Dear GFS Students, Faculty, Family & Friends,

I hope everyone has had a wonderful start to 2025! As you may know, Independent Schools are in the throes of admission season right now and our talented Admissions team is hard at work showcasing our wonderful school to prospective students and families. As a part of the Admission review process, it is exciting to see Garrison Forest from the perspective of a prospective student; our beautiful campus, our innovative programs and our welcoming community are truly remarkable and it is a wonderful reminder to see them through fresh eyes!

I recently ran a workshop for our Middle Schoolers during advisory where we talked about the importance of self-promotion and strengths spotting in ourselves and others. As the girls shared their strengths with each other, and acknowledged why self-promotion can be difficult for women, I was struck by the power of an all-girls school and the energy and passion in the room. We watched a video of our kindergarteners owning their strengths (see the adorableness below!) and I was incredibly proud to be a part of this trailblazing effort to connect holistic support for each girl and provide them with the tools and resources to become the best version of themselves.

As we continue to partner together in this mission, I welcome your feedback and encourage you to engage in these critical conversations about academic support, growth and enrichment, and wellness and wellbeing. I invite all of you to visit the Boyce Center for Coffee and Conversation with the Counselors on Thursday, March 6th from 8-9am and thank you all for your continued support.

Best,

Shannon

The Lower School Boyce Center Satellite Space is bustling with students each morning as they work on reading and math with Mrs. Bitz and Mrs. Holt! Now known as The Knowledge Nook, the space is outfitted with whiteboard tables and stools, a whiteboard room divider and adorable plush seating. You can check out more photos of the space here.

On Wednesday, January 8th, students and faculty returned to school after two snow days extended winter break and celebrated the first Wellness Wednesday of 2025! January's theme was Disconnecting to Reconnect with the goal of prioritizing reconnecting after break by making a conscious effort to embrace tech-free activities and spaces. The theme was timed to lead into our annual school-wide Digital Kindness Week, which took place across campus from January 13-17. Students were encouraged to connect via conversation starters in the dining hall, which became a phone free zone for the day, and Middle and Upper School students were encouraged to turn to non-digital fun in Commons spaces, where puzzles and card games were encouraged! During our evening Wellness Wednesday activity, students created vision boards for the new year with Heidy Gonzalez, our Director of Community Life & Inclusion. We are looking forward to continuing to find ways to connect across campus throughout 2025, applying the lessons learned throughout Digital Kindness Week to set healthy boundaries with technology and devices.

The Wellness Wednesday excitement continued earlier this week when we celebrated February's Wellness Wednesday by pairing up with our Athletics Department for National Girls & Women in Sports Day. According to UN Women, the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, girls who play sports develop self-esteem, confidence, resilience, and learn to work in teams. In fact, eighty percent of female Fortune 500 CEOs played sports in their formative years. To celebrate the day, Upper School athletes from various sports teams, riding, polo and dance read picture books about women in sports to our Lower School students while Middle School students heard from a special guest speaker, alumna and former Divison I lacrosse player, Samantha Fiedler '17. Sam shared how lessons learned through sports have translated to her career in finance. It was a fun-filled day of celebration that culminated in a Zumba class for boarding students Wednesday evening! A big thank you to everyone who helped make the day a big success!

Mark your calendars for upcoming Coffee with the Counselors on Thursday, March 6th! Join the Boyce Center and our Counseling Team for coffee after drop off to continue the conversations we've started in our Parent Education programs this year. This is a great opportunity to check out the Boyce Center space and dive into follow up questions or lean deeper into the conversations we've been having as a school community. Whether you have questions about raising a resilient daughter, want to talk more about SPACE training, are interested in talking about social media restrictions or have an idea for future education programs, we invite you to join us for a morning of coffee, connection and conversation! If you missed our virtual parent program this month, please check out the recording below.

The Boyce Center is committed to supporting, expanding and promoting enrichment opportunities at GFS and is excited to promote one enrichment opportunity each month in the Boyce Bulletin! This month, we want to highlight a new Lower School initiative, Grizzlies Got News, led by Lower School Digital Learning Specialist Amber Budoksh. Grizzlies Got News is designed to share important updates each week to Lower School students while providing fifth graders the opportunity to take on the role of news anchors. There are two news anchors each week, which rotates on a bi-weekly schedule, and students assist with writing the script and then filming in front of a green screen. Episodes are filmed on an iPad and the green screen video clips are edited in an app called 'Green Screen by DoInk", and then video clips are uploaded to Canva to piece the whole news report together using Canva's video editing software.

Amber decided to start Grizzlies Got News after attending a session at the AIMS Tech Retreat last May and weekly watch sessions have already become a highlight of the week for lower school classes! Amber is in her third year of teaching at Garrison Forest as the Digital Discoveries teacher and has a Masters Degree in Instructional Technology from Towson University. She enjoys creating digital projects with students that include coding, engineering, robotics, digital art, stop motion animation, green screen editing, and much more. Please check out a recent episode of Grizzlies Got News below.

Be On Her Side is a new podcast that focuses on the relationship between mother and daughter from a child development perspective. As teenage girls go through formative life experiences and life transitions, mothers are in a unique position to witness this and offer support. But often teenage girls feel misunderstood by their mothers, even mothers who are trying to be on their daughter's side. The first episode is on supporting your daughter through disappointment and is definitely worth a listen.