that want to be doctors,” said Cory Wees, a chemistry teacher who is the club’s advisor, adding that students with an intense load of Advanced Placement chemistry and biology classes seem to benefit from seeing the application of what they are studying.
The club is student-run, with Wees providing logistical support and current president Danielle Choi highly involved and instrumental in the club’s success.
HOSA is a national (now international) organization that provides students with opportunities in health professions, including competitions, internships and networking.
GCS HOSA members participate in state and international leadership competitions, with students qualifying for and attending national/international events.
The father of one club member is involved with management of the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. The club made a field trip there, as well as to the National Health Museum in Montgomery County, gaining exposure to medical professionals.
HOSA helps students access internships and shadowing opportunities in medical settings.
“A lot of medical offices don’t bring in interns because they are worried about liability, but if you’re a part of HOSA, there is an ability to get into doctor’s offices and shadow doctors,” Wees said. “It’s an amazing opportunity to have access to these internships.”
The club partners with organizations like the Parkinson’s Foundation, SAFE Project (drug overdose awareness) and the Red Cross, providing community service and volunteer opportunities.
The club attracts a diverse group of students interested in various health fields (doctors, nurses, vets, physical therapists, etc.), with a slight majority aiming for medical professions.
President Danielle Choi wants to be a neurosurgeon. “I’m telling you, she is going to do it,” Wees said. Other current club members are interested in physical therapy and sports-injury related work. Leadership and continuity are strong, with underclassmen seeking leadership roles and the club’s reputation enhancing college applications.
Jemicy School Tea Club
Waverly Negin, a 10th grader at Jemicy School, remembers being overwhelmed with math assignments and needing a coping mechanism.
“It kind of all started when I was really stressed about math, and I had just a cup of water, hot water,” she said. “It calmed me down so fast and effectively that I was kind of amazed. That kind of sparked the tea journey.”
A caring staff member at Jemicy began exchanging different kinds of teas with Waverly, and then a friend brought some from her travels. “This started a long discussion about how tea can connect people,” she said.
Jemicy School educates talented students with dyslexia and other related language-based learning differences in grades 1-12. Known for its expert teachers, multi-sensory and experiential programs, and creative curriculum, Jemicy has been educating students for more than 50 years.
One day, it dawned on Waverly that she wanted to share and build on the experience of something that made her feel emotionally grounded and use it to build a sense of community awareness and respect for other cultures.
The idea for the Jemicy Tea Club was born.
After receiving approval from a sponsor who agreed to provide a room, the club began meeting weekly during lunch, with members preparing and discussing different types of tea, including matcha, and learning about their cultural significance.
Their routine is simple: Club members pick a packet of tea from a large selection, “and I’ll try and explain where it’s from, potentially the benefit, potentially the culture surrounding it,” she said. “So if we had English breakfast, I’ll do some research and talk about the black tea variety, how it can be bitter.
“It’s become a time of discussion and being present for each other,” Waverly said. “A lot of the time you do not have time to enjoy each other’s presence and just enjoy a nice drink.”
In truth, the club is not large, and Waverly said she is considering combining it with an existing cooking club, since there may be some natural overlap. And in case you are interested, her favorite tea is oolong.
At TNCS, a Capstone Experience Combining Service, Language Skills and Travel
The New Century School‘s middle school Capstone trip is a signature experience that marks the culmination of students’ time at the school, which serves children from preschool through eighth grade.
The Capstone trip is designed for seventh and eighth graders and takes place every other year, with both grades participating together. This experience is deeply rooted in two main priorities: service learning and language immersion.
The school provides a structured service program where students in grades 3 through 8 are recommended to complete 50 hours of service. Depending on the total hours accumulated, students can graduate with honors such as cum servitium fidelis (50 hours), cum servitium dedicatum (75 hours), or cum servitium eximium (100 hours).
Students engage in meaningful service projects with local communities, for example working with children, supporting housing or environmental initiatives, and, most recently, leading music workshops with the Boys and Girls Club in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The service component is closely tied to the school’s core value of service, which is emphasized throughout the curriculum and extracurricular activities.
“The service aspect is a core value of ours,” said Karin Cintron, who oversees the program.
Language immersion is another cornerstone of the Capstone trip. All students receive daily instruction in both Mandarin Chinese and Spanish, with language learning embedded into the school’s mission and daily life. The Capstone trip is intentionally planned in locations where students can use their language skills in real-world contexts.
While trips have typically been to Spanish-speaking locales such as Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and Mexico, the school has considered more ambitious destinations like China, though logistical and global factors have so far kept trips closer to home. Students who have been at the school for several years achieve high levels of conversational fluency, as evidenced by strong performance on international language exams and their ability to communicate effectively during the trip.
The total cost of the trip is about $1,200 per student for a six-day experience, which includes flights, lodging and most meals.
Students are responsible for organizing and executing fundraising activities, such as running a school store, hosting coffee stands during parent-teacher conferences and setting up pop-up merchandise shops at school events. These efforts typically cover about 60% of the trip’s cost, with the remainder paid by families. The fundraising process gives students hands-on business experience, from marketing and inventory management to customer engagement and financial planning.
TNCS Head of School Anne Marie Simonetti said the fundraising component leads to “long-term student engagement” and sophisticated decision making, as students decide how to stock pop-up stores and market themselves.
“The efforts are student-led,” Simonetti said. “Whether that means selecting the different materials for a school store and pricing them and keeping inventory, or the coffee stand during our parent teacher conferences this year, which was wildly successful.”
Participation in the Capstone trip varies by year, but the middle school is small, with about 20 students in total and roughly half participating in the trip in a given year. The trip is chaperoned by teachers, not parents, and is seen as a highlight by both students and families. The anticipation of the Capstone trip motivates younger students, and alumni have been invited to return and share their experiences.
While the Capstone may not be a primary recruitment point for the school, “it’s very, very unique, and it’s something that our students are quick to mention. It’s definitely an area that our students are always highly excited about,” said Simonetti.
Beyond the Capstone, TNCS offers a range of extracurricular activities that reflect student interests and take advantage of the school’s urban location in Fells Point. Activities are offered after school in quarterly blocks and include both on-site and off-site activities, such as flag football, ballet, kayaking, bowling and walking tours of the city. The school solicits feedback from students and families to shape offerings and adapts the schedule as interests evolve.
Overall, the Capstone trip and the broader extracurricular program are integral to TNCS’s mission of developing globally minded, service-oriented and linguistically proficient students.
This article is part of our 2026-2027 Guide to Baltimore Independent Schools.
