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Partnership is at the core of a robust school community. Schools that partner with families have students with stronger outcomes and families that partner with schools provide vital insight for ongoing reflection and improvement. A school that listens can partner with families, know what matters to alums, understand how to be good neighbors in their communities, and serve their students better. It is through listening and partnership that we were able to develop the Road to 100 and it is through partnership that we will pull off the goals found within it.
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March 5, 2021
Dear Garden Community,

Partnership is at the core of a robust school community. Schools that partner with families have students with stronger outcomes and families that partner with schools provide vital insight for ongoing reflection and improvement. A school that listens can partner with families, know what matters to alums, understand how to be good neighbors in their communities, and serve their students better. It is through listening and partnership that we were able to develop the Road to 100 and it is through partnership that we will pull off the goals found within it.

We are already building the foundation for the future of Garden School. Rebuilding after the challenges of COVID will be complex and we are eager to begin as a future without the virus. We cannot accomplish all that we hope to on our own. We intend to reach into the community of current families, alumni, staff, faculty, students, and friends of Garden to bring our vision to life.

We also intend to establish new, and lean on existing, partnerships to make each day ahead more and more impactful for our students. Along those lines, we are proud to announce several new partnerships which will begin bringing extraordinary opportunities to students and our school soon - some as soon as this month.

  • Digital Media with Revolution Me Media Labs. Starting this month, Garden students will learn Digital Media Arts skills alongside film and photo industry professionals.  
  • Entrepreneurship with Stanford University. Hacking Entrepreneurship is a group from Stanford’s Business and Design Schools that will help Garden host an Entrepreneurs Workshop camp and provide courses for students and Garden’s entrepreneurial teachers next year.
  • Theater Arts with Queens Theater. The Queens Theater will help us revive Garden’s theater tradition this fall through programs offered both during the day and after school.
  • Coding with Carnegie Mellon University. CMU’s Computer Science Academy is coming to Garden in the fall with a graphics based coding and programming curriculum taught in Python.
  • Branding with Drexel University. Garden will co-host a Graduate course in Drexel’s Close School of Entrepreneurship. The purpose - using some of the most innovative minds in the field to hone Garden’s brand and create marketing, outreach, style, media, and messaging plans.

It is time to begin understanding how we will partner with families and alum as well. This link will take you to a brief survey where you can express your thoughts about partnership, participation, and engagement as we launch advisory teams, working groups, and panels of experts to help drive this wave of innovation, while doubling down on what makes Garden the most special place to learn and work. Please take a moment to complete it so we may reach into our community in ways that are most meaningful for you. As we head into spring, Garden School looks forward to building new partnerships and reinforcing existing ones so the students of our community get the best of what is out there.

Best,
Chris

Mark your Calendar
Faculty Professional Development Day
Friday, March 12 (School Closed)

Rainbow Celebration
Thursday, March 11 to Monday, March 22

Spring Break
Monday, March 29 to Monday, April 5 (School Closed)
Classes Resume on Tuesday, April 6.

Partnering for the Class of 2021
The class of 2021 was asked about ways they might want to leave their mark on the world. Of course, in the midst of such a challenging senior year, these grounded and thoughtful young adults named service to the community as a priority. To begin fulfilling that goal, Garden has partnered with Blankets of Hope, a small non-profit who provides blankets and hopeful messages for members of the city’s homeless population. Seniors will start stuffing blankets with inspirational and hopeful messages to include in their first shipment and they plan to use this as a leadership opportunity by extending the project to other grades this spring.
As we looked for ways to appropriately celebrate the class of 2021, we knew we had to go big for commencement this year and to do that we would need a partner. We are pleased to announce that the Queens Botanical Garden answered our call and will host this year's commencement on June 8th. The sunset graduation will be socially distanced and the crowd limited based on mandates at that time. It will be held in the lush Wedding Garden with room for families, faculty,
and a viewing area outside of the garden for additional attendees. All in attendance will receive passes to return to the 40 acre botanical garden to explore their 1000 trees, 800 wooded plants, and 8000 herbaceous plants and flowers. Commencement will be streamed live for those unable to attend.
The Griffin Gallery
 
 
With so few opportunities for on-campus gatherings, our student artwork is not receiving the kind of attention it deserves. So, we are pleased to introduce you to the Griffin Gallery. Here student work will be featured in a virtual gallery format. There will be standing work as well as rotating shows. It is our intention that this spring, we will hold our first Virtual Opening in the Griffin Gallery for serious student artists. Please take a look at this first round of work, but check back in often as Mr. Orlowski is just beginning to fill the gallery, will continue to add work to feature a variety of methods, and showcase the creativity and self-expression of our students.
Garden at the Model UN Conference at M.I.T.
 
Model UN connects young people from across the globe and engages them in discourse around important topics impacting real lives. It is through the exploration of these complex and meaningful topics that students learn empathy, leadership, content, and flex their public speaking skills. This year’s conference, streamed through MIT, included topics ranging from the WHO’s handling of the pandemic to the Security Council’s approach to the Rohingya crisis in Asia. Garden students were among the more than 300 joining from countries like Turkey, South Korea, Bulgaria, and Germany. Speaking from Dubai was Harvard economist Dr. Mark Esposito who studies the impact of Technology in what he calls the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This year’s conference was a good example of how technology has enabled our students to broaden their view of the world.
Reading Partners
 
Read Across America Day has been a tradition at Garden School for many years. It is a wonderful celebration of literature in all its forms and is an opportunity for the Lower Division to collaborate with one another across the grades. In past years, Read Across America Day has featured older elementary students reading children’s books to younger students - sixth graders may read third graders their favorite stories from home, or fourth graders may read to nursery students. These partnerships between students often foster fun collegiality between students within the division. Young three and four year olds elate when they later see their “reading buddy” while older students boast about the fun they had pretending to be the teacher reading to a class.
This year, however, COVID safety protocols have made such celebrations a challenge. Yet, Garden School has been unwilling to let such restrictions stifle the fun and excitement of being at school. The Lower Division students were able to celebrate Read Across America remotely by using sets of Chromebooks and iPads in conjunction with Zoom’s breakout room feature. Grades 1, 2, and 3 Zoomed into the Nursery, Pre-K, and Kindergarten classes and shared in-class readings of topical books such as A-Z: What Can She Be? and The World Needs More Purple People. Grades 4, 5, and 6, utilized Zoom in a different capacity to create breakout rooms and read ebooks about kindness and friendship with small groups of students in grades 1, 2, and 3. With the aid of technology, the Lower Division was able to continue to commemorate the day through immersive partnerships between students and classes.
Rainbow Celebration
A rainbow is a sign of hope and new beginnings.  It signifies diversification and acceptance as in “rainbow coalition” which encompasses a wide spectrum of choices and views.

Students in the early childhood cluster explore color theory, beginning with color names and their order within the visible light spectrum.  In science and art, designed activities foster examination of the relationship between primary and secondary colors. “Color” days help to reinforce these concepts.

The entire school community joins in to participate in Rainbow Week by wearing the designated spectrum “color” of the day, starting on Thursday, March 11th.  Of course,
GREEN is worn on March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day!

Thursday, March 11 - RED
Monday, March 15 - ORANGE
Tuesday, March 16 - YELLOW
Wednesday, March 17 - GREEN
Thursday, March 18 - BLUE
Friday, March 19 - INDIGO/VIOLET/PURPLE  
Monday, March 22- RAINBOW COLORS and RAINBOW MOTIFS

Alumni Spotlight
Griffins Connect, our new Alumni mentoring program has launched! So far, about half of our seniors have started new mentoring relationships focused on Obstetrics, Anesthesiology, Business, Marketing, International Relations, and Professional Music. More mentoring gatherings are coming soon. Thank you to the Alumni who have given their time and wisdom to support the future pursuits of our seniors. Any alum interested in joining in, please follow this link.
Interested in reconnecting with Garden or having your accomplishments shared with the community, please contact cherman@gardenschool.org.
Introducing the Mitchell Slater Fund
This fall, Garden lost a beloved alumni, Mitch Slater. Mitch was a very engaged member of the class of 1979. He went on to a storied career in the music industry, served on Garden’s board, and cared for his alma mater deeply. After learning of his loss, Eric Diamond, a fellow member of the class of 1979 approached Garden about launching a fund in his name and posed a generous matching challenge - he and his wife would match every dollar raised up to $25,000. The goal of the fund would be to establish a project which appropriately honors Mitch’s legacy at Garden. Through collaborative conversations with Mitch’s family, we are proud to launch the Mitchell Slater Fund which seeks to raise $100,000 to address needed upgrades to our Athletics facilities at Garden School. The fund will provide capital for a facelift to the gym, gym lobby, fitness center, and locker rooms. The basketball court will be named for Mitch once the project is completed. Please consider joining Eric and the others who have already contributed to the fund.
*Images are examples of what we hope to see in our new fitness center.
Re-enrollment
We are pleased to report that there has been an overwhelming response to enrollment this year. Contracts for all open seats are now out and more than 76% of available spaces for the fall are already filled. Because last year’s circumstances make for unusual comparative data, we are benchmarking enrollment activity against 2019 numbers. We have more children enrolled for the fall today than we did in the first week of June 2019. It is exciting to see such enthusiasm to secure a seat in our program and the swift return rate for new families tells us Garden School is poised to experience the growth we are projecting next year and in the years ahead. If you currently have an outstanding contract, we encourage you to return it or reach out to discuss as soon as possible as we expect a waitlist for Garden this year. Questions about re-enrollment or admissions can be sent to Kat Sullivan.
Order your Yearbook
Please be sure to order your Garden School Yearbooks ASAP in order to commemorate our special year. You can also order Recognition Ads for your children from the Josten’s website. Deadline for Recognition Ads is March 12th!

If you have any questions, please contact Brad Battaglia.

 
 
- SAVE THE DATE -

The 2021 Virtual Garden Gala
Friday, April 23, 2021
6:30 - 8:00 PM

Stay tuned for more details.
 
 
 
 
Sent to: _t.e.s.t_@example.com
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Garden School
33-16 79th Street
Jackson Heights, NY 11372
United States

"Cultivating Success in Every Child"

Garden School is a Nursery-Grade 12, NYSAIS-accredited independent school in Jackson Heights, Queens.

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