The McGillis School

Let’s give a big welcome to our new Faculty & Staff Magpies for the 2026/2027 school year! 👋 Swipe to put the faces with the names and positions, and read more about each of them at the 🔗 in bio.

Roger Armijo, part-time Physical Education Teacher

Cheryl Chen, Middle School Math Teacher

Jared Gilbert, Director of Safety & Operations

Kelli Hyland, Middle School Learning Support Teacher

Priscilla Mossman, Maintenance Technician

Kristin Oldroyd, TLC 4th Grade Teacher

Steve Olson, Middle School Math Teacher

Joan Reed, 5th Grade Teacher

Anastasia Rybalkina, Middle School Administrative Assistant

This week's Summer at McGillis theme is Trail Mix! Each age group is exploring trails and other outdoor activities around the valley. Yesterday they even spotted a moose! We are lucky to have access to so many great adventures in nature.

This week's summer camps bring campers into the magical world of drama and performance, where each age group will work on its own short play. To get in the spirit, they visited the Pioneer Theater Company at the University of Utah to learn about various aspects of theater productions and experience the view from the stage!

Our youngest Urban Explorer campers had a wonderful time cooling off at a splash pad and the pool, learning new things at the Planetarium, creating chalk wall drawings, experiencing thrills at the arcade, and trying out new playgrounds. What a week with Summer at McGillis!

Thank you to for showing our students how to sustainably maintain clothing by repairing rather than discarding. Did you that you know you can bring any clothing item (Patagonia or not) to the Sugarhouse location on the last Monday of the month and the in-store repair techs will assess if it can be mended on the spot? This week our 3rd-5th Grade campers learned how to do basic fixes such as adding patches, stitching small holes, reaffixing buttons, etc.

The Middle School Urban Exploration camp is mixing service work with around-town adventures at camp this week. They have served lunch at The Road Home , played hide and seek, swam, gone thrifting at a local shop, and visited pets at Best Friends Animal Society . It has been a great week so far!

The theme for this week's Summer at McGillis campers is Urban Exploration! So far the various age groups have explored local parks and playgrounds, played mini golf, visited the public library, gone swimming at a local pool, and enjoyed ice cream. And there will be lots of adventures yet to come this week.

Aaaaand is back! We've got a trio of fabulous locations graced with McGillis gear this week:

- Ms. O and Ms. Nicky at the Leadership Summit for the Association of Learning Differences Schools in Nashville, Tennessee 😎 😎

- Mr. Brewer (with his daughter/McGillis Class of '23 alum) at Cape Kiwanda on the Oregon Coast

- Our Magpie festival blanket (and sweet pooch Bowie) on proud display at the Sun Valley Mountain Huts in Ketchum, Idaho

Send us your summer adventure photos featuring McGillis gear to be featured! DM us here or email them to communications [at] mcgillisschool [dot] org.