Student Life

The 2021 Speaker Series concluded April 1 with a presentation by Holocaust survivor and Connecticut resident Judith Altmann, who shared her incredibly moving story. A member of the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Speakers Bureau and Vice President of the Holocaust Child Survivors of Connecticut, Altmann has extensive experience speaking in schools.
 

The Frederick Gunn School Drama Society will present “Almost, Maine,” a romantic comedy by John Cariani. The performance will be livestreamed from the Tisch Family Auditorium on Thursday, May 20. 
 

Original artwork by three students will be featured in a new exhibit opening this Saturday, April 3, at the Washington Art Association. In its inaugural High School Expo, WAA presents the work of area art students, who pursued their creativity to navigate the isolation of an unprecedented and uncertain year.
 

By early April, seniors at The Frederick Gunn School are required to complete what’s known as the Civic Changemakers Project. A diploma requirement, it’s an opportunity for students to work independently on a service project in their local communities, and put into action what they have learned across the school’s four-year citizenship curriculum under the Center for Citizenship and Just Democracy. 
 

In recent years, students in the Model United Nations (MUN) co-curricular program have participated in conferences at Harvard and Georgetown universities. This year, MUN Advisors Ed Surjan and Karoline Theobald P’09 ’14 created a virtual MUN experience for students who participated in the Winter Term co-curricular program. “MUN Winter 2021: Major Global Issues Forum” introduced students to eight major international issues in as many weeks, using readings, videos, and group discussions led by guest speakers, including several alumni.
 

On February 25, The Frederick Gunn School Community welcomed author and businessman Edward Conard as part of the 2021 Speaker Series. A graduate of the University of Michigan and Harvard Business School, Conard is an adjunct fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a former partner at Bain Capital. He is the author of two New York Times top-10 bestselling books, including “The Upside of Inequality: How Good Intentions Undermine the Middle Class” (2016), and a contributor to “United States Income, Wealth, Consumption, and Inequality” (2020) by Oxford University Press. 
 

Last week, students announced the formation of two new clubs, adding to what is already a thriving number and range of student-led groups on campus this year.
 

The Girls Varsity Hockey Team has organized its second annual fundraiser in support of the LoveYourBrain Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “improve the quality of life of people affected by traumatic brain injury through programs that build community and foster resilience.”
 

On February 25, the school’s Black History Month celebration concluded with an impressive, virtual mini-concert, featuring select students from the String Ensemble, Vocal Ensemble, and Concert Jazz Band, who performed sacred and secular music interspersed with poetry to bring the theme of Black joy as expressed through the arts to life.