While one may not always associate school hours with looking at recipes for food on the web or watching broadway musicals, middle-schoolers now have a set time where they can meet people with shared interests, explore a hobby and learn.

The program is called Huggim, designed by Middle School Principal Rebecca Weisman and Middle School Assistant Principal Rabbi Janet Ozur Bass. It is a 35 minute club period for middle-schoolers on Fridays before lunch. Huggim gives students a chance to interact in a social environment while also being facilitated by teachers, Weisman said.

“I imagine a lot of kids may walk around after Huggim and say ‘oh my gosh, that was a really fun time,’ and they’re not thinking about all of the learning that may have happened in that supervised environment,” Weisman said.  

Although there are many options for Huggim, some popular ones include open gym, board games and foodies, a club where students can look at different types of foods and recipes on the internet. Additionally since elective periods are shorter than other classes, students have the opportunity to take a Hug in visual arts or robotics so they can finish up projects from class.

“Huggim was a good chance to try things a little bit different, a little bit new,” Weisman said.

Middle School math teacher Aliza Libman Baronofsky leads the Broadway musical Hug, where middle schoolers come and watch theatrical movies each week. At the beginning of the year, they started with “West Side Story” and students will vote on future films. Libman Baronofsky said Hug is an opportunity for students to come in contact with a hobby that they may not have time for, as well as to meet other students they may not have interacted with otherwise.

“Middle schoolers spend a lot of time trying to position themselves in regards to other people, and hopefully Hug is a time where they can really be themselves,” Libman Baronofsky said.

Weisman said an advantage of having Huggim meet during high school lunch is so older teens can act as role models to younger students. According to research done for the middle school redesign, it is valuable for middle schoolers to have appropriate role models or mentors slightly older than them, which is why a number of Huggim are co-led by high school students.

According to Weisman, another thing that was important during the middle school redesign was making sure that there was time for students to break out of their comfort zone while still giving them structure and stability.

“I anticipate that students will find a lot of joy out of it and we just want to make sure that they are getting a good, productive use out of that time,” Weisman said.

Eighth grader Mira Mitre is a member of the Random Acts of Kindness Hug, where middle schoolers think of ways they can bring a little more joy to the world each week. In previous weeks, the Hug would randomly give candy bags to people to make them smile. In coming weeks, they plan to make small tangible awards for faculty around the school. Mitre said she chose the Hug because it is uplifting to see people’s reactions.

“I think that [Huggim] is nice to allow an extra time for students to take almost a mini-elective and they can try out new things,” Mitre said.