Alert

Remote Learning Day - Tuesday, February 18

Due to inclement weather, MICDS will move to remote learning today, Tuesday, February 18. Middle and Upper School classes will begin at 9:00 a.m., and those students are expected to log in on time and follow their usual late-start class schedule. Links to teacher Zoom pages can be found on their Canvas Announcement pages. Lower School students will use the packet sent home in anticipation of remote learning, and parents should look for an email from their child's teacher. All on-campus activities are canceled, and all parking lots at MICDS will be closed to facilitate snow plows. All Middle School athletic practices and games are also canceled.

Upper School Athletics Activities Canceled - Tuesday, February 18

All Upper School sports practices and events planned for this afternoon/evening are canceled. All coaches have communicated this information to their athletic programs.

Neurologist Frances Jensen speaks to the audience about the teenage brain

Neurologist, Author Frances Jensen Shares Latest Research on the Teenage Brain

Dr. Frances Jensen, chair of the Department of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine and author of the New York Times’ best-seller, The Teenage Brain, shared her research on the workings of the adolescent mind with more than 150 guests. “The teenage brain is like a Ferrari with weak brakes,” she explained, noting that while teens are wired to learn at high levels, their frontal lobe, controlling decision-making and impulses, is still not mature. “Sometimes, adults need to give teens a frontal lobe assist,” she said.

Dr. Jensen spoke about the physiology of the adolescent brain and explained how it is wired to have a heightened response to stress because of where it is in its development. Though the teenage brain is a “learning machine,” impairment to learning that may occur when a teen is feeling stress.

Additional topics of discussion included the teenage brain’s susceptibility to addiction, how experiences become memories and differences between girls and boys.

Following the presentation, Dr. Jensen visited with guests and signed copies of her book.

Her visit to MICDS was supported by the University of Pennsylvania’s St. Louis Alumni Chapter and MICDS parent Terese Portell.