Highlights & Action Items

WTF (What's the Future?)
Upcoming Student Survey
Teacher Appreciation Week
8th Grade Bake Sale

WTF

Lorna Torrado recently served as one of the co-facilitators for the “What's the Future (WTF)” workshop—an immersive, two-day experience held at The Foundry in Cambridge. Designed for school leaders, the workshop focused on exploring Futurist Thinking as both an institutional and pedagogical tool to help reimagine education for a rapidly evolving world. Participants were invited to envision the year 2035 and use that lens to design adaptable and inclusive learning environments. Through activities such as signal hunting, world-building, and toolkit development, attendees gained practical strategies to bring back to their schools. The experience fostered collaboration among a future-focused cohort committed to educational innovation.

During the workshop, Lorna had the opportunity to share her experience developing and teaching an original DEIB/SEL/Futurist Thinking curriculum for 7th and 8th grade students at the GSA. Her work exemplifies the school’s commitment to integrating Social Emotional Learning, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and forward-thinking into the fabric of our academic programs. We are proud to see GSA’s initiatives showcased on a national platform and hope they serve as a model for other institutions striving to empower the next generation of empathetic, future-ready thinkers!

Our Next Coffee and Conversation

Speaking of the future, our next Coffee and Conversation is May 9th at 11:35 AM right before the Lower School Research Convention. Ms. Yacono will share more on GSA's Future Thinking initiatives along with an update on GSA's Strategic Plan.

Upcoming Student Survey from Authentic Connections

On Friday, May 2nd, we will set aside some time for students to fill out a survey (developed by Authentic Connections ) that will help provide us with valuable information for better understanding how to support their well-being. The goal of the survey is to better understand the preoccupations and concerns of children and adolescents growing up in our community and, accordingly, to learn how best to continue promoting positive development among our students. This survey will be administered to Grades 3-8.

Please read this letter from Ms. Yacono for full information.

All of the information submitted will remain completely anonymous. No identifying information of any kind will be collected. Your child’s name will not appear anywhere on her responses, and questionnaires are all stored securely. No data will be sold to third party organizations.

To ensure maximum usefulness of the data, we need the maximum participation of students in Grades 3-8. However, your child does not have to participate. If you do not want your child to participate, please fill out the non-consent form and return it to the Front Office by Wednesday, April 30, 2025. Also, please know that if your child begins a survey but decides during the survey that she wishes to withdraw, she may do so at any time. Thank you very much for your support in this endeavor, and for all you do to keep the GSA community strong and healthy.

A Note from Our Teacher Appreciation Committee Chairs:

Dear fellow GSA parents/caregivers,

Please help us honor our teachers and staff—and all their hard work this year—during our Spring 2025 GSA Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week, May 12th - 16th. We have a lot of different opportunities to volunteer, be it with your time, monetary contributions toward box lunches, or even by picking up half a dozen breakfast tacos one morning. Let’s show our teachers and staff how much we love and appreciate them!

Be on the lookout for the Sign Up Genius early next week! In the meantime, if you have any questions, please reach out to either Cammie Thomson (lizacamille@gmail.com) or Mark Richards (mark@green-eyedmonster.com).