The middle school humanities courses are built upon the understanding that student learning is strengthened when connections between disciplines and concepts are explored and nurtured on a regular basis. Aiming to develop habits of mind that will serve students’ efforts to understand and analyze the world around them as well as amplify their voices in shaping that world, these courses emphasize the growth of students as readers, writers, and thinkers through deliberate skill development. Each grade-level course is designed around an overarching theme and essential questions that connect the disciplines of English and social studies and move students toward autonomy in their application of inquiry and critical thinking skills. When doing so helps students address the essential questions of the course, they also explore connections to media literacy, math, science, art, language, and more. Given the incorporation of multiple disciplines, humanities courses are unique in the student experience at Rivers in that they meet every day of the week. In both design and practice, these courses strive to meet the values expressed in the school’s diversity, equity, and inclusion mission: to “engage in courageous conversations that require us to speak across difference of experiences and opinions, to examine our individual and collective privilege, to ask hard questions, and to seek solutions to complex global issues.” When students leave the humanities program, they will do so with a deeper understanding of themselves as individuals, community members, empathic citizens, and agents of change.