GDS Magazine | 3 the Founders’ Award by the Rev. Wayne Robinson ’76, Pastor of the New Millennium Christian Center in Greensboro; and being inspired by Georges Saab ’85, this year’s recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award and currently the Vice President of Development for the Java platform group at Oracle. The ceremony also showcased our wonderful faculty, with all current faculty in attendance to show support for our graduates, many retired faculty on hand for the celebration, and the presentation of the Hendrix Teaching Award by Kim Burroughs, the 2017 winner of the Award, to 2018 recipient Iraida Fung. Of course, the most important part of Commencement is the celebration of the graduates themselves. The members of the Class of 2018 continued the long GDS tradition of academic excellence, of artistic and athletic accomplishment, of leadership in our community and in our world, and of cultural awareness and empathy. As they head off to colleges and universities around the country, I am confident they are prepared to be constructive contributors as they engage with the world. I always leave Commencement with a clear reminder of the privilege our family enjoys to be able to have our children attend such a wonderful educational institution. I also leave with a heightened sense of the responsibility that comes with serving as a Trustee of GDS -- a school that offers the most dynamic and challenging PK-12 academic environment in our area, a school known around the country for excellence, and an institution that has served as a vital part of our community for the last 48 years. The Board of Trustees continues to be careful stewards of the resources of our community while maintaining investments in our faculty, in our physical campus and, above all, in our students. This includes, of course, a focus on enhancing the curriculum and of insisting on academic rigor. At the same time, we continue to support the experiential learning opportunities for our students (in our community and around the world) as well as the enhancement of social and emotional learning skills. In order to support these ongoing initiatives and to ensure that we are poised to build upon the wonderful legacy that GDS enjoys, the Board is currently engaged in a Strategic Planning effort. This work is being ably led by Gillian Goodman, Director of the Lower School, and by Catherine Dunham, an officer of our Board. The Board has much excitement around this comprehensive and dynamic effort -- work that will help to ensure the ongoing excellence of our School for years to come. As always, I welcome and look forward to comments and input from all in our community during this exciting time for our School. David L. Brown Chair - Board of Trustees Dear GDS Community: My children had attended Greensboro Day School for a number of years before I attended the School’s Commencement. I quickly realized that I had been missing one of the great days of the year – a celebration of so many wonderful things about a GDS education and a vivid display of the value of the investment of energy, time, and money we invest in a GDS education for our children. I have not missed a GDS Commencement since. The 2018 Commencement continued this tradition of providing for a great celebration of our school. We celebrated our alumni -- hearing a wonderful and unique message from Ann Clark ’76, former superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools; enjoying the presentation of LETTER FROM THE CHAIR