Rooted in our mission to inspire compassion and stewardship, today we brought together two meaningful programs—Upper School Day of Service and Forest Day—for a day dedicated to making a difference. Forest Day is an all-school, day-long event designed to celebrate our campus, learn more about environmental stewardship and come together in caring for the world around us. Upper School Day of Service is a GFS tradition that gives students the opportunity to participate in community service projects both on and off campus.

We started the day by welcoming this year’s Elsie "Muffie" Foster Jenkins ’53 Community Service Lecturer, Danielle Garten ’20, who shared about her journey in the social impact sector. Danielle, who was a part of Service League and a Jenkins Fellow at GFS, shared words of wisdom and lessons learned along the way, including the importance of making an intentional impact, leaning into discomfort, and taking advantage of mentorship. The program included a recognition of Barb Ackerman for her tireless work connecting students with meaningful service opportunities.

Then, we dove into hands-on activities on and off campus to learn more about how we can make a positive impact on the physical world around us; we concluded the day by coming together as a community for an all-school celebration! It was the perfect moment to recognize Head of School Chris Hughes, who brought Forest Day to GFS, with a special gift. Mr. Hughes will be leaving GFS at the end of this academic year, and our school leaders presented him with a print of a white oak including thumbprints from every student.

School leaders celebrated Mr. Hughes with these heartfelt words, “This tree, decorated with our thumbprints, represents the deep roots you have helped us establish at Garrison Forest...The tree we present today reflects the values you have taught us: growth, wisdom and the strength found in unity. Each thumbprint represents a student whose life you have touched, coming together to create something greater than ourselves, much like the community you have cultivated at Garrison Forest.”

Read on to learn more about the division-specific projects our students engaged in!

Upper School

After the Elsie "Muffie" Jenkins ’53 Community Service Lecture, Upper Schoolers spruced up the art garden, cleaned the chapel, assisted with beautification projects at the barn, helped Preschool, Lower School and Middle School with their Forest Day activities and painted pavers. Later in the day, groups of Upper Schoolers ventured off-campus to lend helping hands at TALMAR, Toolbank and Weekend Backpacks. 

Middle School

We welcomed the Science Guys to introduce our Middle Schoolers to some special friends: worms! Students learned more about the biology of a worm and even had the opportunity to hold and interact with worms–an opportunity some students embraced more than others! Later in the day, Middle Schoolers created a nature storywalk that will go up around campus, planted seeds to take home and played a spirited Family Feud game with the Upper School to share more about environmental sustainability and being good stewards of the environment.

Lower School & Preschool

Lower School and Preschool welcomed Eco Adventures who brought along various native and exotic creatures to the Searle Athletic Center and shared about the importance of conservation. Afterward, Preschoolers got to work planting bulbs, flowers and seeds. Meanwhile, Lower Schoolers collected sticks to create dog stick libraries around campus, picked up trash, painted garden rocks and helped till soil.

Oxalosis and Hyperoxaluria Foundation Run 

Prior to the all-school celebration, students and faculty ran in the fun and spirited Garrison Forest OHF Run to raise awareness for the Oxalosis and Hyperoxaluria Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports research for a rare kidney-liver disease. Thank you to our participants and the GFS Service League for continuing the OHF Run tradition, originally organized by Josie Tidmore ’20 in 2019.