GPS District Digest (v5, i11)
Stories, news, and updates from Greenwich Public Schools
Right Now
Now that you are reading the 11th issue of your favorite newsletter with all good things GPS, all of the good folks in the GPS District Digest newsroom will sit back and reflect on all of the amazing achievements our students and staff have accomplished as we head into the Winter Recess.
That's right - 11 issues packed with news you all can use. All of the GPS news that is fit to print. Tomorrow’s news today.
Do not forget that tomorrow is "PJ Day" at GPS. You get to wear your pajamas! You get to wear your pajamas!! Everybody gets to wear their pajamas!!! The day has been set up to raise funds and create awareness for children battling cancer at Connecticut Children’s Hospital. For more information, contact your school’s principal or head to the fundraising web page if you would like to assist.
Enjoy Issue No. 11 and thank you for your support.
GPS District Digest
Behind Bolted Doors, Talent and Imagination
Last month, the Society for Science announced that Greenwich High School seniors Lucy Li, Audrey Lin, and Naomi Park were included in the top 300 scholars in the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2024, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors. Each of the three GHS scholars will be awarded $2,000 and GHS will be awarded $2,000 for each enrolled scholar.
The Regeneron Science Talent Search scholars were selected from 2,162 applications from 712 high schools across 46 states, Puerto Rico and 10 other countries. Scholars were chosen based on their outstanding research, leadership skills, community involvement, commitment to academics, creativity in asking scientific questions and exceptional promise as STEM leaders demonstrated through the submission of their original, independent research projects, essays and recommendations. The 300 scholars hail from 196 American and international high schools in 36 states and China.
The Greenwich High School scholars and their project titles are:
- Lucy Li: Footprint Reduction of PET Fiber Waste in Refuse Environments via Non-Toxic Ideonella sakaiensis Degradation
- Audrey Lin: Eco-Friendly Remediation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Stormwater via Magnesium-Infused Calcite Crystal, Supramolecular Hydrogel Scaffolding
- Naomi Park: Development and Life Cycle Assessment of a Novel, Multi-Functional Remediation Framework for the Concurrent Removal of Oceanic Carbon Dioxide and Oil-in-Water Contaminants
Where Do We Go From Here?
Shinin' Down Like Water
My Kind of Town
The Digest got a great tip recently about Greenwich High School English teachers Ms. Laura Burdick and Ms. Mary Beth Smith.
Both were nominated by former students, Alec Iaconis and Gillian Gordon respectively, as University of Chicago Outstanding Educators.
As nominees, the teachers were invited to the UChicago campus for two days for an "Educator Fly-In." The Office of College Admissions honored them by hosting student-led campus tours and a symposium on the topic of freedom of expression, academic inquiry, and academic discourse led by professors and other campus figures.
Incoming freshmen at UChicago have the opportunity to nominate a teacher from their high school. UChicago has also offered the two GHS teachers special opportunities like taking virtual classes.
Now, this could only happen to teachers like them!
1-2-3-4 Come On, Baby
A big congratulations goes out to the Central Middle School "mathletes," led by Ms. Elana Brookman, who took first place at the recent 2024 MATHCOUNTS Southwest Connecticut Chapter Competition at Fairfield University. The team of Sohan, Gus, Carter, and Rocky outperformed more than 30 schools and will now advance to the state competition in March in Hartford.
The MATHCOUNTS Competition Series is said to cultivate talent in the nation's brightest young minds by bringing together students from all 50 states in a series of in-person contests—the only competition program of its kind. The MATHCOUNTS Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Also, Sohan finished in first place in the Countdown Round and in second place in the individual round.
The Tank & Goldie Wilson
You know that our man main, Thomas "The Tank" McKinney, is going to clean up this town!
Earlier this week, TM and his 35 closest friends headed to Bruce Park on a chilly day and collected more than 190 pounds of litter in just two hours. Heavy!
Keep checking the Tank's Instagram account, @thomasmck5 and the GPS District Digest for more updates, including his third annual Greenwich High School Cleanup.
Turn Back The Clock 🕰️
As soon as a new-to-us antique postcard comes into the GPS District Digest newsroom, we immediately hand it off to the Research Department to dig into its origins. Who sent it? Who received it? When was it sent and why? Inquiring minds want to know.
Loyal Digest readers are familiar with this building when we turned back the clock in past issues. This building, located at 27 Havemeyer Place, is less than 1,000 feet from the Central Office and housed Greenwich High School from 1906 through 1925. Our first publicly-funded high school is now the Town Hall Annex Apartments.
Miss Edith Beatrice Taylor of Madison, New Jersey received this postcard from someone who identified themselves as "D." "D." mailed this postcard from Greenwich and claims to have written the note at 1:15 AM in April. What year? We cannot tell, although we know it was as early as 1912. What we can tell is that D. was able to write really small.
The Research Department moved on quickly to Ms. Taylor. We discovered that Edith was born on October 14, 1891 and lived on Mountain Road in Morris County with her parents, Charles and Mary, and her seven siblings in the early 1900s. Edith died on September 6, 1979 in Florida at the age of 87, leaving behind her husband of 60 years, Cornelius Prins.
Do you know this Edith Taylor? Do you know "D.?" Let us know!
Extra credit for anyone that spots the two gentlemen posing on the front of the postcard. Really, there are two of them.
GPS X-Cellent Adventures 📱
We love sharing good news with our 2,099 closest friends on the GPS X (Twitter) account, @GPSDistrict. Can we get to 3k by the end of the school year?
Follow us, but only do it if you are family, student, staff, or community member that wants to see all of the good things happening around the District. No negativity from us!
At the Digest, we love to show you some of our favorite posts from around the GPS social media world, including from some new accounts on Instagram.
Do you have a favorite social media account? Let us know!
IG: greenwichalliance
IG: greenwichalliance
IG: greenwichalliance
To Our Loyal Readers...
- If you have a great story or photograph to share from our schools inside the District, alert the good folks in the GPS District Digest newsroom. We want to know!
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- Linda and Karen: A moment like this, some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this.
Email: communications@greenwich.k12.ct.us
Location: 290 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich, CT, USA
Phone: (203) 625-7415
It is the Mission of the Greenwich Public Schools to:
- • Educate all students to the highest levels of academic achievement;
- • Enable them to reach and expand their potential; and
- • Prepare them to become productive, responsible, ethical, creative and compassionate members of society.