Dear GFS Students, Faculty, Family & Friends,

As we head into the holiday season, I'd like to take this opportunity to celebrate some of the early successes of the Boyce Center for Learning & Thriving! While the To Do list is packed with exciting adventures for the new year, it is also important to celebrate all that we have accomplished together this fall!

• Our ATLAS (Additional Tutoring Learning & Support) program is proving to have a big impact! The ATLAS program provides small group executive function and academic support to students who qualify*, including general study skills and extra practice for skills that have been taught across subject areas. *In order to qualify for the ATLAS program, students in Grades 4-10 must have a recent psychoeducational testing report on file with the school that demonstrates a diagnosed learning difference and outlines the need for additional support or intervention. ATLAS classes are taught by our divisional Academic Resource Coordinators and our Boyce Center faculty and provide an additional layer of support built into the academic day.

• The Boyce Center has established a satellite classroom in the Lower School where Mrs. Bitz and Mrs. Holt work with students in Grades K-5 each morning from 8:15-11:15 AM. Stay tuned for a virtual tour of the space in our January Boyce Bulletin!

• The Boyce Center welcomes Middle & Upper Schoolers to the Learning Lab each day from 3:00-4:00 PM. We have provided help to over 180 students (including many repeat visitors!) In addition, our Upper School Academic Resource Coordinators have organized several study groups with academic mentors that meet in the Boyce Center during the Learning Lab; it is wonderful to see students helping students during this time!

• The Boyce Center has been able to offer increased Professional Development for faculty this year, including:

• We started the year with a workshop on the value of learning goals and identifying barriers to student learning with Sarah Dugan from Teach, Learn, Thrive.

• Rachel Simmons, our Expert in Residence, came to campus in October to present on fostering a growth mindset for our students through feedback.

• In November, our Preschool, Lower School and Middle School teachers received SPACE Training to gain strategies for supporting anxious childhood emotions.

• Math teachers have been receiving ongoing coaching and professional development from math consultant and Boyce Center Advisory Board Member, Susan Resnick.

• We are looking forward to hosting a day-long mini-conference for faculty and staff this February and are excited to share more details in the new year!

• Our Boyce Teacher Cohort is comprised of teachers from all divisions who are seeking additional opportunities to learn about differentiation. The group launched this September and was recently able to attend a talk by Dr. Nadine Gaab at Odyssey School. Cohort members are currently reading Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning.

• Wellness Wednesdays are a big hit with students across divisions! This month, we focused on spreading joy and partnered with other organizations on campus, which you can read more about below. We also recently wrapped up our 1,000 Thanks Campaign, which we launched in November, collecting over 1,000 postcards and notes from faculty and students across campus.

• Parent education has been a big focus of this school year and we are thrilled to have welcomed many families (and friends!) to campus for workshops on Raising a Resilient Daughter with Rachel Simmons and Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions. If you missed either of these talks and would like access to the recording, please don't hesitate to reach out! We are excited to offer a virtual workshop on Navigating Technology & Social Media next month (RSVP here) and look forward to more opportunities to learn together this Spring!

I look forward to seeing you in 2025, and I wish you happy holidays and a safe and relaxing break full of love, laughter and good books!

Best,

Shannon

On Wednesday, December 4th, we celebrated Wellness Wednesday by focusing on the theme of Spreading Joy! Students in Lower, Middle and Upper Divisions enjoyed music during lunch in the dining hall, with many of our students choosing to sing and dance along to the music! The Performing Arts Department also organized a trip to a local nursing home, where students sang and danced for residents, spreading joy beyond our campus. In the evening, our Residential Life community joined together for a self care project led by Upper School Counselor Kelly Foster, which was a big hit!

Our effort to spread joy extended throughout the month, thanks to our students and families' generosity! The Boyce Center partnered with Upper School Service League to help organize a toy drive for Mt Washington Pediatric Hospital and donated over 350 toys from Lower, Middle and Upper School students. The toy drive was also a Spirit Competition, with Dark Blue claiming the prize! Our Athletics Department also joined in on the initiative by hosting a sports equipment drive, which runs through 12/19. Thank you to everyone for making this month's Wellness Wednesday a big success!

Mark your calendars for our January Parent Education program on Navigating Technology and Social Media, which will take place virtually at noon on January 15th. Join the Boyce Center for Learning and Thriving, our divisional counselors and our digital learning specialists for an important conversation about technology and social media! This virtual session coincides with the school’s annual Digital Kindness Week and is meant for parents and caregivers of children of all ages. Click here to register via Zoom.

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 recent Upper School Cybersecurity Speaker Visit in honor of Computer Science Education Week.

On Friday, December 6, members of the Cybersecurity Team of the global financial services firm Morgan Stanley joined over 40 Upper School students to talk about their study and career paths in computer science, what they do as cybersecurity engineers, and the status of women in the computer science field. The X Block session included students from Computer Science classes, the Computer Science club, the Real World Finance club, the Robotics team, the Student Diversity Leadership Council, and current and past WISE students. Our guests also spent a second hour working with the AP Computer Science Principles class, diving into coding. Their visit was coordinated by computer science teacher Melvin Smith, WISE academic coordinator Whei Moriarty, and James Center Director/Dean of Special Programs Andrea Perry. The program is part of a year-long celebration of “20 Years of WISE,” which launched in 2005 and has placed students with researchers in engineering, science, and social science, where they’ve built knowledge and skills connected to computer science, data science, applied mathematics, AI, machine learning, and more. To read more about their visit, please check out the full news story here.

If your child in Grades 5-10 is interested in learning more about a career in cybersecurity, we encourage you to register for the Technology Advancement Center & the National Cryptologic Foundation's upcoming Cyber Saturday event. The event is free and will take place on Saturday, January 18th. Cyber Saturdays are specially designed for aspiring young cybersecurity enthusiasts, lovers of technology and computer science superstars. You can learn more and register here.

Last month, many of you joined us for a workshop led by Pam Dorman, Middle School Counselor, on Supportive Parents for Anxious Childhood Emotions. If you missed the session or would like to learn more, I recommend checking out the Raising Good Humans podcast (Episodes 1 and 2) with Dr. Eli Lebowitz from Yale Child Study Center's Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program.