Highlights & Action Items

GSA Siblings- Applications Open
Congratulations to All-Region musicians!
It's sweater season
Strategic Planning Think Tank Sessions are next week
White Cane Day is next week for 4th-8th Grade
Preparing for Theme Parade in two weeks
Parents- See you tomorrow at Batch
More resources for parents
Firebird Fund Update!

GSA Sibling Applications

We are currently accepting applications for the '24-'25 school year. Our Director of Admissions, Neely Michaelis, can help you with any questions you may have about the admissions process for siblings. The first step is to fill out the GSA application (now online!). For additional guidance, please reach out to Neely at nmichaelis@thegirlsschool.org.

Congratulations All-Region Musicians!

Auditions for the TMEA region 18 All-Region Middle School Orchestras were held on October 7th. Whereas before the pandemic, students from all over Austin competed for spaces in two orchestras, there is now just one orchestra, resulting in a highly competitive Middle School audition.

GSA is proud of all our strings musicians who prepared and auditioned for this year’s All-Region competition. Your hard work and dedication raised the level of play across the board. This year thirteen students from grades 6th through 8th auditioned. The six musicians selected for the Symphony Orchestra are: Shiloh Hendrickse, Elsa Wiebrand, Jane Canales, Zora Creed, Lila Michaelis, and Tiernan O'Keefe.

Congratulations to our All-Region musicians and to Mr. Bonneau! And congratulations to everyone who auditioned - it takes courage and hard work, and we are so proud of all of you.

Pictured from left to right:

Lila Michaelis (Viola, chair 8); Elsa Wiebrand (Violin, chair 16); Tiernan O'Keefe (Bass, chair 7); Zora Creed (Viola, chair 7); Shiloh Hendrickse (Violin, chair 10) ; Jane Canales (Violin, chair 30)

Reminders About Outerwear

It is that time of year again when students wear sweaters and sweatshirts in the morning, and then shed them as the day gets warmer. These items are piling up in our lost and found, and if they are labeled, we can make sure they get back to their rightful owner! Every year we take several perfectly good sweaters and sweatshirts from the lost and found to the uniform closet. Please make sure to label all items that your child could possibly misplace throughout the day. Don't forget, you can purchase GSA clothing tags at our Zazzle store if you want to show your school spirit inside and out!

As a reminder, cardigans, hoodies, and sweatshirts may or may not have the GSA logo, but they must be solid colored; no other words, patterns, or images are allowed. If there is a brand logo, it should be ~2 inches or smaller.

Outerwear (coats/jackets/raincoats) worn during cold or wet weather may be any color/pattern but may not be worn in the classroom.

You can always reference our Uniform Policy on the MySchool page if you need a refresher.

PLEASE JOIN! Strategic Planning Think Tank Day- Oct. 19

Next week, please come meet with our Strategic Planning consultant, Greg Bamford, and share your hopes for the future of our school.

At these “Think Tank” sessions, Greg will engage GSA parents in some interactive exercises to share your reflections on the value of a GSA education and your ideas for how we might move forward as a school community.

The first of these opportunities is next week on October 19th. Everyone is invited to join a session during our Think Tank day.

We have a morning opportunity (8:15-9:45am) and an evening session (6:30-8:00pm) to accommodate a variety of schedules.

Please join us for this important part of our Strategic Planning journey!

White Cane Day Details for 4th -8th Graders!

4th - 8th Grade students
Wednesday, Oct 18th
Meet at Central Market (4001 N Lamar) at 8:30am
Students should wear regular uniforms and tennis shoes
The GSA bus is our drop-off spot
Parents are welcome to stay and march
We will march to TSBVI (100 W 45th) along with others from the blind and visually impaired community
Students will be shuttled back to school before lunch via GSA bus and teacher cars.
If you have any questions about the event or concerns about getting your student to Central Market, please contact Coach Sparks: jsparks@thegirlsschool.org

Preparing for Theme Parade

Halloween is just around the corner and we need your help! The GSA Theme Parade is a wonderful tradition and a volunteer favorite every year. We simply couldn't run this event without the help of our amazing parent volunteers. We have divided the volunteer opportunities into three time blocks: set up in the morning, event help during the parade, and clean up after. You are welcome to sign up for one, two or all three of the time slots. If you would like to volunteer to help with the Theme Parade, please sign up here.

This year, students will be able to wear their costume all day on October 27th if they would like! For students not in costume for the full school day, we ask that they wear a Friday uniform option.

Also, as a reminder, we ask that all costumes be respectful and culturally responsible. It goes without saying, please make sure that your daughter does not alter her skin color or hair to that of another race. In addition, costumes should not attempt to represent or imitate other peoples' cultural or religious identity. Throughout the year we will have age-appropriate conversations about the difference between cultural appropriation and appreciation, and how to celebrate cultures that have been historically targeted. We also ask that costumes do not include weapons of any kind, real or fake.

Parents- See you tomorrow night!

We will see you all at Batch Craft Beer & Kolaches at 7pm tomorrow night for this parent-only social event! The weather looks like it will be PERFECT. If you have ever looked around at the other parents in your class and thought, "I wonder what song is their go-to karaoke jam..." then this is your chance to find out! It's also a great opportunity to get to know parents from other grades in a fun and relaxed setting. Not to mention that all sales of the GSA Golden Ale go to supporting the Firebird Fund! Thank you again to the Lit family for hosting this great event.

Current Events: More Resources For Parents

Earlier this week, Ms. Yacono shared several resources to help families navigate the atrocities and the tragedies we see playing out in our world at this moment. We also recognize the need for more specific resources about the current situation in Israel. While the unfolding tragedy in Israel is hard for even adults to comprehend, many of our families want to have an age-appropriate and honest conversation with their children about these horrific events. We wanted to provide some additional resources that we hope will help your family during this difficult time:

FIREBIRD FUND UPDATE: Week 3!

We are halfway to our goal! THANK YOU to EVERYONE who has already made a gift.

Every year, our Class Agents play a huge role in helping us reach our goal of 100% participation! While you have already been hearing from them, we want to introduce our these amazing families and say a huge THANK YOU for their help! Be looking for a note from these fellow parents about how you can get involved.