News from Lisa
The Girls' School Turns Seven
From the five girls in a house to our current enrollment in Tarrytown, this is still a young-and-growing school, and it is an exciting time to be part of this adventure. Consider a few of these growth-related activities of just these past three weeks:
Since we no longer fit in the first grade classroom, we are holding community meeting in the courtyard (pictured below)—a fine solution in good weather, particularly since we have a sound system and tables and chairs for parents—but we will need to cancel community meeting during bad weather. Community meeting has a slightly Outward Boundish feeling about it these days.
Pick up and drop off was a bit rough the first few days, especially since it was accompanied by the sound of a jackhammer from across the street. Parents could not hear our instructions; teachers could not hear each other. We quickly brainstormed some solutions: a staggered lower school release and more teachers helping—truly, all hands on deck for lower school dismissal. With the addition of afterschool activities (now in full swing), pick up should be relatively smooth.
The new "Crazy Creek" chairs make it easier to have break-out groups from the Portable and add to the Outward Bound experience at GSA. As kindergartner Haley said at community meeting last week, "I love the outdoor time," and that's a good thing because we are spending quite a bit of time outdoors. I drive by other schools fairly often during the school day and rarely see students outside. That is not the case at The Girls' School!
We held our first ever eighth grade leadership retreat at the Shambala Meditation Center on August 29. The workshop included a brief meditation with Joanne Trubitt, a session on leadership by a representative from GenAustin, and the bulk of the day devoted to a leadership project designed specifically for the 8th grade girls. The girls will be leading an all-school community service project this year and are in the middle of researching the options they identified at the retreat. You will be hearing more about this.
The eighth grade enjoyed the meditation so much that we are bringing Joanne Trubitt to campus to lead another session, this time for the 7th and 8th grades. Given that so much "girl-angst" in middle school is due to focusing excessively on what others are doing to them, refocusing that attention, even if only briefly, provides an opportunity to re-center.
We have expanded our afterschool programming for this year. This fall we are offering the One-Act play, drama by Just Imagine, chorus for lower school, robotics (25% of girls in robotics), Honors Orchestra, and sports and fitness programs for K-8. Our fledgling "newsletter" group is a dedicated team of three who work with development and communications director, Jenny Smrekar, to produce the newsletter.
In addition to increased afterschool programming, we have continued to expand our athletic programming. Our 5th and 6th grade girls will play volleyball at WAYA this year (as last year) and our 7th and 8th grade girls will experiment with the Austin Private School Association (APSA) league which includes the Odyssey School, Rawson Saunders, Paragon Prep and others. Our very own Jenny Sparks is coaching both teams and is assisted by Erin Shea, a UT grad, volleyball player and elementary school teacher. Our girls won their first game last week and have never played better.
We have already offered two workshops for parents. Former GenAustin program director, Barb Steinberg, presented a workshop on Female Relational Aggression on Wednesday, September 3. This workshop was held during a regular faculty meeting time and was attended by about a dozen middle school parents. The lower school teachers offered a math night on September 9 for parents to provide information about the new math program, Everyday Math, and to answer questions. That information session was also very well attended.
Lunch this year is being provided by Patricia's Lunchbox. Patricia's serves well-balanced family style meals featuring organic meats and dairy products. It is a bit more effort on our part (serving and clean up are much more complicated), but there are many benefits besides knowing that we are providing a quality product. One benefit is that we create far less packaging waste. We are, however, discovering all sorts of things about American culture in 2008. One child did not recognize chicken legs as chicken (everyone knows that chicken should look like chicken McNuggets). Also, my plan of using real silverware and washing it daily is working although we did need to convince the girls that real silverware is not thrown out or composted. Consider this a work in progress.
So, welcome aboard! The good ship GSA has left the dock, and we're so glad that you could join us!
Lisa K. Schmitt
Head of School
(9/08)