Dear Upper School Parents and Students, 

The Upper School worked to demonstrate gratitude across the entire Day School community this week. During Advisory on Tuesday, students dedicated their time to writing a total of 450 thank you notes to SDS faculty and staff. The notes were truly remarkable–thoughtful, kind, and gracious..and so meaningfully impactful for the many recipients. Thank you, Upper School Students, for embracing this act of gratitude. These notes, coupled with our Gratitude Tree, are sparking tremendous joy this November.

Tenth grade students welcomed guest speakers from Spartanburg County for a Distracted Driving presentation this past Wednesday. The presentation raised awareness surrounding the dangers associated with distracted driving, and culminated with an interactive activity that involved the use of distracted driving “glasses”. 

As I mentioned in last week’s message, last Friday marked the halfway point of the second quarter. Progress Reports were posted this week, and are available for viewing in Renweb. If you have any questions about a grade or a comment, please reach directly to the teacher. 

I also want to be sure to follow up with the final results from Youth In Government (YIG). A record eight legislative pairs had bills signed into law by the Youth Governor at the conference.  This means that their bills were heavily debated before ultimately passing through the committee and both chambers of Congress. Some of the ideas signed into youth law were “An Act To Waive State Park Fees For Veterans,”  “An Act To Prohibit The Use Of Harmful Food Additives In Hospital-Served Meals,” and An Act To Make Vets Mandatory Reporters Of Animal Cruelty.”   

Although not a competition, the conference recognizes a few students in each chamber who excel in their roles. I am proud to share that SDS students received the following awards:

• Charley Wilson (12) received an Outstanding Statesman Award for his work in the Senate.
• Samuel Kitchen (12) and Cameron Brown (12) received an Outstanding Bill Award for their Senate bill entitled, “An Act To Phase Out PFA’s In Manufacturing” 
• Adelyn Stroud (11) received the Terry Haskins Christian Leadership Award, which comes with a full scholarship to next year’s conference.

The Youth In Government Conference is the culmination of months of preparation led by Amanda McGrath, Tim Fisher, Chris Duncan, and Margaret Sullivan. Congratulations to the students and thank you to the sponsors! What an amazing accomplishment!

Looking forward, here is what’s on the horizon for the division:

• Saturday, November 15
  • Touch-a-Truck Community Event @ 9:00 AM 
• Monday, November 17
  • International Students' Day
• Tuesday, November 18
  • US Coffee with Counselors @ 8:00 AM in the Intermediate Library
    • Topic: Stress, Perfectionism, and Pressure
• Wednesday, November 19
  • College Counseling’s Financial Aid Night @ 6:00 PM in the Seminar Room
• Thursday, November 20
  • 11:15 AM: 4K/Senior Turkey Trot
• Friday, November 21
  • Parents’ Community Bake Sale from 7:30 AM - 12:30 PM in the Library
• Monday, November 24 - Friday, November 28
  • Thanksgiving Break

Parents, please remember to email attendance@sdsgriffin.org if your student needs to leave early, will be arriving late, or will not be at school. As always, please check the athletic team calendars for the most up-to-date information on our winter sports. 

I hope that everyone has a lovely weekend! Go Griffins!

Warmly,

Jenny Glenn
​​​​​​​Head of Upper School