That work and those high expectations are reflected in every facet of the Willard curriculum:

• In a collaborative project with UC Berkeley, the National Science Foundation and McDonald Corporation, science students learned about physics by measuring velocity. The project, which was written up in UCB's Educator, brought a grant of 8 new computers to the school.
• 6th grade students take one period of Reading each day. Meeting in small "literary circles," students read & discuss groupings of books that share common themes. "We are training life-long readers." says Principal Chris Lim. "We are giving every student the opportunity to fall in love with literature." 6th graders also survey and monitor the health of Strawberry Creek as part of a hands-on course in water pollution prevention.
• 7th grade math students study the area of polygons by designing their dream houses then constructing models to scale. After completing a cost analysis (and coming in under budget!) they compose a realtor's sales brochure, or a magazine article describing the features of their house. "We want students to make real-world connections," teacher Jesse Ragent explains.
• Two of the nine novels 8th graders read are by Ernest Gaines. "In reflective pieces, students write about their own ideas, interpreting the literature and the issues that are raised. In their expository essays they prove their own theories," explains teacher Verda Delp.
• "The Willard Fitness Lab provides students with a facility equal to most high schools," teacher John Martinez reports. In addition to regularly scheduled P.E., students can use the Lab during lunch and elective time. The newly renovated Metal Shop Theater is not only the venue for school-wide productions, but becomes the improvisational (and highly popular) Lunch Box Theater every Wednesday at noon.

"Our staff members are not only individually excellent, we also work well as a team," says Principal Chris Lim. "We bring out the best in each other, and in the students." That collaboration begins in August, when Willard's entire staff goes away on a planning retreat, a time to develop curriculum and establish standards for school organization and discipline. "We start off the school year with all the expectations in place," says Principal Lim. "Our standards are high. We agree with and support each other. That frees us to put our energy into creative teaching."

Willard offers an impressive range of student activities, both before and after school, and during a half-hour daily "elective homeroom," in which teachers offer courses on their special interests -- everything from gardening to computer engineering, to school newspaper, to orchestra and band. For the sports-minded (70% of last year's student body), there are twenty different interscholastic teams, as well as intramurals during lunch. Parent Sandra Bryson sums it up: "Willard is about top-notch people all working together to challenge and also to nurture every student to be the very best that he or she can be."

Engaging every student is vitally important to Princial Lim, who has assembled a support staff to ensure that each student receives the individual attention he or she needs, a staff that includes 45 mentors from UC Berkeley, 30 plus academic tutors, and many college-campus partnerships.

On campus, Lim draws on the skills and experience of three full-time school service specialists, including the incomparable John Williams, who can be seen every morning outside the school, welcoming students with a firm handshake, listening to their worries and sharing their good news. "Kids are smart," says Williams. "If you love them, if you respect them, they'll give you respect back." At Willard that philosophy shows both inside the classrooms and out.

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