GPS District Digest (v6, i13)
Stories, news, and updates from Greenwich Public Schools
The good folks in the GPS District Digest newsroom appreciate mild weather as much as the next department, maybe more. We could not believe our eyes this week when we saw temperatures reaching into the 50s. Spring is on the horizon in Greenwich. Hibernation is almost over.
Today's issue of the Digest is incredibly loaded with all good things GPS. We explained to loyal reader Jennifer just the other day that we specialize in the positive. We share the good news and maybe we can make you smile with student and staff achievement, fun happenings, and our unique sense of humor.
Finally, happy birthday to the immortal Mr. Eugene Watts. This Greenwich Public Schools legend is the longest tenured employee in the business office and is just one of the many dedicated staff members that helps to keep the district running. Mr. Watts' wisdom and expertise has earned him overwhelming respect from his peers.
Enjoy Issue No. 13 and thank you for your support.
GPS District Digest
Congratulations to the 12 Greenwich High School seniors who were named Finalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program. This month, the NMS Committee will begin notifying scholarship winners with the public announcement in April, May, June, and July.
The National Merit Scholarship Program is an annual academic competition for recognition and college undergraduate scholarships based on their Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) scores.
Debate at WMS is booming! Congratulations to the Western Middle School debate team, led by advisor and 2023 Distinguished Teacher, Mr. Gaspare Lipari. WMS qualified two teams for the state championship tournament on April 5 at Central Middle School.
The two person team of Ogden Hammond and Jacob Brookman and three person team of Precious Nasozi, Misha Joshi, and Evan Natale qualified for the states by being one of the top 15 open level teams at the October 26 CT MS Debate League tournament. Precious placed 10th overall and Ogden Hammond placed 18th out of more than 250 debaters.
GHS Cantor House English Teacher and Learning Facilitator Ms. Laura Blumenthal Burdick alerted the Digest that freshman Derek Shahn's work in the New York Times' third annual 100-Word Personal Narrative Contest was named Honorable Mention. Shahn's work is entitled, “I Didn’t Want to Go (Back Home).”
This contest challenged teenagers to see if they could write a story about a meaningful life moment in just 100 words. The NYT honored 120 finalists, including 20 winners, 28 runners-up and 72 honorable mentions, whose essays captured the judges’ attention and hearts and were able to tell a complete tale in just a few sentences.
"This is a phenomenal accomplishment," Ms. Burdick said, "considering that it is a national competition with more than 12,000 submissions. "
Did you get to see the annual Third Grade IB Showcase at the International School at Dundee recently?
The Third Grade International Baccalaureate Showcase is a multidisciplinary project that explores the IB unit, "How We Express Ourselves" with the central idea that "feelings, ideas, and beliefs can be expressed through movement." The Showcase is a collaboration between English and language arts, music, art, and physical education disciplines and is proudly funded by the ISD PTA.
For several weeks, third grade students studied character traits in fiction books. Through this lens, students identified learner profile traits their characters portrayed and in small groups, selected a scene from their chosen book to work with. In art class, students created accompanying illustrations using oversized murals to visually accompany the performance. In physical education, students worked with dance instructor, Mr. Scott Sisbarro, to learn new dances and movements, including hip hop, jazz, modern dance and ballet, all set to contemporary music. After weeks of writing, editing, painting, drawing and dance rehearsals, students presented their final stories through art and movement, all while highlighting key IB characteristics of being risk-takers and communicators.
“The Third Grade IB Showcase is an experience unique to ISD, and we are proud to support our students through this dynamic initiative,” ISD Principal Dana Firmender said. “The heart of the IB program is focused on developing inquiring, knowledgeable, confident and caring young people, and the Third Grade IB Showcase is a unique demonstration of those skills and traits. We are excited to see the students shine in their performances.”
By Gemma Hardwick
Special to the Digest
The Greenwich Girls Indoor Track Team recently competed at the CIAC State Open Championship at Hillhouse High School in New Haven.
The girls started off the day strong by winning the 4x800m relay, putting them as the no. 1 team in the state in 9:41.80. This amazing performance by the team of Gemma Hardwick, Sophie Passalacqua, Maggie McCooe, and Orla Muir earned them All-State recognition and qualified them for the New England Championship.
Maggie McCooe placed seventh overall in the 600m. The SMR team of Nina Silver, Ella Barber, Orla Muir, and Ellie Daplyn placed sixth overall.
Lastly, the 4x400m team of Gemma Hardwick, Nina Silver, Maggie McCooe and Ellie Daplyn placed fifth overall, qualifying them for the New England Championship. They ran a season's best time of 4:10.01 and are newly ranked no. 7 in Connecticut.
Thanks to senior runner Oliver Sheppard for the special photography.
The EMS eighth-grade social studies department held the final round of the 2025 Eastern Middle School Constitution Bowl recently in front of a roaring crowd of students, staff, and parents. During this annual competition, students display their knowledge of the United States Constitution and our government in three rounds. In the first round, students complete a questionnaire to qualify for the second elimination round.
Some of the challenging questions they tackled included:
- What is the two-step process to amend the US Constitution?
- Who was known as the Sage of the Constitutional Convention?
- Which amendment protects your home from unreasonable searches?
This year's 27 qualifying students created teams of three and squared off in three classrooms (three teams/room) with a Jeopardy-style format to win advancement to the final round.
This year's teams of on-stage finalists included: Ellie Mao, Lo van de Rotte, Lia Shum; Kai Yamasaki-Fisher, Jesse Martines, William Chen; and Nash Goodman, Greg Kasprzak, Mark Wermuth.
Participation was voluntary, and students used their own time to study the seven Articles of the Constitution, its 27 Amendments, and the history of the Constitutional Convention.
Congratulations to all of our finalists and this year's 2025 EMS Constitution Bowl Champions: Ellie Mao, Lo van de Rotte, Lia Shum.
Do you know why Greenwich wears mismatched socks on Thursday, April 3? We do it to honor Western MS eighth grader, Sam Buck, who suffers from a very rare, genetic brain disease called vanishing white matter disease. For those that know him, he starts every day with a huge smile on his face and mismatched socks on his feet. For more information about donations and knitting or purchasing mismatched socks, see their flyer.
The Julian Curtiss makerspace was featured at last month's PTAC Parent Workshop. Parents joined in person and virtually to engage in play, design thinking, and open exploration using the upgraded materials in its makerspaces and looked at student-created products.
As a district, GPS qualified for ARP Funding to enhance student learning, and Superintendent Dr. Toni Jones prioritized hands-on learning in the K-5 science space and libraries. Goals included to properly outfit post COVID-19 makerspaces, increase student access to hands on materials, provide equity of materials across all 11 schools, and capture the spirit of innovation for K-5 students.
Stations at the workshop included 3D Printing, Rig-a-majig, Wonder Workshop, Cricut, and Keva Planks.
When school is out, the Y is in! Join Vacation Camp at the YMCA of Greenwich for March PLD (Monday, March 10) and Spring Recess (April 14–18).
The YMCA of Greenwich Vacation Camp program offers tons of creative, engaging, and fun activities including arts & crafts, gym games, pool time, fitness classes and so much more. Vacation camp is for children ages 3-10 years and runs from 9:00 AM–4:00 PM, with options for early drop off and late stay. Financial assistance is available for this program.
For more information, visit the YMCA of Greenwich’s Vacation Camp web page.
The Greenwich High School music department is hosting the 38th annual GHS Jazz Festival on Saturday, April 5 at the Performing Arts Center from 8:00 AM-7:00 PM.
This exciting event features 15 visiting bands performing throughout the day from as far away as Canada. Eleven top-tier New York City based jazz clinicians will be giving masterclasses on all jazz instruments.
The Greenwich High School Jazz Ensemble performs at 6:00 PM and the Greenwich Jazz Lab Band performs at 8:30 AM. The All Star Pro Clinicians will give masterclasses at 12:00 PM on all instruments and perform a concert at 1:00 PM.
Everything at the jazz festival is open to the public. Food will be available for purchase. There is a suggested donation of $10 for adults and $5 for students.
Who is looking forward to a colorful and delicious March in our school cafeterias?
From March 17–21, they will be celebrating Rainbow Week and International Week. The menu will feature dishes from around the world, giving students a chance to explore new flavors and cultures. Plus, they will be highlighting a variety of fruits and vegetables, focusing on fresh, seasonal, and locally sourced ingredients.
"This is a great opportunity for students to try something new while learning about different foods and their benefits," Food Service Director Ms. Martha Ramkellawan said. "We cannot wait to share this experience with them!"
If you are like us in the Digest newsroom, spending the day at the Bruce Museum in downtown Greenwich is a treat. We love it. Not only is the Bruce a GPS community partner, but new friends of the GPS District Digest.
Just look at these two upcoming amazing events to do with your children:
- Science Solvers: Ice Age on Saturday, March 8, and Sunday, March 9, 1:00-3:00 PM. Participants will learn about the last Ice Age, what kind of animals were alive during this time, and how they kept warm. Science Solvers is a drop-in program designed for children aged four and up and their families. This program is free with general admission and no advanced registration is required. Head to the Cohen Education Wing.
- Museum Movers Yoga for Kids on Saturday, March 8, 11:00 AM-12:00 PM. Museum Movers is a Bruce Museum yoga class for learners ages 3-6 and their grownups. Participants will explore the Bruce Museum’s galleries using a variety of sensory and experiential modalities, followed by an exhibition inspired yoga class. Museum Movers uses movement, breath, group games and creative activities to reinforce the gallery experience. Come have fun in the galleries and get to know the Bruce in a whole new way. Wear comfortable clothing and be ready to take your shoes and socks off! They have a limited number of foam mats, please bring your own mat. Cost: Free with admission to the Bruce Museum. Members admission is free with membership. Classes are held once a month on Saturdays, from 11:00 AM-12:00 PM. Meet at the Grand Hall Staircase.
No one, we mean no one, loves newsletters more that the folks in the GPS District Digest newsroom. The more the merrier, we like to say.
You need to check out the winter edition of the GHS Visual Arts newsletter. It is like a bag of Skittles exploded in your phone. It will blow your mind.
While you are there, tell them the GPS District Digest sent ya!
In the 12th issue of the GPS District Digest, you learned about a special re-gift to Neighbor to Neighbor.
A $3,000 donation from ACME Markets & Kings Food Markets Foundation's Nourishing Neighbors Program was passed along to NTN during a very special photo opportunity at the Havemeyer Building with Superintendent Dr. Toni Jones and Executive Director K. Brent Hill.
Well, after all of the media attention faded, it was then discovered that someone needed extra attention. Did we get photo-bombed? Or did we get goosed?
Either way, they really geesed the moment.
Social media, when done responsibly, can be a great tool to share information. Here at GPS, we use social media to give you a behind the scenes look at what is happening in our buildings, celebrate staff and student achievement, and to break news.
Are you one of our 2,159 followers on X (formerly known as Twitter)? If not, why aren't you? We know the world can be a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. But here, it's all sunshine and rainbows.
Are you active on other social media platforms? Should the district join you? Let us know!
