GPS District Digest

Do you suffer from triskaidekaphobia? If you do, maybe the GPS District Digest can help. We doubt you will be in any danger or have bad luck reading issue No. 13 today. And as a wise man once said, luck favors the prepared. So, prepare yourself for all good things Greenwich Public Schools.

In this issue, we appreciate our Board members, get an inside look at recycling, listen to some Blues, celebrate our chess team, get a taste for Taco Tuesday, and more!

Enjoy lucky issue No. 13 and thanks for reading!

GPS District Digest

Connecticut Association of Boards of Education has declared March as Board Member Appreciation Month. All of us at the Digest would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to them for all of their hard work to help our students and staff throughout the District.

School board members exemplify local citizen control and decision-making in education. They volunteer hundreds of hours and immeasurable energy to assure that our schools are providing the best education possible for the students of our community.

During this month of appreciation, we take this moment to show our gratitude to Joe Kelly, Christina Downey, Karen Hirsh, Cody Kittle, Laura Kostin, Karen Kowalski, and Michael-Joseph Mercanti-Anthony for their time, dedication, and effort year-round. We thank them for advocating on behalf of our collective interest, and most importantly, for making the success of our students their priority.

Last month, Parkway School launched a new recycling initiative with Waste Free Greenwich during their lunch periods. Waste Free Greenwich is a grassroots organization that aims to engage, educate, and empower the Greenwich community to waste less through prevention, recycling, and diversion. Its initiatives promote awareness of the 6Rs: refuse, reduce, reuse, repair, recycle, and rot.

Students watched a video and have learned to sort their lunch waste into receptacles for recycling, liquids, compost, and trash. They also have the ability to donate wrapped food and drinks from the school lunch that they do not want, for those in need at Parkway.

With the help of Ms. Julie Deschamps, Parkway parent volunteer Abi Clark, and the custodial and food service staff, recycling is off to an amazing start.

Did you catch the amazing performance by Blues and Beyond a few weeks ago at Old Greenwich School? OGS Curriculum Enrichment invited the band to teach the OGS students the history of American music from the 1600s to today as part of its Black History Month celebration.

Enjoy just a short clip shared with the Digest.

The Digest was excited when we got the news the GHS Chess Team of Isaac Dcruz, Carl Homan, Victoria Liu, Maximillian Lu, and Elias Orrell were named champions at 2023 Connecticut Scholastic Team Championship competition on March 4 at Manchester High School.

"We are super proud of our kids and the work they are doing," GHS Chess Club Advisor and Spanish teacher Mr. Adrian Ramirez said. "Not only does the Chess Club meet weekly, but they are also planning to volunteer for our elementary students at New Lebanon School."

This nonprofit event is organized and sponsored by the Connecticut State Chess Association. All proceeds benefit the Connecticut chess community. This is an official US Chess recognized state championship event to determine the 2023 Connecticut Scholastic Team Champions.

All players played five games of rated competition chess against players from other teams. Lu, the chess club president, recorded a perfect score of 5/5, while the other team members each scored 3/5.

We commend the hard work and accomplishments of these players and look forward to them defending the state title next year.

Who is the Digest's best friend? Food Services Director Mr. Dave Nanarello has got to be in the conversation. The photos of smiling faces in cafeterias across the District make our day.

Just two days ago, Julian Curtiss School celebrated Taco Tuesday. Lead Cook Mary Inzitari, Food Service Worker Cathy Izadori, and Cafeteria Monitor Silvia Hermosa welcomed students to an amazing lunch of beef tacos, corn tortillas, salsa, black beans, and brown rice. And how about that taco fixings bar with fresh lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, and diced tomatoes?

Skim and 1% milk, orange and apple juices, fresh fruit yogurt parfaits, Boar's Head cold cuts, sunbutter and jelly sandwiches, and unlimited fresh cut fruits and veggies with assorted dressings and dips, were also available. Home-baked cookies and snacks? Got 'em!

And as always, Mr. Nanarello encourages families to use the Food Service Department as a resource in setting up lunch accounts, navigating menus, and of course, any allergy concerns. He also reminds us that universal free lunch has returned through the end of the school year. Reach out anytime!

Greenwich Alliance for Education's Trivia Challenge earlier this month was another huge success, raising $30K for programs for Greenwich Public School students. The Alliance wanted to make sure to thank everyone who participated or donated to the auction.

Two impressive teacher teams of AVID educators and GEA members represented the schools. First place went to team "Chat GPT" (pictured below), second place went to "Double Facts-inated," while the best team name went to "Lend Me Your Beers," referencing the event's theme.

Start preparing for next year because the Trivia challenge is expected to be in-person with the theme, "Stone Age." Get ready!

Are you one of the 1,983 loyal followers of @GPSDistrict on Twitter? If not, you should be, but only if you are one of our families, students, staff, or community members that want to see all of the good things happening around the District. Who will be the 2,000th follower? Will it be you?

On social media, we will keep our community informed of breaking news and all good things GPS. Sometimes, we will even have a Twitter Takeover with some of your favorite people. And we love to show you some of our favorite posts from around the GPS Twittersphere. Do you have a favorite social media account? Let us know!

• It has gone viral! "Where's Winston?" is sweeping the town. Keep playing to find a photograph of the laziest American foxhound around. He is somewhere in this newsletter!
• If you have a great story or photograph to share from our schools inside the District, let us know the details.
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• Did you miss an issue? Go to our archive to catch up.
• There is a connection to all of the first paragraph headlines this year. Some of our readers got it. Did you?
• Did you ever notice the image corresponding to the opening paragraph is of the very issue of the Digest you are reading right now? How did they do that??
• Thanks for reading until the very end!