Features - Page 30

The end of the first semester is always a critical point in the year. Halfway through the school year marks the holiday season and winter break. But for juniors, the midway point means starting college counseling, a step that can be both exciting and scary.   The college counseling process begins with a big January meeting with parents, where juniors talk about their testing schedules, plan classes for next year and decide what schools to tour. In an email to the junior class in November, the college counselors described the beginning of the college counseling process: “We will start to

When former Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power delivered the annual GDS Ben Cooper Lecture, she regaled stories of her time as a war correspondent covering the Yugoslav wars and as a foreign diplomat. Power explained how it felt to be a woman in a male-dominated profession. After Power’s inspiring speech to a crowd of potential young journalists and policymakers, four male students asked questions. Power happily answered their questions but proceeded to ask, “Where are the ladies?” That comment sparked controversy around a larger debate about who takes up the most airtime during assemblies. The next Monday, the

This November, GDS hosted the third annual Summit on Sexual Assault and Consent. The Addressing Sexual Assault and Consent track was added to the GDS Policy Institute in 2015 and the summit has since grown to become a national event that drew over 350 students, teachers and parents from 40 schools in seven states this year. The students from the Summer Policy Institute worked tirelessly over the summer to organize the summit, contacting presenters, coordinating logistics, exploring how best to engage attendees and refining the key messages they wanted the day to convey. Student leaders chose to get involved with

As the first semester draws to a close and the long-awaited countdown to winter break is well underway, one event separates the school from vacation: the GDS Christmas assembly. A collection of activities, music and readings, the assembly has been an integral part of GDS tradition for decades.  This year, just like past years, a variety of GDS alumni, staff, administrators and students plan to participate. History teacher Topher Dunne explained the history of the assembly: “Once GDS had an assembly space, the assemblies were examples of each religion. They became a tradition.”   Dunne elaborated: “Philleo Nash, the first

It seems unbelievable that Marlo Thomas’s tenure at GDS has not yet even lasted a full semester. In the past few months, Thomas has smoothly integrated herself into the GDS community as the new Director of Diversity and Inclusion. Thomas didn’t always see herself working as a diversity director. She grew up in the Bronx and played Division-I basketball in college (which is why her favorite time of the year is college basketball season). Her passion for sports was immense, and she spent much of her life thinking she wanted to work in the sports industry. As she was pursuing

When Rhona Campbell first came to the high school, she knew she had her work cut out for her. As the high school’s only librarian, she faced the daunting task of organizing a library that serves over five hundred students. “It’s not so much a matter of limitation,” Campbell said. “It’s more a matter of deciding what are our priorities. One of our main priorities is research, and supporting classroom research, which is why the majority of our library budget goes towards online resources.” From fixing a checkout system that seems to malfunction almost as often as it works to

The journey from Virginia Beach to Georgetown Day School was a long one for Derek Brunn. His trip was full of twists and turns, setbacks and new opportunities. When High School Principal Katie Gibson stood up in front of the school for an update on personnel and then mentioned Leigh Tait’s name, segments of the school actually gasped. Then, from the same students came a sigh of relief as the school learned that the administrative assistant would only be moving to a new role working with Catherine Pearson on special educational programming like Minimester and the Policy Institute. The school