40 | Summer 2018 Ich habe es geschaftt! (I made it!) I would first like to thank my council members, Ann Rembach, Suzanne Wilcox, Sara Stroud, Nyla Khan, Sarah Solomon, Jennifer Pitts, Ruth Watakila- Jackson, Kara Penfield and of course the incoming President Holly Jones for their advice, help and support. I could not have managed without this special group of women. Fall Festival October 13 started out with misty and rainy weather, but our great chairs, Melissa Feinstein and Sandra Dumbill remained positive. With the help from our fantastic maintenance crew, they assembled old fashioned fall games, hay bales, art tables, prizes, pumpkin painting, a“thank you”banner for the local fire station, to make this afternoon special for our lower school students. At 3 p.m., when the students ran to the field for the event, you immediately saw smiling faces. Thank you, Melissa and Sandra for making the fall festival a special day! Kudos to Melissa’s husband who built a new and popular Plinko game. We know it will be a favorite for years to come! Attraction Dining and Value Guide Books The school year started with a new fall fundraiser as Michele Gordon introduced Attraction Books to GDS. This fundraiser took place for 3 weeks and we are proud to announce we raised $12,500! Thank you, Michele and we are happy you will serve as co-chair next year. Gather Events As you probably remember at the beginning of the school year, I introduced a different fundraiser for this year. Gather included a series of fundraising events designed to create community and friendship throughout the year. We had the opportunity to attend seven different events and participate in an online auction. Greensboro Day School parents were invited to attend an Oktoberfest party, The Swarm basketball game, holiday cookie exchange, elegant Snowflakes & Strings dinner, Beer Hoppers tour, Skyzone trampoline afternoon, and a Greensboro Grasshopper baseball game. Through the events, approximately 270 parents and students attended. The online auction helped to raise more than $5,000 for the PA. Thank you for the fantastic leadership of Nyla Khan, Holly Jones, Rebecca Coltrane, Terri Rafkin, Miriam Forbis, Andrea Hunt, Jenny Sar, and Sarah Solomon for planning and organizing these events! We could not have it done without you. Bengal Paws for Service Bengal Paws for Service took place on November 11. It was a successful day under the leadership of Debra Cowan, Houston Satterfield and Holly Hofbauer. These energetic ladies encouraged 260 members of our Greensboro Day school community to participate in a day of service, participating in various actives, including building a fence for shelter animals, baking treats for local firefighters, coloring pictures for children in Ghana, prepared burritos for people Parents-Partnership–Performance As you may know, I am from Germany and my English is good, but not perfect. When I was first asked to take the position, we talked within my family and I told them I wasn’t afraid of planning events, but I didn’t know if I could handle writing speeches and a weekly letter for PawPrints. They encouraged me and ensured it would be fine, so I said yes. For the first few letters, I had a ghost writer, my daughter Annabelle, who lives in England. I would email my drafts to her, she would edit and email them back to me. What an effort! During the course of the year my son Moritz read my letters and at the end of the school year, he paid me a compliment and said“Mom, with your position as PA president you really have learned how to write better English!”It is always nice to receive compliments from your children. Please take a moment, sit back, relax and take a look at some of the highlights of the year with the Parents’Association.