From Where I Stand

On a Tuesday in February, more than 50 former GDS Trustees gathered in the High School library to enjoy lunch and reconnect with each other and GDS. These stewards of our school, who served on the Board over seven different decades, share a deep commitment to our School’s mission, purpose, and students. Attendees included Judith Martin (aka Miss Manners), who graduated from GDS in 1970 and whose mother, Mrs. Perlman, was a legendary teacher and one of only three teachers in the School’s history who was not addressed by first name. George Idelson, who was on the Board in the 1970s and who is now a proud GDS grandparent, also joined us. After we sang “Happy Birthday” to George (it was his 99th!), he debonairly tipped his hat to the room. Collectively, our guests represented hundreds of years of faithful service to Georgetown Day School. 

While the Trustees dined, I provided an update on life at GDS in 2024. Some of them marveled at changes in the School. They learned of new traditions such as Hopper Tank and the Senior Walk, watched students in the innovation space building robots for an upcoming competition, and visited the new Lower/Middle School building, where I gave a tour. As they heard about the 11 different bus routes bringing students to and from School and applauded the salad bar in the dining hall, many commented on how things had evolved in recent decades. Still, the student sitting with a teacher on a hallway floor revising an English essay, backpacks strewn across the Forum, and peals of laughter echoing in stairwells reassured them that GDS is still GDS.

This issue of Georgetown Days explores innovation. I am proud of the ways in which GDS evolves and embraces new opportunities for learning. Some innovation is driven by faculty, such as our transformational Policy Institute, which will celebrate 10 years of programming this summer and for which new policy “tracks” are created each year. Other innovation is driven by students, including last year’s Integration Bee, in which High School students competed in solving calculus integrals in front of a rowdy audience. Thanks to a gift from the Perlin Family Foundation, GDS has been able to launch a new Innovation Fund this year. The fund will allow teachers to pilot original, experimental programs that are not currently covered by the annual budgetary process and make them a reality. We are excited to see the fruits of this effort enrich learning for our students.

Innovation is all well and good so long as we don’t lose sight of what’s most important: a learning environment that is joyful, in which students have the opportunity to connect with purpose, and in which they experience a sense of belonging. The spark of delight that animates a student’s school day can emerge from a dynamic new program or a well-worn tradition. Our kids will “wonder and inquire,” as our mission calls them to do, when we provide them with great teachers and a resource-rich environment, and when adults model curiosity and excitement. Passionate teachers, strong human connections, and a vibrant community will remain at the heart of who we are and what we do, no matter what innovation may bring. And so in 2045, when former trustees come to campus to celebrate GDS’s centennial, I envision a School community shaped by innovation and evolution and anchored in our mission, the ever-present foundation on which we can build.