Greenhill School | 2017-18 Digital Annual Report Year in Review

Academic & Student Life Highlights

In a commemorative and moving ceremony, students, faculty, staff, friends, alumni, fellow Heads of Schools, and other special invited guests joined together to celebrate the 18-year legacy of Scott Griggs. The ceremony also marked the commemorative naming of the Scott A. Griggs Great Meadow! Mr. Griggs will be forever remembered as our fourth Head of School.

Trevor Worcester was named Head of Upper School in October after serving as the Interim Head of Upper School since Spring 2017. Worcester's career spans over two decades at Greenhill, and his appointment was made official by Scott Griggs in conjuction with Lee Hark.

Students and faculty explored the core values of honor, respect, and compassion within the annual theme of Character. We discussed and defined character, and what it means to have character within the Greenhill community.

Greenhill Debate was awarded the William Woods Tate Sweepstakes award at the Tournament of Champions for the school in the country having the most overall team success at the TOC.

Greenhill MS Latin students posted their best-ever showing at the National Junior Classical League Convention held at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. In all, 25 students traveled to the Buckeye State where they were honored with 92 top-10 finishes and seven first-place awards.

With nine students being recognized as National Merit Semifinalists and 24 as Commended, nearly 30% of the Class of 2018 was honored in the National Merit competition.

Inaugural year of the Community Conversations series, which included 200-plus people attending a panel of speakers, 60-plus families engaging in dinner conversations, and 100-plus people engaging in community service together over Martin Luther King weekend.

Greenhill School was one of more than 135 schools that joined Harvard’s Making Caring Common #CommonGood campaign as “early leaders” who helped to inform, shape, and build momentum for the campaign.

Greenhill sent 12 faculty members and 6 students to the 2017 NAIA People of Color Conference (PoCC)/Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) in in Anaheim, CA. Several faculty members led workshops at the conference.

In September, in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, Greenhill students organized the Estelle Dickens Service Drive to provide disaster relief. The community collected stuffed animals, baby items, toiletries, clothing, backpacks, and more.

The Greenhill Quiz Bowl Team "A" finished eighth overall out of 192 teams at the National Quiz Bowl Competition in Chicago this past May. Gokulan Anand '22 received a trophy for his individual performance at the tournament where he finished 28th out of over 400 competitors.

The Evergreen student newspaper was named the top school newspaper in the DFW region by the Dallas Morning News for the second year in a row.

This past year, 23 Upper School students took 20 courses through the Global Online Academy where they accumulated 20 semester credits. In addition, five Greenhill faculty members taught courses, which was the most of any school in GOA.

Ten Upper School students completed their Capstones through their advanced, independent, and often times interdisciplinary studies. This year’s projects ranged from a close analysis of Resphigi’s “Feste Romane” to women in politics.

The Greenhill-Minglun High School exchanged continued with ten students and two faculty members from Taiwan visiting Greenhill in the fall, and Greenhill students and faculty returning to Taipei in the spring.

DaVerse Lounge facilitated training with Upper School students around cultural competency and building community.

Preschool, Lower, and Middle School students participated in the Skin Tone Art Show: Building Our Inclusive Community where they learned the importance of knowing and understanding the people in our community through skin tones.

The Trustee Grant program awarded more than $33,000 to ten employees, giving them the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and nurture the life-long learner mission at the heart of the School’s faculty excellence.

A Preschool common area was transformed into a maker-space equipped with dry-erase tables, alternative seating, and wall space for writing and designing, to allow students to further develop their creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, communication and problem-solving skills within the focus of science and engineering.

Preschool and Lower School faculty partnered with the SMU Maker Education Project and Dason Innovation Gym to deepen their knowledge in maker-based education. They are excited to help develop the next generation of self-actualized, creatively-confident leaders, and problem solvers.

Middle School classrooms received new furniture that enable a more collaborative learning environment and that support current teaching practices.

Athletics Highlights

The Hornets had 12 seniors commit to play NCAA Athletics this past year, including seven athletes participating at the NCAA Division I level.

The boys volleyball team won its second Southwest Preparatory Conference championship in the last three seasons. The Hornets finished with a 25-2-1 record.

The Hornets won their second consecutive Texas High School Girls Lacrosse League Division II State Championship. The Hornets finished with a 16-6 record.

The Varsity Competition Cheer Team captured the United Cheer Association National Championship in February. The team also received an automatic bid to the World Championships.

The Hornets had 46 student-athletes that earned All-Southwest Preparatory Conference honors. In addition, the Hornets had eight student-athletes earn all-conference honors in multiple sports.

Xavier Bryant '18 was selected to the North Texas Basketball Coaches Association All-Star Game. Bryant was a five-time All-SPC selection and currently attends with Sam Houston State University.

The Greenhill football team earned a berth in the Southwest Preparatory Conference 3A Championship Game. The Hornets fell to Trinity Valley School and finished second overall.

The boys tennis team finished second overall at the Southwest Preparatory Conference Spring Championships. The Hornets finished the season with a 9-4 record and are 37-6 in three seasons under head coach Scott Cotton.

Kaiti Ness '20 earned silver medal honors at the 2017 SPC Fall Championships and helped the Hornets to a third-place showing.

Fine Arts Highlights

“Dancing on the Hill” was an inaugural Dance Invitational that invited four schools to Greenhill for an afternoon of dance classes taught by guest teachers.

The Middle School speech and debate team had its most successful season ever as the team garnered a variety of awards in local and regional events, including three students advancing to the elimination rounds of a high school event at the Woodward Academy novice and junior varsity National Championships.

53 students performed solos and received 1st division ratings at TPSMEA Solo & Ensemble. 16 students performed in an ensemble and received 1st division ratings.

Greenhill’s spring musical Cry-Baby received eight nominations from the Dallas Summer Musicals High School Musical Theatre Awards. DSMHSMTA recognize artistic and educational achievements of North Texas students and their high school programs.

Jenna Krumerman ’19’s The Night I Lost My Favorite Jacket has won three festivals to date, including first place at SxSW. The film was also highlighted internationally as a Vimeo Short Film of the Week – an honor never before given to a high school student.

Sudeep Bhargava '18 was a YoungArts Finalist – this is one of the highest awards given to a high school student artist. This award is the nominating body of the National Foundation for Advancement of the Arts for the Presidential Scholar in the Arts award.

Greenhill Advanced Video Production students had a successful 2017-18 film season as 32 different films were juried in 78 festivals around the country, including 10 films selected to the All-American Film Festival in New York City.

Greenhill Photography students earned high honors at numerous local and national competitions, including the Fort Worth Country Day Black & White Contest and Drexel University National High School Contest.

For the 10th consecutive year, second grade students - led by art teacher Mary Aidala - created collages of American flags, which allowed the students to experience a variety of methods in creating one group piece.