Image of student carrying a tower of board games and image of student next to penguin

Quest to Learn, New York City, New York (Left), 
Game time
Gael Lopez shows off some board games in his classroom. 

Zoo School, Grand Rapids, Michigan (Right).
Wild Life
Hannah Brubaker poses in front of a penguin tank.

Emily Zoldaz/AP Images for Scholastic (Hannah Brubaker); Nathaniel Welch/Redux (Gael Lopez)

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R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.7, R.9, W.1, SL.1, L.4, L.6

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Are These the Coolest Schools in America?

Gael and Hannah, both 13, think so. Read on to find out what has made their middle school experiences special.

“We Learn By Playing Games"

September 2023
by Gael Lopez, 13, as told to Michelle Crouch

Nathaniel Welch/Redux

Gael Lopez

    Imagine a school where you play games all day long. Instead of doing math worksheets, you battle robots on a computer. Instead of reading textbooks, you complete missions assigned by your teachers. 

    There really is a school like that. It’s a public school in New York City called Quest to Learn. When my mom told me about it, I said, “That sounds amazing.” I applied and got a spot. Now I am one of about 300 kids in the middle school.

    We take normal subjects like math, science, English, and social studies. But we have different names for them. For example, math is “Code World.” Science is “The Way Things Work.” Instead of homeroom, we have “Home Base.” 

    Imagine a school where you play games all day. You don’t do math worksheets. Instead, you battle robots on a computer. You don’t read textbooks. Instead, you complete missions assigned by your teachers. 

    There really is a school like that. It’s called Quest to Learn. It’s a public school in New York City. My mom told me about it. I said, “That sounds amazing.” I applied and got a spot. Now I am one of about 300 kids in the middle school.

    We take normal subjects like math, science, English, and social studies. But we have different names for them. For example, math is “Code World.” Science is “The Way Things Work.” Instead of homeroom, we have “Home Base.” 

    Imagine a school where you play games all day long. Instead of doing math worksheets, you battle robots on a computer. Instead of reading textbooks, you complete missions assigned by your teachers. 

    There really is a school like that—a public school in New York City called Quest to Learn. When my mom told me about it, I said, “That sounds amazing.” I applied and got a spot. Now I am one of about 300 kids in the middle school.

    We take normal subjects like math, science, English, and social studies, but we have different names for them. For example, math is “Code World,” science is “The Way Things Work,” and instead of homeroom, we have “Home Base.”  

“We Learn By Playing Games”

“We Learn By Playing Games”

“We Learn By Playing Games”

Quests and Missions

    At Quest to Learn, the way we learn is different too. We do almost all our learning by playing games.

    Some of those games are on a computer. For example, we worked on ratios in math class by playing an online game. It was called Ratio Rumble. Each person picked a character. To battle the other characters, we solved math problems that showed up on the screen. 

    Other games are played in person. In social studies, we play a lot of simulation games. One of my favorites taught us about trade in the American Colonies. (The Colonies were kind of like the U.S. states, way back in the 1600s.)

    Here’s how the game worked: Each table had to pretend to be either an American Colony or a European country. Then we went around the room trading for goods and money. 

    We had to be sneaky so we wouldn’t get taxed by England. It was a great game. 

    We also do a few things that aren’t games. But we almost always learn through hands-on activities. In science, we baked bread to learn about chemical reactions. And in sixth grade, we designed our own comic books. Afterward, people from real comic book companies came in to give us feedback. 

    At Quest to Learn, the way we learn is different too. We learn mostly by playing games.

    Some games are on a computer. For example, in math class, we played an online game called Ratio Rumble. Each person picked a character. To battle the other characters, we solved math problems about ratios. 

    Other games are played in person. In social studies, we play a lot of simulation games. One of my favorites was about trade in the American Colonies. (The Colonies were kind of like U.S. states, way back in the 1600s.)

    Here’s how the game worked: Each table pretended to be either an American Colony or a European country. Then we went around the room trading for goods and money. 

    We had to be sneaky so we wouldn’t get taxed by England. It was a great game. 

    Not everything is a game. But we almost always learn through hands-on activities. In science, we baked bread. Why? To learn about chemical reactions. And in sixth grade, we designed our own comic books. Then people from comic book companies gave us feedback. 

    At Quest to Learn, the way we learn is different too. Most of our learning is done by playing games.

    Some of those games are on a computer. For example, we worked on ratios in math class by playing an online game called Ratio Rumble. Each person picked a character and battled the other characters by solving math problems that showed up on the screen. 

    Other games are played in person. In social studies, we play a lot of simulation games. One of my favorites taught us about trade in the American Colonies—which were kind of like the states in the U.S., way back in the 1600s.

    Here’s how the game worked: Each table had to pretend to be either an American Colony or a European country. Then we went around the room trading for goods and money. 

    To avoid being taxed by England, we had to be sneaky. It was a great game. 

    We also do a few things that aren’t games, but we almost always learn through hands-on activities. In science class, we learned about chemical reactions by baking bread. And in sixth grade, we designed our own comic books and then got feedback from people from real comic book companies. 

Nathaniel Welch/Redux 

Working Together 
Gael (left) and his classmates at Quest do a lot of hands-on activities

End-of-Year Carnival 

    At the end of the year, our whole school has a Quest Bowl. It’s like our final exam. The teachers split us into teams for a big project. Then we compete against each other. 

    For last year’s Quest Bowl, each team had to create carnival games based on a theme. Our theme was Las Vegas. We built a pinball machine out of cardboard. We also made a poker table. 

    We had to come up with ways to get students to stop by our booth. So we designed posters, and I wrote a rap song about our games. It was awesome! 

    I’m so glad my mom found Quest. I think I am learning a lot more than I did in my other school. I’m having more fun to

    At the end of the year, our whole school has a Quest Bowl. It’s like our final exam. The teachers split us into teams. Then we compete against each other. 

    For last year, each team had to create carnival games based on a theme. Our theme was Las Vegas. We built a pinball machine out of cardboard. We also made a poker table. 

    We had to come up with ways to get students to stop by our booth. So we designed posters. I wrote a rap song. It was awesome! 

    I’m so glad my mom found Quest. I think I am learning a lot more than I did in my other school. I’m having more fun too. 

    At the end of the year, our entire school has a Quest Bowl, which is like our final exam. The teachers split us into teams for a big project, and then we compete against each other. 

    For last year’s Quest Bowl, each team had to create carnival games based on a theme. We built a pinball machine out of cardboard because our theme was Las Vegas. We also made a poker table. 

    We had to come up with ways to get students to stop by our booth—so we designed posters, and I wrote a rap song about our games. It was awesome! 

    I’m really glad my mom found Quest. I think I am learning a lot more than I did in my other school—and I’m having more fun too! •

“I Went to School at the Zoo” 

September 2023
by Hannah Brubaker, 13, as told to Michelle Crouch

Emily Zoldaz/AP Images for Scholastic

Hannah Brubaker

    It was my first day of sixth grade. My mom dropped me off. A big sign in front of the building said “John Ball Zoo.” But I wasn’t in the wrong place. 

    That’s because I went to Zoo School last year. It’s a public school just for sixth-graders in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I applied for a spot in fifth grade. After being accepted, I was one of about 60 students there. Everyone called us “Zooies.” 

    It was my first day of sixth grade. My mom dropped me off. There was a big sign that said “John Ball Zoo.” But I wasn’t in the wrong place.

    I went to Zoo School last year. It’s a public school for sixth-graders. It’s in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I applied in fifth grade. I was accepted. I was one of about 60 students there. Everyone called us “Zooies.” 

    It was my first day of sixth grade, and my mom dropped me off. A big sign in front of the building said, “John Ball Zoo.” But I wasn’t in the wrong place.

    That’s because I went to Zoo School last year. It’s a public school just for sixth-graders in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I applied for a spot in fifth grade. After being accepted, I was one of about 60 students there. Everyone called us “Zooies.” 

 Emily Zoldaz/AP Images for Scholastic 

Outdoor Adventures  
“Zooies” like Hannah get to learn on the grounds of the John Ball Zoo and Park.

Lion Drills

    In many ways, Zoo School is like a regular school. You learn math, science, English, and geography. You have art and orchestra or band. You take the same state tests as other students in Michigan. To stay safe, you do fire drills.

    What makes Zoo School different is that all classes are in a building inside the zoo. There are two classrooms and two teachers. The teachers switch classrooms halfway through the day.

    Zoo School also has “lion drills.” That’s where you practice what to do if a dangerous animal gets out.  

    In many ways, Zoo School is like a regular school. You learn math, science, English, and geography. You have art and orchestra or band. You take state tests like other students in Michigan. You do fire drills.

    So how is it different? All classes are in a building inside the zoo. There are two classrooms and two teachers. The teachers switch classrooms halfway through the day.

    Zoo School also has “lion drills.” You practice what to do if a dangerous animal gets out.  

    In many ways, Zoo School is like a regular school. You learn math, science, English, and geography, and you have art and orchestra or band. You also take the same state tests as other students in Michigan. To stay safe, you do fire drills.

    What makes Zoo School different is that all classes are in a building inside the zoo. There are two classrooms and two teachers, and the teachers swap classrooms halfway through the day.

    Zoo School also has “lion drills.” That’s where you practice what to do if a dangerous animal gets out.  

Junior Zookeepers

    One of the best parts about Zoo School is the Junior Zookeeper program. If you have good grades and good behavior, you get to help out at the zoo two times a week. 

    My first job was working in the commissary. It’s a giant kitchen where we cut up food for the animals. It has more fruit and veggies than you have ever seen. 

    There is also a freezer with dead rabbits, mice, and rats for the animals that eat meat. They even have blood ice pops for the tigers! 

    Junior Zookeepers also clean animal enclosures, feed fish in the aquarium, and collect penguin eggs. If there is extra time, you can just hang out with the animals. 

    I really liked spending time with the red- and yellow-footed tortoises. They love being scratched on their heads and butts. It’s so cute! 

    One of the best parts of Zoo School is the Junior Zookeeper program. You have to have good grades and good behavior. Then you can help at the zoo. 

    I worked in the commissary. It’s a giant kitchen. Here, we cut up food for the animals. It has more fruit and veggies than you have ever seen. 

    There is also a freezer. It holds dead rabbits, mice, and rats for the animals that eat meat. They even have blood ice pops for the tigers! 

    Junior zookeepers also clean animal enclosures, feed fish in the aquarium, and collect penguin eggs. If you have spare time, you can just hang out with the animals. 

    I liked spending time with the tortoises. They love being scratched on their heads and butts. It’s so cute!  

    One of the best parts about Zoo School is the Junior Zookeeper program. If you have good grades and good behavior, you get to help out at the zoo two times a week. 

    My first job was working in the commissary, which is a giant kitchen. It has more fruit and veggies than you have ever seen. We cut up food for the animals. 

    There is also a freezer with dead rabbits, mice, and rats for the animals that eat meat. They even have ice pops made with blood for the tigers! 

    Junior Zookeepers also clean animal enclosures, feed fish in the aquarium, and collect penguin eggs. And you can hang out with the animals—if there is extra time.

    I really enjoyed spending time with the red- and yellow-footed tortoises. They love being scratched on their heads and butts. It’s so cute!  

Hands-on Activities

    Being at the zoo isn’t the only thing that is special about Zoo School. There are also a lot of fun hands-on activities. For science class, we went to a local park. We surveyed the soil, water, plant life, and animal life. Afterward, we presented our findings to the park director. 

    We did a big camping trip at the end of the year too. We played games, went for long hikes, and learned survival skills. Now I know how to start a fire and build a shelter in the woods.

    Everyone who goes to Zoo School gets a sweatshirt. It says, “No lion! I go to school at the zoo!” 

    To be honest, it’s kind of an outdated design. But we all wear them because we love Zoo School. It’s so different from any other school! Zooies learn so much and become such a community. 

    Zoo School is special in many ways. It has a lot of fun hands-on activities. For science class, we went to a local park. We surveyed the soil, water, plant life, and animal life. After, we presented our findings to the park director. 

    We went camping at the end of the year. We played games, went for hikes, and learned survival skills. Now I know how to start a fire and build a shelter in the woods.

    Everyone who goes to Zoo School gets a sweatshirt. It says, “No lion! I go to school at the zoo!” 

    It’s kind of outdated. But we all wear them because we love Zoo School. It’s different from other schools! Zooies learn so much and become such a community. 

    Being at the zoo isn’t the only thing that is special about Zoo School. There are also a lot of fun hands-on activities. For science class, we went to a local park and surveyed the soil, water, plant life, and animal life. Afterward, we presented our findings to the park director. 

    We took a big camping trip at the end of the year too. We played games, went for long hikes, and learned survival skills—so now I know how to start a fire and build a shelter in the woods.

    Everyone who goes to Zoo School gets a sweatshirt that says, “No lion! I go to school at the zoo!” 

    To be honest, it’s kind of an outdated design, but we all wear them because we love Zoo School. It’s so different from any other school! Zooies learn so much and become such a community. 

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