With a new year comes a fresh start. As life in the Upper School begins to return to normal, Dr. MacKean, Casey Traina, Ms. Ayers, and SGA have plans in mind for what they want the school year to look like.
The 2021-22 school year is officially underway. The flag has been raised, and the new year is in action. The Upper School welcomes our new student government president, Casey Traina ’22, as well as our new faculty, students, and SGA members.
As life at GA begins to return to a before-pandemic normal, Dr. MacKean, Head of the Upper School, and her new administrative team consider ways to bring back and improve old GA traditions while still keeping the community safe. Dr. MacKean says, “I’ve never seen a normal year at GA, so I want to talk to students and get a sense of what they miss and what they want to bring back.” She continues, “Being mindful of what the county officials say and understanding the balance between safety and keeping the school spirit alive is important. I’m so grateful that there is access to vaccinations because that is really making a difference.” It is also important to her that students have flexible schedules and downtime because they learn better when they are happy.
Likewise, Casey Traina is leading the Student Government Association (SGA) in brainstorming new traditions to help the Upper School feel cohesive again. “As a result of the pandemic, the Upper School feels like four separate divisions rather than one whole group,” Traina says. Ideas to bring back the sense of community include a Halloween Festival (wherein upperclassmen and underclassmen can interact), an intramural sports league, and the Student Voice Initiative, which would be an extension of SGA where students do not need to be elected to attend meetings. Bringing new voices to the table is very important to both Traina and Dr. MacKean. Traina also hopes to bring back the pep rally, Spirit Week, and GA-PC Day in some form this year.
Ms. Ayers, head of SGA, says that one of their main goals is to expand the number of days clubs can meet because many club meetings come in conflict with one another, and students cannot participate in all of the clubs they want. She also hopes to connect Affinity groups and the Community Service Organization (CSO) with SGA, so they can provide relief for families affected by Hurricane Ida.
Traina, MacKean, and the whole SGA community hope to return to a more normal year. With precautions like masking and three-foot distancing to keep students and faculty safe, GA has been able to stay open during the Covid-19 pandemic. With new ideas from SGA and more involvement from the student body voices, GA can become a more unified and welcoming community. We cannot wait to see the return of old traditions and the addition of new ones in the future. Thank you to the Student Government Association, the administration, and Dr. MacKean for trying to make this year a more normal year!