Dear Greensboro Day School Community, On June 30, 2017, my three-year term as chair of the Greensboro Day School Board of Trustees will end. This letter represents an opportunity to reflect on the sincere appreciation I have for my time as board chair and as a GDS parent. Greensboro Day School was founded 47 years ago, in 1970. The founders wisely set up the school as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Bylaws were written, with Article I reading as follows: “The purpose for which the Greensboro Independent School Corporation (“the Corporation”) was formed is as follows: To establish, build up or purchase a non- sectarian institution of learning (herein after, “the School”) for youth of either sex and without regard to race, color, creed, or national origin; to offer instruction in literature, science, philosophy and the liberal, useful and fine arts in order to fully prepare students for college and graduate education and for lives of enlightened leadership and dedicated service to their God and fellow men and women; to instill a high sense of honor and moral integrity, a deep respect for sound scholarship and a full acceptance of responsibility; to develop a rigorous academic program with demanding standards, emphasizing individual instruction, self-discipline and independent work; to provide physical education and participation in a wide variety of activities and personal contacts which promote optimum spiritual, moral and emotional growth.” This bylaws text, a connection to the beginning of the school, could be considered a forerunner of the mission statement and statement of purpose that many organizations, including Greensboro Day School, employ today. While there was no ambiguity in the minds of the founders regarding the purpose of Greensboro Day School, they could not have known how the school would flourish in the decades following its founding. The institutional best practices set up by the founders, and implemented by succeeding generations of trustees, created the governance framework that has enabled GDS to become the premier academic institution in the Triad, and to become so important to the wider community. There is nothing more energizing than working on opportunities and challenges for an institution with a purpose as meaningful as that of Greensboro Day School, and doing so with a group of strong, smart, and engaged trustees. It has been a privilege and a blessing to serve with such a group of professionals during my eight years on the board. When I was asked to join the board, I didn’t know any trustees, but could not have been welcomed more graciously, or put to work more quickly. What I noticed right away regarding the GDS board was the excellence in institutional governance processes, the rigorous examination and discussion of important school issues, and the respectful, non-defensive listening skills of both trustees and school professional staff. This commitment to excellence in institutional governance has not wavered in my time on the board, and because of it, everyone who genuinely loves and cherishes Greensboro Day School can know that a great future for the school is assured. Please join me in welcoming incoming board chair David Brown as the perfect trustee to continue this culture of excellence in institutional governance for Greensboro Day School. Also being a parent at GDS, this is a somewhat emotional time on a couple of levels, including the fact that my daughter Maris, a GDS lifer, graduated this year. As board chair I presented to Maris and each of her classmates a diploma during the graduation ceremony. It’s been powerful to watch these young people grow up (and grow) at GDS. Early in Maris’s tenure at GDS, and before I was asked to serve on the board, new Head of School Mark Hale asked what I saw as the primary value of a Greensboro Day School education. I thought for a minute and said that my vision of a great outcome for my daughter would be if she attended Greensboro Day School for thirteen years, then attended a great college, and, after that, whether she found herself leading a fashion design house or a brick factory (brick factories are important), she would be able to immediately assess the environment she was in, identify options, make great choices, execute on those choices, and do it all through a lens of both IQ and EQ. After attending a knockout Class of 2017 Senior Project exhibition event, I can report that Maris and her classmates are ahead of schedule for just this type of great outcome. Adding support for this type of outcome for students who attend GDS, Daniel Pink, in his book “Drive,” reported anthropological research showing that humans are hard- wired for three core needs: 1) Autonomy 2) Pursuit of skills mastery 3) Purpose larger than oneself An education that leverages and nurtures these three core attributes of intrinsic motivation (vs. extrinsic motivational factors and temporal rote knowledge) will set students up for maximum creativity in applying what they learn, and the most fulfilling lives imaginable. How lucky we are as parents that we are at an institution with educators in every grade who not only help each of our children develop within this framework of intrinsic motivation, but whose school founders described this type of education in Article I of the bylaws of the school, written 40 years before “Drive” was published. As parents we make a financial investment when choosing Greensboro Day School, and it is natural to reflect from time to time if the choice was the correct one. After thirteen years at GDS, Marilyn and I, from our perspective as parents, both feel strongly that our investment in and commitment to GDS has been repaid in full measure, pressed down and overflowing. And the return on that investment is just starting; it will compound by orders of magnitude throughout our daughter’s and her classmates’ lives, continually offering the liberating optionality needed to live a life of authenticity and joy. It is hard to overstate the importance of a return of this type, or to put a price tag on it. While my time as board chair is at an end, I have two more years as a trustee, and after that a lifetime of being a strong advocate for GDS and its educators, who are at the top of their field. In fact, I can’t wait to start recruiting more great families and community influencers to become part of Greensboro Day School. I hope you will join me in the coming years in doing the same. If you have a prospect and would like some sales support, give me a call. Sincerely, Jack Whitley Chair – Board of Trustees LETTER FROM THE CHAIR GDS Magazine | 3