Dear friends,

In the field in front of my on-campus home, a doe gave birth to twin fawns in late spring. The mama doe eats clover in my yard each day in order to keep a close eye on her babies. My family and I have named the doe Delilah, since she's almost like a pet now. She doesn't mind our presence in the yard and we welcome hers! We have enjoyed watching the family in our yard, as the deer are reminders of the gifts that summer brings--renewal, new life, and family time.

June was a month of renewal here on campus, in both literal and figurative ways. Our campus has been bustling with contractors who are working on campus improvements. New walkways have been put in, and an outdoor stage has been constructed, among many other things! Flowers abound, the pool is sparkling, and the skies have been that epic blue we all love.

Of course, our faculty members are all on summer break, and I've been hearing from many about their travel plans and summer classes. June saw faculty members at the beach, lounging by the pool, traveling to Italy, Greece, England, Austria, and visiting family in Utah, Colorado, and California! Many faculty members have been working on professional development opportunities in order to prepare for the upcoming school year.

Members of the summer crew, as I like to call us, have all had some time with family and friends, too. Ms. Barr has been baking breakfast treats for us all, we've been eating lunch outside together, and overall, the summer pace is a welcomed reprieve. We're all feeling renewed and ready for our summer campers, who join our campus on July 14!

The start of summer brought a new Grier girl to our extended Grier family! History department chair, Steve Packnick, and his wife, Kaela, welcomed their new baby girl, Ellie Rose, at the end of June. We all can't wait to meet her! Dr. Guydish-Buchholz's baby girl will also join us in August. I know both baby girls will be warmly greeted by their Grier sisters in September!

From all of us here at Grier, we send you warm wishes for the joys of summer. I hope June was a month of renewal for you, too.

Sending my very best,
Kara

For any travel questions, please contact Gage Bassham at travel@grier.org or via phone at (814)-251-2987.

Enrichment Camps:

If your daughter is arriving for any enrichment camp, itineraries must be sent by July 31 in order for us to arrange travel.

• Washington D.C. airports (IAD, DCA, BWI) and JFK are recommended for international travel.

• Local airports include State College (SCE) and Altoona (AOO).
• Local bus service is available from Altoona and State College. www.us.megabus.com or www.trailways.com
• Train service (www.amtrak.com) is available from Tyrone and Lewistown.

Back-to-School dates:

September 4: Seniors and Student Ambassadors arrive

September 5: Students in grades 9-11 arrive

September 6: Students in grades 7-8 arrive

ALL students must be on campus by Friday, September 6. The weekend orientation schedule will be sent in August's newsletter.

For back-to-school travel, itineraries must be sent by August 19 in order for us to arrange travel.

As you make your summer plans for your daughters, please remember our amazing summer enrichment programs! You can find out more by following this link: Microsoft Word - 23-24 Stdnt Enrichmnt Prog_Registration form (002).docx (myschoolapp.com)

or in the attachment below!

Students who enrolled in AP or Honors courses, please make sure you complete any required summer work before the start of the 2024-2025 school year. Assignments have been posted to MyGrier under the Summer Work tile. Please reach out to Ms. Barr if you do not have access to MyGrier, and she will provide you with the links.

If you have any questions about your schedule for next year, please reach out to Ms. Barr over the summer.

Have a wonderful and restful summer everyone!

College Counseling News from Mrs. Lyke:

Any college related questions? Please contact Mrs Suzanne Lyke, Director of College Counseling at slyke@grier.org.

For Recent Graduates - Class of 2024:

• On June 13, 2024: Mrs Lyke completed the electronic process of sending Official Transcripts to attending colleges/universities.

For Rising Seniors, Parents/Guardians – Class of 2025:

• Important Summer Task: please continue to update your Resumes and Counselor Rec Surveys found within your Naviance accounts.

Testing Announcements/Information

Questions? Please contact Grier School’s Test Coordinator, Olivia Hallahan (ohallahan@grier.org).

AP Exam Score Information

• June 20th, 2024 is the deadline to indicate or change the college, university or scholarship organization a student would like their one free score send to.
• AP Exams scores will be available in starting July 8th, 2024.

Testing Accommodations for the 2024-2025 School Year

The Test Coordinator is available to support eligible students with their standardized testing needs with accommodations. It is the responsibility of the student’s parent(s)/guardian(s) to provide Grier School with their child’s formative documentation. Necessary documentation includes, but is not limited to, current educational evaluations such as IEP or 504 Plan conducted at a previous school district and psychoeducational or neuropsychological assessment (s). Provided documentation must describe background history of initial diagnosis, learning disability, and suggested accommodations. The Test Coordinator will contact families to request signed consent authorizing the submission of accommodation request(s) on a student’s behalf so long as documentation is currently on file with the registrar.

Each testing company has its doctrine to follow: ACT requires cognitive testing documentation to be within the past three years, dependent upon diagnostic results. Whereas College Board (PSAT/NMSQT, SAT, AP Exams) requires cognitive testing records to be no more than five years old, College Board requires hearing and visual impairment documentation to be no more than two years old. Inclusive with both test companies, medical or psychiatric testing must be current and updated within the past year.

Once the Test Coordinator receives the notification of approval or denial, they will forward the letter(s) to the parent(s)/guardian(s) for their records and will initiate a reconsideration if applicable. Once an accommodation request is approved through both testing companies, the student can use support throughout high school.

WHAT IF NEW INFORMATION IS OBTAINED OR A REEVALUATION TAKES PLACE?

In that case, outcomes must be shared in written form with the school to determine if a resubmission of request is permitted given documentation to either remove approved supports or to request additional support(s). Documentation can be submitted by forwarding through email to the Test Coordinator. Moreover, new findings will be shared with the Head of School, Admissions Department, Registrar, and Learning Skills Department.

NEXT STEPS?

If your child is a rising, eligible 10th or 11th grader and will be taking the PSAT/NMSQT or a 12th grader taking the SAT School Day Fall 2024, and has not been approved yet, please contact the Testing Coordinator, Olivia Hallahan, by August 1, 2024.

TOEFL Dates/Deadlines Semester 1 2024-2025

Registration for September 2024: CLICK HERE

Available Dates

• September 14, 2024 (sign-up deadline: Regular August 2, Late August 26th)
• September 21, 2024 (sign-up deadline: Regular August 2, Late August 26th)
• September 28, 2024 (sign-up deadline: Regular August 2, Late August 26th)
• October 5, 2024
• October 12, 2024
• October 26, 2024
• November 9, 2024
• November 16, 2024
• November 23, 2024

SAT School Day Dates/Deadlines/Registration

• Semester 1: Friday, October 4th, 2024
• SSD (Accommodations Request) Deadline: Thursday, August 1st, 2024
• Deadline: Friday, August 30th, 2024
• Registration: CLICK HERE to access the form. Students with a Grier School email account can register.

ALL students are required to read Be Kind by Teen Breathe in preparation for the theme for the 2024-2025 school year. Our theme will be KINDNESS.

For those students enrolled in an AP or Honors English course, please see the required steps for summer below:

Required Summer Reading for Honors English Courses

English 9 Honors: To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee; Secret Life of Bees, Kid

English 10 Honors: The Bean Trees, Kingsolver; The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger

English 11 Honors: Jane Eyre, Bronte; A Passage to India, Forster

English 12 Honors: The Poisonwood Bible, Kingsolver; Like Water for Chocolate, Esquivel; The Housekeeper and the Professor, Ogawa, (translated by Stephen Snyder)

English 12 AP: How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster; The Poisonwood Bible, Kingsolver; Educated, Westover; Like Water for Chocolate, Esquivel; The Housekeeper and the Professor, Ogawa, (translated by Stephen Snyder)

AP Summer Coursework

Any student who registered for an AP course next year needs to meet with the instructor to gather any required summer work. All summer work should be completed before the first day of school for the 2024-2025 academic year. Not all AP courses have summer assignments.

June's book was The Addiction Inoculation: Raising Healthy Kids in a Culture of Dependence by Jessica Lahey. Please join Kara for Zoom discussion on Wednesday, July 17 at 7:00 p.m. by following this Zoom link: Kara Lawler is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88460013644?pwd=u23beL4OUnFAGXVqPoKXccGAnULXcu.1

Meeting ID: 884 6001 3644

Passcode: M3jw03

July's book is Raising Girls by Steve Biddulph. Kara will send the Zoom link for this discussion in the August newsletter.

Happy Reading!

While enjoying the summer break and finding some time to relax and rejuvenate, teachers and students will also be preparing for the upcoming school year and different classes. Just as the faculty use summer time to prepare, students in certain classes need to so summer work for some AP and Honors courses. Even though the learning and teaching never really take a break, the moments of change and distance from the campus and friends bring back excitement for the coming school year and the new experiences that await students and teachers alike.

While we enjoy summertime with family, friends, and making memories, those of us at Grier are excited to welcome our campers and look forward to our enrichment students in a few short weeks!

All of these programs will create new adventures on and off campus for participants.

As we look towards these events, a few date and time reminders may be helpful:

· First-year international students for ISOP and week one enrichment students arrive August 21st between 10 am and 3 pm.

· SAT and College Application students as well as week two enrichment students arrive August 27th after 10 am but by 3pm.

· Seniors and Ambassadors will arrive Sept 4th between 10 am and 3 pm.

· Fresh(wo)men, Juniors, and Sophomores arrive September 5th after 10 am but before 3 pm.

· 7th and 8th grade students will complete our campus community by arriving September 6th between 10 am and 3 pm.

Please be sure to revisit the handbook when it becomes available in August for updated information for this year. Also, reference the what to bring and what not to bring lists from Ms. Crago to prevent confiscation of any items and ensure your student has all necessary items.

Our Opening Week will host dorm events, Green-Gold competitions, a carnival, and plenty of other activities to help welcome, organize, and entertain students.

Before returning for the fall semester, students should read Be Kind from Teen Breathe (mentioned in our last newsletter) to become familiar with our theme for the year: Kindness.

Our new year will feature additional initiatives to further Grier’s wellness goals featuring lessons in advisee groups from The Social Institute to help strengthen social skills and awareness of the effects of digital influences. We will also continue reading a one read, The Path to Kindness, and host some of its contributors throughout the year to practice mindfulness and participate in kindness activities.

A final note for summer to do lists:

• All Grier students are required to complete community service hours to matriculate to their next year.
• 7th and 8th grade students must complete 10 hours, and 9th-12th grade students must complete 12.5 hours per year.
• Students may complete half of their hours off campus. The remaining hours must be sponsored by Grier and not affiliated with their extracurricular activities. For example, Dancers/Musicians must participate in something non-performance based; Equestrians must complete hours not associated with equestrian activities.
• If a student completes hours off campus over the summer, https://www.grier.org/communityserviceform, accessed by logging into MyGrier must be completed and returned during the first week of classes to Dr. Guydish Buchholz (Dr. Gb). It must be hard copy as it requires the signature of the supervising adult. Please note the handbook denotes further requirements on community service, which if not followed, will disqualify the hours students perform.

Looking forward to seeing a busy campus of students again soon!

Summer on Grier campus is so full of beauty with energy and life radiating all around us. However, the quietness is so unfamiliar and makes us miss all the fun and bustling activity! Our excitement grows for August and September to bring our students back to us.

New students:

As everyone is settling into summer fun, I wanted to send out Grier’s tried and true roommate questionnaire for our new students. Please be sure to take time in considering your answers so that we can help connect great roommate and suitemate matches for our upcoming schoolyear. If you all could fill out the questionnaire, Roommate Match Questionnaire 2024, and send it to me (Cari Crago) at ccrago@grier.org by August 1, that would be grand!

All students:

In August, I will be sending out our all-important “What to bring and what definitely NOT to bring” list for the upcoming school year. Some changes and new information regarding shipping and packages will be coming your way in our August newsletter as well.

Wishing everyone a wonderful summer and sending much love and sunshine!!

Two little added notes this month:

“A girl should be two things: who and what she wants.” – Coco Chanel

“I found that ultimately if you truly pour your heart into what you believe in – even if it makes you vulnerable – amazing things can and will happen.” – Emma Watson

As we move towards the end of the 2023-2024 school year and begin looking towards the next, the Grier School is excited to begin working with The Social Institute to answer the call for social and wellness concerns amongst our students and in larger global contexts.

According to the CDC report on Youth Risk Behavior, nearly one in three teen girls has seriously considered attempting suicide—a 60% increase from 10 years ago. There are a variety of factors contributing to such a stark increase in these experiences of sadness and violence. However, the same study also found that, “School connectedness, defined in this report as feeling close to people at school, has a long-lasting, protective impact for adolescents well into adulthood.” As part of Grier School’s wellness initiatives, it is imperative that we begin to address the concerns and experiences the CDC is finding among our students.

We have begun a collaboration with The Social Institute to help students become empowered digital citizens. Learning ways to positively engage with technology and social media, find balance and regulation regarding tech time, and learn about the effects, positive and negative, that technology has in communities and on various peoples are foundational steps in raising well-adjusted global citizens.

In order to be impactful in this process, we need your help. The CDC study concluded that, “Supporting schools in efforts to reverse these negative trends [of rising mental health struggles] and ensure that youth have the support they need to be healthy and thrive will require partnership.” ­ While the school can create and implement new curricular and counseling components, guardian support and reinforcement will aid in elevating the usefulness of these program components.

Stay in Touch!

Want to be "in the know?"

Want to be connected DAILY to Grier School?

There are multiple ways to follow along with the daily happenings here at Grier! Follow these steps to stay connected to your daughter and our Grier School extended family!

1. Stay up to date on current events and daily activities through the Grier School App! There are many important items linked here. Open the PDF below for a QR code to direct you to the App Store. (Available for Apple and Android devices)
2. Follow us on Instagram @grier_school
3. Follow us on Facebook @ Grier School | Tyrone PA | Facebook
4. Log onto our website: www.grier.org

Anleigh A. competed in the USHJA Zone 2 1.20 M Jumper Team Championships this past June on Grier owned horse, Jasmin. Her excellent performance brought her team to win the silver medal!

This past weekend, our western team traveled to Fort Worth, Texas for IEA Western Nationals. Our reigning National Champion High School team took the crown again this year and won the 2024 National Champion title. Our Middle School team also won the 2024 National Champion title, earning Grier School a clean sweep of the competition! Daina J. was awarded Crossover rider for the 2023-2024 IEA Season.

Our riders are busy at work practicing to qualifying for multiple championships and National finals that will take place this upcoming fall.

Keep up the great work, foxes!

Every seven years, Grier School completes the process for the Middle States Accreditation. Our final site visit for accreditation will be in early November. As part of this process, you will be sent a few surveys in the coming months. You will also be invited to parent focus groups. We will also discuss this during our Opening Weekend in September. We look forward to working through the final stages of this process with you!

WE HAVE CHANGED OUR SHIPPING ADDRESS. PLEASE SEE BELOW!

Shipping and Postal Mail Updated Address is NEW:

ALL packages from UPS, FEDEX, DHL, AMAZON, etc. should

be sent to:

Name

Grier School

4100 Juniata St

Tyrone PA 16686

ALL POSTAL MAIL (letters, cards, packages) should be sent to:

Name

Grier School

2522 Grier School Rd

PO Box 308

Tyrone, PA 16686

Please note: Students are not permitted to order from InstaCart, UberEats, or any food delivery services. This is a safety concern. They are allowed to order from Domino's only on Friday and Saturday evenings for a 6-10 p.m. delivery to 4100 Juniata Street. With our amazing new food service and the extended hours of 1853, there are many options here on campus!

Geoffrey Grier, Director

~ ggrier@grier.org

Kara Lawler, Head of School

~ klawler@grier.org, ext. 7006

Cari Crago, Dean of Counseling, Wellness, and Residential Life

~ ccrago@grier.org, ext. 7015

Katt Barr, Dean of Academics

~ kbarr@grier.org, ext. 7057

Erin Guydish-Bucholz, Dean of Students and Belonging

~ eguydish@grier.org, ext. 7056

Anthony Lang, Dean of Faculty

~ alang@grier.org

Suzanne Lyke, Director of College Counseling

~slyke@grier.org, ext. 7048

Gage Bassham, Travel Coordinator

~ gbassham@grier.org

Lindsey Good, Business Director

~ lgood@grier.org, ext. 7008

Angela McLaughlin, Facts Administrator

~ amclaughlin@grier.org , ext. 7019