#middleschool

🏳️‍🌈 Apply now to get $10,000 for your school! 🏳️‍⚧️

Over the past 2 years, we've granted over $1 million to students across the U.S. through our 50 States, 50 Grants, 5,000 voices initiative to help make their schools more welcoming for LGBTQ+ students.

And yup - we're doing it again.

Do you have an idea that would help make your school better for LGBTQ+ students? Maybe like building...

🟣 A gender-affirming closet

🟣 Your school's first Pride parade

🟣 An LGBTQ+ mural on campus

🟣 A safe space or community garden, or

🟣 Resources for your GSA club?

See some past projects from other students here for inspo.

We know that students know what they need most at their own schools - so middle and high school students across the U.S., DC, and territories can apply now through April 1 for one of our school grants to win up to $10,000 to actually make your project a reality!

The application, FAQs, and more are all available at 50states50grants.org.

Dear Jackie by Jessixa Bagley, illustrated by Aaron Bagley. Simon & Schuster Books for Young People, 2025. 978-1534496576. 288pp.  

Jackie and Milo are nervous about starting middle school, and they're so close that Jackie's mother calls Milo Jackie’s "replacement brother.” (Jackie's real brother, Jabari, has just moved away from home.) Milo is the kind of boy who cries while reading comic books, and Jackie is not at all a girly girl. They're perfect friends.

At school Milo immediately makes new friends while playing sports, and Jackie doesn't like them at all. Her locker is below Adelle's; Adelle wants to give Jackie fashion advice, and isn't nice about it at all.

As notes start to get passed and kids start pairing off, Jackie deals with her isolation by writing herself notes on a typewriter she finds in Jabari's room. At first they're the kind of things she wishes someone would say to her, to give her a boost. But soon, tired of more and more people telling her to act and dress more like a girl, Jackie types herself a note from a secret admirer and sticks it in Adelle's locker "by mistake." When Adelle finds it, people are shocked, but they also become nicer to Jackie. As everyone tries to figure out who likes Jackie, the whole situation becomes more and more precarious.

Worth noting: Early in the book, Jackie tries to dye her hair with disastrous results. (It's pretty funny, too.) And Jabari is the best older sibling ever.

NEW PEDAL DAY!! Help us welcome to the world the Middle School Chorus, a 2-in-1 hybrid Chorus/Vibrato from our friends at Summer School Electronics!! Swap sounds easily and hands-free to create new auditory worlds and keep your live playing on point - demo out now, cheers!!

the moment i leave the class i yell