Bridges: A School for Exploration and Equity

Founded in 2012 as the middle school grades of PS 8, MS 915 opened as a separate middle school and under separate leadership in September 2019.  MS 915 continues with the same teaching staff it had at PS 8 and in its longtime location inside the Westinghouse High School Campus building.

The last time we visited MS 915,  when it was part of PS 8, we found it to be a bright, welcoming and filled with artistic student work, such as “identity maps,” peace signs and collages. The identity maps are a starting point for a study of American history. Our 8th grade tour guide got excited as he led a group of parents into a 7th grade social studies class. “Everything we did in this class was memorable,” he said, describing how it opened his eyes to the African slave trade, Native Americans, European settlers and their impact on “America as we know it.”

Several times a year, students do explorations, dropping all of their other studies for two weeks, to look into questions such as "What is courage?" They invite speakers and develop projects about courageous people such as Martin Luther King, Jr. All 8th-graders take algebra and living environment Regents classes. 

The school has several sports teams and offers a range of free after-school activiites such as art, dance, music, photography, sports, creative writing, fashion and more.

MS 915 students must pass through metal detectors to be consistent with the practice of the other schools in the high school building.

ADMISSIONS: Open to District 13 students with priority to 5th-graders at PS 8. (Lydie Raschka, web reports, October 2019)