The GPS District Digest is celebrating! The amount of feedback we received from issue No. 1 was overwhelming. Our now-famous and award-winning newsletter had more than 11k views and now we know you love us. The feeling is mutual.

We think you will also really like issue No. 2. It is stuffed, stacked, and fully packed with all good things GPS. If you are looking for student achievement, staff accomplishment, or just some quick stories to entertain and inform, we got you.

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GPS District Digest

The Greenwich High School String Ensemble has been selected to perform as a showcase ensemble by the Connecticut Music Educators Association (CMEA) at the National Association for Music Education’s 2025 Eastern Division Conference at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford on April 25 under the direction of their orchestra director, Bethany Fuscaldo. The selection process for this conference was very competitive and only a very few secondary school ensembles were invited to perform.

CMEA’s Eastern Division represents almost all public and private school programs from Maine to Washington, D.C. In addition to performances and conference sessions, there will be several research components including a dedicated research poster session and several dedicated session times for research paper presentations for educators.

Since its inception in 1932, CMEA has been dedicated to providing programs and activities for professional educators, students, and future music educators striving to enhance the quality of music education for all children.

Greenwich will be representing in Hartford!

2019 Distinguished Teacher Award winner, Ms. Chris Powers, has also been selected to present. News recently reached the Digest that her submissions entitled, "The 12 Steps of MELODIC Literacy using Conversational Solfege" and "The 12 Steps of RHYTHMIC Literacy using Conversational Solfege" were accepted. She is expected to present both at the same conference.

The CMEA tells us that more than 300 session proposals were submitted, making the process very competitive. Ms. Powers' submissions "stood out."

Recently, the good folks in the New Lebanon School community, in coordination with the NLS PTA, unveiled a memory bench in honor of Ms. Samantha Birchard, also known lovingly as “Ms. Sammy.” The ceremony celebrating her life was attended by her family, including her sister, New Lebanon kindergarten teacher, Ms. Kimberly Iacovino.

At 22 years old, Ms. Sammy had just started the 2023-2024 school year as a building substitute at New Lebanon and had planned to apply to graduate schools to pursue a career in Special Education.

“We also filled a memorial bird house with seed,” Assistant Principal Lindsey Eisenstein said. “Ms. Sammy poured herself into students, so we invited those who loved her a chance to pour seed into her memorial bird feeder.”

GPS District Digest sources recently alerted us to Greenwich HS sophomore Jocelyn O'Neill's fundraising efforts and participation in the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation Walk/Run: New York City on Saturday, October 5 at Pier 76/Hudson River Parks.

For the past 25 years, the MMRF has been the leading cancer research organization focused on multiple myeloma, the second most common blood cancer. Multiple myeloma is an incurable, but treatable blood cancer. We have been told that 90% of all donations are used for research and programs.

"My Dad has multiple myeloma for 11.5 years and is on a regiment of chemotherapies," Jocelyn wrote on her fundraising page. "The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation provides my Dad with a chance for a long and prosperous life."

For more information about supporting Jocelyn's efforts, head to her fundraising page or MMRF's event webpage.

Our main man, GHS senior Thomas "The Tank" McKinney did it again!

Earlier this month, Thomas and his friends at Greenwich Green & Clean took the bull by the horns and cleaned up Binney Park like never before. Our social media sources tell the Digest that they "smashed the record for both attendance and litter collection" by pulling in 330 pounds of YOUR garbage, along with his 104 closest friends that volunteered their time.

And what did you do that morning?

GPS' community partner, Greenwich Botanical Center, has alerted us of the return of "Ghouls in the Garden," on Saturday, October 26. This is an annual fall family event in the Montgomery Pinetum with ghostly crafts, ghoulish refreshments, hair-raising interactive performers, and a signature spine-chilling Haunted Hike through the woods.

This favorite fall fundraiser benefits Greenwich Botanical Center programming, events, field trips for Greenwich Public Schools, and community outreach.

Greenwich Botanical Center is a non-profit volunteer organization dedicated to promoting horticulture, conservation, and the arts located in the heart of the Pinetum. Visit their robust green house for all gardening needs or sign up for one of their many special events throughout the year. Their youth programs are ever-expanding and offer children from 12 months to fifth grade opportunities to explore the natural landscape right here in town.

For more information, including how to purchase tickets or to be a sponsor, head to the Center's website.

GHS junior Alexandra Gusinski recently traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet former Virginia congresswoman, Barbara Jean Comstock, and former New York congressman, Joe Crowley, for a private tour of the United States Capitol for winning the 2023 Best High School STEM Award from Constituting America. While there, she visited the floor of the House of Representatives and its chambers and the Lindy Claiborne Boggs Congressional Women's Reading Room, and had a one-hour discussion with Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Brett Kavanaugh, about the Constitution. She also visited Mount Vernon, where she participated in the Constitution Day ceremony and in the wreath-laying ceremony at George Washington’s tomb.

Head to Constituting America’s webpage to learn more about Alexandra and her award-winning project.

As a part of the 2024-2025 assured experiences, third grade students at Julian Curtiss School were recently treated to a social studies event in honor of Constitution Day with the Greenwich chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Constitution Day commemorates the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution by 39 men on September 17, 1787.

Students learned how the United States Constitution came to be, the differences between state constitutions and the U.S. Constitution, and created a class constitution of their own.

Forty Greenwich High seniors have been named Commended Students in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program. A Letter of Commendation from the school and National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC®), which conducts the program, will be presented by the principal to these scholastically talented seniors.

Approximately 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2025 competition for National Merit Scholarship awards, Commended Students placed among the top 50,000 students who entered the 2025 competition by taking the 2023 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®).

''Those being named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success," commented a spokesperson for NMSC. ''These students represent a valuable national resource; recognizing their accomplishments, as well as the key role their schools play in their academic development, is vital to the advancement of educational excellence in our nation. We hope that this recognition will help broaden their educational opportunities and encourage them as they continue their pursuit of academic success."

The 40 seniors from Greenwich HS are:

Adam Allegro, Ishan Ambastha, Allison Bauer, Owen Benison, Justin Bernstein, Anthony Bozza, Jeremy Buss, Cecilia Cho, Ethan Cooper, Margaret Fales, Luis Galic, Zara Haque, Lauren P. Huang, Evan Kostin, Daniel Lee, Charlotte Marcussen, Adam McFarlane, Kaes McGeary, Thomas McKinney, Margaret Miklautsch, Rohan Mittal, Brandon Nadel, Olivia Nguyen, Michael Nogaki, Vedant Prasad, Shafi Reilly, Martin Rocca, Natasha Samant, William Schuhmacher, Mihir Shah, Thomas Song, Emma Stehmann, Thomas Stowe, Benjamin Tirana, Abigail Vandervoorn, Robert Vine, Benjamin Webster, Sarah Wick, Alexander Zhao, Zerach Zou.

In this school year's first issue of the GPS District Digest, our lead story told you about the current Greenwich High School students that were named to the Top 300 Junior Innovators in the 2024 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge.

Newsflash! Three of our Cardinals were recently named finalists and will now receive an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C. from October 25-30 for the program finals. At the week-long event, students will have the opportunity to present their research, complete STEM challenges in teams, meet other students from around the country, and ultimately compete for over $100,000 in awards and prizes.

The three finalists from Greenwich HS, along with the middle school they represent when they created their projects include:

• Mikah Kaalund (Central MS): The Synergistic Improvement of Indoor Air HEPA-Filtration using Concurrent Dehumidification
• Tyler Malkin (Central MS): Development of a Simple Salivary Rapid Diagnostic for the Detection of Iodine Deficiency
• Mackensey Wilson (Eastern MS): Shedding Light on the Prevalence of Harmful Butylated Hydroxytoluene Preservative in Artificially Formulated Dog Foods

To learn about this challenge and the amazing work from our students, head to the online program.

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