2017-18 has been a fantastic year at Greensboro Montessori School, and we very much appreciate the students, families, and teammates who have been part of our community. Looking back on our year together, we have accomplished much, grown together, and discovered new things, ideas, and places. This year, our community came together in new and vibrant ways to build a new foundation that will launch our School into the future.

Looking back on any given school year, there are many ways to articulate or quantify success. For me, knowing that every single one of our students, and every single one of our teammates, joyfully worked hard is satisfaction enough. But that is just the beginning of the story. Our team recently reflected on why we each think this year was such a success. Here are a few of our answers:

• This year was a success because we all learned and grew to believe that we are all “crew, not passengers” in making the School what it is.
• School-wide, we spent 63 nights away from campus and traveled to three countries and six states.
• We are graduating 17 wonderful young adults who are already making their world a better place; they are headed to other independent schools and public high schools including Grimsley, the North Carolina School of the Arts, the North Carolina STEM Community Collaborative at Davie Community College, Northern Guilford, Page, and Weaver Academy.
• The campus is energized with a tangible feeling of collaboration, positivity, and growth.
• The number of inquiries and applications from prospective families for the 2018-19 school year have significantly increased as compared to inquiries and applications for 2017-18 at this time last year.
• Our college-aged alumni reported their average unweighted high school GPA upon graduation was 3.9.
• How great is Greensboro Montessori School? Let me show you. A semester-long project spawned by a reading of Frankenstein the previous semester concluded with an epic battle between human-powered puppet creatures. Teams had to use robotics, 3D printers, voice modulators, programming, and professional filmmaking tools to complete this “final exam.” On display were interdisciplinary skills, creative thinking, and collaboration as they navigated a complex set of tasks orchestrated by their dynamic junior high teachers. Check out our Facebook live video here (please note, Facebook muted a portion of our video due to copyrighted music playing the background).
• Our college-aged alumni reported the average ACT score they used to get into college was 30, while the North Carolina state average is only 19.
• Este año fue exitoso porque enseñamos con amor y a su vez aprendimos mucho juntos.(Did you know we have a robust Spanish language curriculum which results in 100% of our graduates skipping the first year of Spanish in high school?)
• The sixth year students far exceeded our expectations for their capstone projects and have impressively set the bar for future sixth year students.
• This year we had six students who had previously left Greensboro Montessori School, for one reason or another, choose to return to the School.
• This year was a success because leadership has restored our sense of unity and cohesion.
• Projected overall retention is up from 82% for 2017-18 to 87% for 2018-19. The most significant improvement in retention is from kindergarten to first grade which is projected to increase from 54% for 2017-18 to 88% for 2018-19.
• Our contributions to the Fund for GMS are the largest in recent history and resulted in immediate enhancements to the School.
• With enrollment strengthening, budgets balanced, and strong financial management from administration and the board of trustees, the School is now financially secure.

Yes, we had a fantastic year.

With the last day of the 2017-18 year upon us, our final week is an opportunity to joyfully celebrate our graduates, sadly say goodbye to departing friends, and congratulate each other on all we've accomplished and learned. We should also humbly remember how fortunate we each are to be part of such a loving, empowering, and grounded learning community like Greensboro Montessori School.

Whether you’re a student, parent, teammate, alumni, or friend of the School, we’re glad you are part of our crew.