LETTER FROMTHE ALUMNI DIRECTOR Are you receiving The Alumni Update Monthly e-Newsletter? It includes alumni news and announcements as well as event reminders. If you are not receiving the e-newsletter, email us at alumni@greensboroday. org with your name and preferred email address to ensure you receive the next update! Do you want to help strengthen the GDS Alumni Association? Do you want to help make important decisions that decide the direction our alumni association is going? Maybe you want to help plan alumni events or recruit alumni volunteers among other things? We are now accepting nominations for new Alumni Board Members. This board is open to all GDS alumni. Please email Michael Sumner ’04 at michaelsumner@ greensboroday.org with your name and interest in participating on the board. If you know someone who you believe would be an asset to our board, please email their name to us and tell us why you think they would be a good addition to our board. ALUMNI BOARD MEMBER NOMINATIONS ARE NOW BEING ACCEPTED. ALUMNINEWS Last year, a common theme throughout the school was Gratitude. Well, maybe I am a year late, but as I sat down to write this letter, it’s the one word that kept popping into my head. I am thankful to work at a job that I love and that I get to work with our alumni who care deeply for our alma mater. Because of you, it is a joy to come to work every day! This year, you stepped up to the plate! We had more than 450 alumni annual fund donors raising over $131,000. For the 3rd straight year, we set a new record for alumni annual fund donors and I can only hope that this trend continues! I am thankful as is each and every student and teacher at GDS. THANK YOU! Continuing with our theme of gratitude, I want to take a minute to thank the teachers at Greensboro Day School. You might not have realized it is as a student, but I am sure you can look back and appreciate the things that one or many of the teachers at GDS did for you. It is with a great appreciation that we thank all of the teachers, but especially those who are retiring this year after many, many years of service to Greensboro Day School. Mrs. Kathy Davis, Mr. Terry Buxton, and Ms. Beverly Edwards have now retired from GDS after 43, 23 and 31 years, respectively. They have given so much time to this school, making it what it is today. We are very grateful for their time and energy over the years. I personally am very fortunate to have been a student and colleague of these amazing educators and they will be missed on campus as the 2017-18 year begins in August. Mrs. Davis made a comment at her retirement dinner that has stuck with me since hearing it. Mrs. Davis stated, “Greensboro Day School is a special place. Coming here at 21, it’s been a place where I grew up and formed my values. I’ve been surrounded by people who do the right things and model hard work and integrity for students. GDS is far more than the quadratic formula! So how much confidence do I have in the future of our school? Well, although this wasn’t my decision, in the fall, Izzie, my fabulous granddaughter, will be a Bitty Bengal. That, my friends, is the ultimate confidence. Greensboro Day School is the best school in our county. So, next year, if you want to find me, I’ll be hanging out in the Lower School.” I’m not sure what is more powerful than that statement about our alma mater. This place will continue to be great because of you and your support for the teachers and students who are here now and will be here in the future! Once A Bengal, Always A Bengal! Michael Sumner ’04 Director of Alumni Programs GDS Magazine | 55