GPS District Digest (v7, i01)
Stories, news, and updates from Greenwich Public Schools
We've been here for years.
Actually, seven years, to be exact. Connecticut's favorite school newsletter, the GPS District Digest, has returned for volume 7 and we are just getting warmed up.
If you are new to Greenwich Public Schools, the Digest drops every other Thursday with all good things GPS. Student achievement? We have it. Staff accomplishments? We have that, too. Photos, videos, archival gems? All of it. We hope to make you laugh, we hope to make you cry, but just a little. We do not take ourselves all that seriously, so try to have a little fun with us.
Now here is the key: Hit that "subscribe" button at the end of this newsletter so you do not miss a single issue.
On another note, we wanted to share some sad news from our friend, Carolin Young. This summer, she told us that her father, John Allen Young, a proud Greenwich High School alum (class of 1956), passed away. She told us that after GHS, he went on to Oberlin College, the Fulbright Program, and later, Yale Law School. But he was always a Cardinal at heart. Here at the Digest, we will celebrate his life by showing you this amazing photo of him in his marching band uniform on Greenwich Avenue. We hope Carolin stays in touch to share great stories of his time in Greenwich.
Let us now move on to today. We hope everyone has a great school year. If you have good news to share, keep us in mind. And then we can come up with a funky rhyme.
Enjoy Issue No. 1 and thank you for your support.
GPS District Digest
On board, I'm the captain!
Recently at Glenville School, kindergarten teachers invited all of their students to school at the end of the summer for the S.A.I.L. (Summer Adventures Into Literacy) program.
During the two one-hour visits, students participated in a story time and craft activity. The S.A.I.L. program helps the incoming kindergarteners transition into the new school year, meeting their peers and team of kindergarten teachers while getting acclimated to the building.
So climb aboard. We'll search for tomorrow.
In March, New Lebanon School was accepted into Vermont FEED's (Food Education Every Day) Northeast Farm To School Institute 2025 cohort. The Institute is a unique year-long professional learning opportunity for selected school, district, or early childhood teams from New England and New York.
In the summer, a team of New Lebanon and district administrators traveled to VT FEED’s three-day Northeast Farm To School Institute at Shelburne Farms in Vermont.
The team learned additional cooking and gardening skills, generated curricular ideas, cultivated new relationships, and left inspired to implement the Farm To School Action Plan they created.
“Farm to school initiatives create a culture of wellness in our schools, benefiting students while supporting our local farmers," Vermont FEED Project Director Betsy Rosenbluth said. "Kids are well nourished with local foods, farmers can serve their local communities, and those communities can build stronger connections to the schools with place-based learning,”
Carrots will be the featured vegetable at the launch of the school-wide Harvest of the Season Program on October 6. Members of the New Lebanon school garden hit the ground running by planting carrots in mid-July to use for tasting demonstrations during the October Harvest of the Season week.
And that's how we get hamburgers.
I'll never stop.
The start of the school year is special at Parkway School. As the only elementary building in the backcountry of Greenwich, students paraded in on August 29 ready to roll.
Never stop.
We're so glad you could attend!
In late August, close to 70 new teachers came together at the annual new teacher orientation held at Greenwich High School.
Educators of varying experiences were introduced to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Toni Jones and Chief Human Resources Officer Dr. Jonathan Budd and quickly learned that Greenwich Public Schools is the perfect landing spot for their careers.
Come and see the show, see the show.
Fifteen years ago, Karen M. walked over to her neighbor’s tag sale and purchased Greenwich High School artifacts from a beloved time in the school’s history. Now an essential member of the GPS District Digest’s editorial staff, she passed along objects belonging to long time Greenwich residents of the Hyypia family and the amazing journey of the Cardinal marching band during the 1974-1975 school year.
GHS did in fact have a marching band, performing at Cardinal football games and in 1975, traveled south to Florida to compete in the St. Petersburg Festival of States. And while the Hyypia family moved out of town in the late 2000’s, their legacy remains in Greenwich with an amazing scrapbook detailing their son’s journey, as Erik, a saxophone player, joined by his teammates through performances, fundraising, travel, parades, and a fun-filled school year. Additionally, the band’s director and 1992 Distinguished Teacher Award winner, Mr. Carmel F. Signa, pressed a piece of vinyl that included numbers such as: “Johnny Comes Marching Home,” “Send in the Clowns,” and “Yes Indeed.”
Justin Bernstein (GHS class of 2025) has moved on to bigger and better things, but here at the GPS District Digest, we consider him family and may never stop writing about him. He is changing the world that we live in.
Recently, he was named a 2025 Davidson Fellow, earning a $50,000 scholarship for his project, “Implementation of Bioengineered Cryobacteria to Enhance the Glacial Albedo of Arctic Ice to Reverse Climate Change Induced Rise in Sea Levels.”
Say that five times fast!
GPS District Digest favorite, Mr. Andy Bramante, tells us: "In this research, he re-engineered Arctic ice cryobacteria, so that they would draw soluble silica from the ocean water, to create internal glass structures. In doing so, these new, glass-containing bacteria would make the arctic ice more reflective, and therefore reverse the current melting of our glaciers, to slow rising sea levels that glacial-melting causes."
"I am honored to have been named a Davidson Fellow, and am now inspired to continue using science to create the solutions necessary to ensure the safety and health of our society," Mr. Bernstein said. "As a Davidson Fellow, I am proud to be part of a group that refuses to accept the world as it is and I look forward to continuing to ask questions, challenge limits, and build a future grounded in evidence and discovery."
The Davidson Institute for Talent Development is a Nevada non-profit corporation dedicated to supporting the intellectual and social development of profoundly gifted students age 18 and under through a variety of programs.
You found me just in time and changed my lonely life that lovely day.
When GHS Science Research & Junior Innovators Teacher Mr. Andy Bramante sends you an email, sit back and enjoy. It is going to be good.
He recently shared that freshmen Clara Cahill (Central MS grad) and Rajsi Choudhary (Eastern MS) were both selected amongst the Top 300 students for this year’s Junior Innovators Challenge by Thermo Fisher and the Society for Science. Nearly 2,000 students from 48 states, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands applied to compete.
“I am so very proud of Clara and Rajsi, as well as Ellie Mao who also competed, for the creativity, imagination, and hard-work that each demonstrated in conducting their original projects, during the early hours of the morning as well as evenings and on weekends,” Mr. Bramante said.
Moving forward, Clara and Rajsi are now eligible to be selected amongst the top 30 students in the competition, in the very near future. These 30 finalists will then travel to Washington, D.C. in early October to compete for the $25,000 Thermo Fisher Scientific ASCEND (Aspiring Scientists Cultivating Exciting New Discoveries) Award, the Broadcom Coding with Commitment Award, a $10,000 DoD STEM Talent Award, a $10,000 Lemelson Foundation Award for Invention, and the $10,000 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Health Advancement.
“We are inspired by the creativity and determination of the Top 300 Junior Innovators, whose projects reflect a true passion for solving real-world challenges,” Chief Scientific Officer, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Dr. Karen Nelson said. “Recognizing and supporting young scientific minds is essential to fostering the next generation of innovators who will shape a brighter, more collaborative future for us all.”
No one ever said it would be so hard. I'm going back to the start.
Tell me Michael, how could 2,199 people be wrong?
That is how many close friends we have reading what we post on social media. It can be a great tool to share information when done responsibly. Here at GPS, we use social media to give you a behind the scenes look at what is happening in our buildings, celebrate staff and student achievement, and to break news.
Are you active on other social media platforms? Should the district join you? Let us know!
