Beth Flint Gaffney '79

For Beth Flint Gaffney ’79, GPS has always been about people.

She arrived as a seventh-grader and quickly found a community she loved. To this day, she remembers the camaraderie of intramural sports, early-morning swim practices, and cheering at football games, along with teachers who took the time to know her and push her to try new things. Most of all, she remembers how deeply she felt supported and believed in.

After earning a BBA in Marketing from the University of Georgia, Beth built a career in sales and marketing with HBO and Cinemax. When she and her family returned to Chattanooga, she saw an opportunity to bring her professional experience back to a place she already loved.

Since 2008, Beth has served as GPS’s Director of Coordinate Programs, helping create opportunities for students at GPS and McCallie to connect through shared traditions and activities. Today, she coordinates 50+ events each year, from football game spirit nights and fifth quarter socials to activities designed specifically to help students make new friends.

“I make the fun happen,” Beth says. “I want students to have the kind of experiences they’ll remember for years.”

Her work is especially personal because her two daughters, Ellie ’13 and Hollis ’18, are also GPS alumnae, and her son, Brendan, is a 2015 graduate of McCallie. Beth wanted them to experience the same sense of belonging she found as a student, and she has watched firsthand as generations of students have grown through the schools.

For Beth, the students are the best part of the job. She loves their enthusiasm and willingness to try new things. She also believes strongly in giving students room to connect and take ownership of their experiences. That philosophy helped inspire the Coordinate Crew, a group of GPS and McCallie upper-schoolers who help plan events and make sure everyone feels involved.

“I believe in them, I listen to them, and treat them like capable adults,” Beth says.

In her years working with generations of students, Beth has watched GPS evolve. She sees students today as deeply caring and supportive of one another, while also noticing changes in their independence and the ways families are involved in students’ lives. One change she especially appreciates is how much more welcoming the school has become for students entering GPS later in their education.

Still, some things remain remarkably consistent.

For Beth, some of GPS’s most meaningful traditions are the ones that create those lasting connections. May Day, Chapel Talks, Ring Day, and Cat-Rat remain favorites, particularly the relationship between a senior Cat and her sixth-grade Rat.

She hopes students leave GPS with what she calls the “three Cs”: competence, confidence, and character. “When you feel good about yourself, that radiates internally into everyone else,” she says.

More than five decades after she first arrived at GPS, Beth is still here, creating the experiences that she loved as a student and helping a new generation of Bruisers find their people, make their memories, and feel at home. For someone whose own GPS experience was shaped so deeply by friendship and connection, there may be no better way to give back.