Girls Preparatory School

Girls Preparatory School, or GPS, is an all-female college preparatory school in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1906 by Grace McCallie, Tommie Payne Duffy, and Eula Lea Jarnagin. Its brother school, The McCallie School, had been founded a year earlier by McCallie's brothers. GPS's current Head of School is Dr. Autumn Adkins Graves, former president of Girard College and named one of "O Magazine's" Women to Watch for the Decade in 2010.^[1]

History

In 1906, Duffy and Jarnagin, two public school teachers, asked the city school board to provide a fourth year of high school studies, including modern language and a lab science, so that girls, as well as boys, would apply for college. When their request was denied, they decided to create an independent school to prepare girls for higher education and convinced their friend Grace McCallie to join them.

In 12 weeks, they converted McCallie's former home to a school. The three founders pooled all of their money, $300, to equip and launch the school. The school opened on September 12, 1906, in a four-room schoolhouse at 106 Oak Street, which had formerly been McCallie's home. The ground floor contained classrooms with second-hand desks. There was also an alcove library and cloakroom.

The school welcomed 45 enrolled students on the first day of classes on September 12, 1906. Each girl paid $80 tuition per year, and at the end of the first year one of the students was accepted to and enrolled in Randolph-Macon Woman's College. In 1915, the school relocated to a larger brick building on Palmetto Street.^[2] In 1947, GPS again moved, this time to its current home on Island Avenue, with 14 classrooms, a study hall, library and dining hall.^[3] Since the move, the campus has been significantly added on to and revitalized, with the addition of a separate middle school and high school, an 800-seat theater, and a new student center, among other facilities.

Girls Preparatory School celebrated its 100th anniversary during the 2005-2006 school year.^[4]

Mission

Girls Preparatory School inspires each girl to lead a life of integrity and purpose by engaging her mind, cultivating her strengths, and nurturing her self-confidence and respect for others.

Academics

Middle School (Grades 6-8) In addition to core classes, the girls take a computer class twice a week from sixth grade to develop technological, communication, and problem-solving skills. In the seventh grade, they learn French, Spanish, or Latin. In the past, IBM tablets were the laptops of choice; however the school switched to MacBook Airs in 2011.^[5] iPads are also commonly used among students, though the school's policy on their mandatory purchase has changed more than once.

Upper School (Grades 9-12) The Upper School offers 24 Advanced Placement courses, ranging from AP Biology to AP Comparative Government and Politics. Students consistently score higher than the national and state average for males and females in every subject offered; in 2010-11, 80% of the sophomores through seniors taking the exams scored three or higher on the five point scale, and in the senior class of 2011, 70% were enrolled in at least one AP course. In ninth grade, students purchase a laptop for school use.

Class sizes are small, with the student-teacher ratio being 9:1. Each grade consists of 68-110 girls. The school boasts National Merit Scholars, perfect SAT scores, and millions offered in scholarship money per year. All graduates of GPS attend college, and students have been admitted to many prestigious universities, including Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Columbia University, New York University (NYU), United States Military Academy (USMA), Yale University, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Brandeis University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Edinburgh (Scotland), and Vanderbilt University.

Traditions

GPS upholds many traditions that are celebrated throughout the school year, with many including community service opportunities.

While most traditions are schoolwide, some focus on certain grades. One such tradition is May Day, a pageant that combines the old traditions of a May Day from the Renaissance and a debutante pageant. The senior class is presented in colorful dresses, one by one, with a May Court and May Queen introduced separately; the May Queen is the last presented. The May Queen and Court are nominated by the senior class and then chosen by the student body and faculty based upon personality and embodiment of a true GPS girl. After the class is introduced, festivities are held on the school's front lawn, and seniors, guests, and the student body watch as different grades dance to music chosen to match that year's theme. The last dance is the May Pole ceremony, in which sophomores wrap three traditional May Poles for the Queen to walk under, ending the ceremony.

Another tradition is that of senior Chapel Talks. Each senior gives a three- to seven-minute talk about a subject of her choosing to her peers and invited guests during a schoolwide assembly, also called Chapel, which occurs several times a week. Seniors who hold leadership positions give their Chapel Talks first.

Another highly celebrated tradition is that of Cat-Rat, a pairing of a senior with a new sixth-grader. In this tradition the senior Cat acts as a mentor and friend to the sixth grader, her Rat. Several parties, activities, and celebrations, help the girls get to know each other better and guide the younger student through her school year. The long-standing tradition has been known to bond students as friends and even business partners well into adulthood.

Formerly, a weeklong festival was planned each year by an elected committee of students, known as Robin Hood. In the festival, any school-recognized club or team is able to open a booth and sell a craft or food for a charity of their choice. The committee itself could also operate a booth, which would benefit the overall goal of that year's Robin Hood. In the past the main goal has been to gift Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission To Promote Peace... One School At A Time and the founder of Central Asia Institute, with the money to endow a girls' school in Pakistan.^[6] Another year it was to help assist a like-minded Chattanooga school with a contribution to Chattanooga Girl's Leadership Academy, an all girls college preparatory charter school focusing on STEM education, the first public single-gender school in Tennessee.^[7] This long-standing tradition, however, was phased out by 2014.

The onsite garden is maintained and cultivated by the environmental science class, a junior and senior science elective. The crops grown in the garden are chosen and raised by the students, harvested, and taken to the Chattanooga Area Food Bank,^[8][9] or included in the school's lunch menu.

There are many other traditions as well, such as a long-standing partnership with Habitat for Humanity,^[10] and leadership summer camps.

One of GPS's newer traditions, MBD: Girl Edition, is an entrepreneurial opportunity for girls in and around the Chattanooga area to seek knowledge and support from local professionals. It debuted in 2015 as a women's and girls' symposium, Mad Bad and Dangerous, and has hosted such notable guest speakers as Lori Greiner, prolific inventor and "Shark Tank" star. The most recent installment features a one-day Girls Marketplace, where girls can sell products and services, and a 24Hour Generator, which pairs students with mentors to help them solve real-world business problems as they compete for a cash prize. The event relies heavily on volunteers and financial support of businesses and community organizations. ^[11]

Community Interactions

There is substantial tension among GPS and the surrounding neighborhood, which is primarily due to the reckless and dangerous driving by GPS parents^[12]. These issues have been reported in writing numerous times to GPS leadership.^[13] GPS leadership, including Head of School Dr. Graves, has taken no meaningful action to reduce the tension between GPS and the surrounding neighborhood. Additionally, Dr. Graves has deepened GPS's tension with neighbors by suggesting that short-term vacation rentals in the neighborhood might attract sex predators^[14][15].

Notable alumnae

• Carman Barnes, writer
• Rachel Boston, actress
• Tracy Seretean, Academy Award-winning filmmaker
• Andrea Saul, Republican Party operative
• Teresa Lawrence Phillips, First female NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball coach
• Mai Belle Hurley, first female member of the Chattanooga City Council
• Lisa Hendy, recipient of the Harry Yount Award of the National Park Service
• Amy Edgar Sklansky, Author and Editor
• Judge Marie Williams, first woman appointed judge of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Tennessee
• Ashley Averett, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft
• R. Marie Griffith, John C. Danforth Distinguished Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, where she directs the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics, and author of NYT-bestseller Moral Combat.

References

External links

• Official website