Spielhagen reports on her interviews with students in Hudson Valley Middle School, a middle school in a rural district in upstate New York that has offered voluntary single-sex classes for three years. The 24 6th, 7th, and 8th graders whom she interviewed had chosen to take all-boy or all-girl academic classes for at least one year. All Hudson Valley students remain in mixed-gender groups for nonacademic classes and lunch. Spielhagen found that younger students were more likely to find being in a single-sex class a positive experience; as students got older, they wanted to be in mixed classes. Boys were more at ease in single-sex groups because they were able to compete with peers; girls said they felt safer speaking up without the fear of boys making fun of them. Among older middle school students, boys were less enthusiastic than girls about continuing single-sex arrangements, asserting that bullying was more of a problem with only boys present. Spielhagen concludes that voluntary single-sex classes in public middle schools can help create a positive, challenging learning climate and provide parents more school choice. (Contains 1 footnote.)