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Telling Y(our) Stories

2018-19 theme is presented by the senior class at opening assembly
The incoming senior class leaders were charged with selecting a theme for the school year that best represents them as a class. Like the Class of 2018 before them, the Class of 2019 considered not only how the theme embodied their class, but also how the theme would apply to all GPS girls.

At opening assembly, three representatives of the senior class—Molly Ballenger, Molly Milam, and Claire Calhoun—along with Jenise Gordon, Head of Upper School, presented the theme of the year to the student body and faculty.

“The senior leadership girls came together a couple weeks ago, and Mrs. Jackson [Dean of Upper School] and I asked them a very important question: What is it that you want your legacy as a class to be,” said Gordon. “And they found it very challenging to answer. But after a lot of silent-storming and louder brainstorming, they came up with a theme I think you all will appreciate and get excited about this year.”

This year’s theme, Y(our) Story, was chosen by the senior leaders because they recognized the uniqueness of their class. In fact, Gordon said, “If ever there was a class that marches to the beat of their own drum, it is your class.” The theme acknowledges and celebrates who they are—84 individual girls with different and distinct personalities, strengths, weaknesses, and passions who together make up one unique yet beautiful group.

Ballenger, Milam, and Calhoun were chosen to deliver the message because of the contributions they made during the selection of the theme. "Each of these particular young ladies offered up something to the conversation that shifted our focus and led us to that space," said Gordon. "And the senior class leadership group determined that they would be the ones to present to you today."

“In middle school and early high school, we spent a lot of time trying to be something we weren’t,” Ballenger said. “We are 84 completely unique and distinct personalities who make our own way in the world. We are all so wonderfully different from each other, and we want to celebrate that.”

While the seniors embrace their individuality, they were careful to consider how others might construe that to mean separate or isolated. “Our individual lives, while they’re completely different, all intersect and weave together here, at GPS,” Ballenger said. “Because of our individuality, we are able to build each other up and support each other. As individuals, we’re strong. But when we unite with a common goal, we can achieve more than ever thought possible.”

But how to best communicate this idea of individuality and yet present a message that conveys the cohesiveness of the Class of 2019 and the GPS student body as a whole? In the midst of the brainstorming activity, Molly Milam saw flashes of colors, as she explained to the student body how people are similar to colors in that we’re all different, but we can complement each other. “A color wheel is more aesthetically pleasing and beautiful when the individual colors are their most vibrant and those individual colors are never sacrificed for the greater whole of the color wheel,” Milam said. “While all colors are amazing on their own, together they’re extraordinary. No color would be the same without the others. This applies to our class in particular because we’re a mix of many different kinds of girls and our different personalities complement one another just like the color wheel.”

Claire Calhoun summed up their choosing the theme, saying, “It also brings attention to how our story, as a collective, impacts yours with that ensconced word ‘our.’ ‘Our’ implies that the tale you’re a part of right now is one greater than you. In this context, you are a part of a greater story and you are making an impact on each girl’s life.”

To further support Y(our) Story, the theme’s graphic appears on banners placed along the entrance drives, and each girl and faculty member was given a sticker to place on a laptop, a favorite notebook, or water bottle to remind them to embrace their individuality but also remember they are a part of GPS’s never-ending story of girls who are empowered to change the world.
 
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