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GPANEWS HOGLE HONORED AS A DIVERSITY CHAMPION At a breakfast held May 7 and sponsored by the Race Relations & Diversity Task Force, based in Birmingham, Mich., former Grosse Pointe Academy music teacher Lauri Hogle was honored as a “diversity champion.” The Race Relations & Diversity Task Force recognizes individuals in the Detroit area whose vision of diversity has created a significant impact on others and “make an invaluable contribution by helping to ensure that all people feel included and empowered in the shared endeavors of your organization and in our larger community.” According to Hogle, the greatest form of social justice is “to give the highest quality education to every child.” And she goes out of her way to ensure this belief permeates every aspect of her life and work. She began her career providing music therapy to children with special needs and then moved on to direct award-winning church and school choirs in Washington, DC, and Atlanta. Hogle taught GPA’s middle-school music classes for four years. She now works full time as the artistic director of the Detroit Children’s Choir in partnership with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The DCC’s mission is to use the power of choral music education as a cultural platform to unite children of diverse backgrounds. Its nine choirs offer performance opportunities that are life changing in scope. CRITERIA According to the Race Relations & Diversity Task Force, its goal is to build awareness among area organizations in relation to issues of diversity and inclusion, to stimulate the adoption and implementation of express policies supportive of diversity and to promote the mission of the task force. Further, they say a diversity champion will “be the conscience of an organization, not settle for the status quo, embody the ideals of an organization, envision new ways of inclusion, be a doer whose actions speak of respect for others, be someone whose “circle of influence” represents many kinds of people, and be an advocate who speaks out against insensitivity and prejudice.” Also, consistent with the task force goals, a diversity champion may be someone who has helped an organization adopt or implement a policy supportive of diversity and the ideas of inclusion. The Grosse Pointe Academy cannot think of anyone more deserving of this honor than Lauri Hogle. Congratulations! ACADEMY 7TH GRADER WINS ESSAY/SPEECH CONTEST SPONSORED BY TOWNSHIP OPTIMIST CLUB Grosse Pointe Academy seventh grader Maria Fields learned last spring that she had won the top prize in a speech and essay contest sponsored by the Clinton Township Area Optimist Club. Fields presented an essay she wrote on the G.R.O.W. program, which she started at GPA to provide extra help to Academy first and second graders with their reading, schoolwork and homework. G.R.O.W. stands for Generating Real Opportunities for Wonder. Fellow G.R.O.W. tutors and GPA students Emma Smith, Nafi Sall and Shekinah Aho also help Fields when and where needed. Technology and Learning Specialist Megan Black says Fields pretty much manages the G.R.O.W. program on her own. “Maria runs everything and even provides the snacks,” Black said. “But all the students are truly remarkable.” According to Head of School Lars Kuelling, Fields is one of GPA’s Academy Scholars and has been heavily involved with many school initiatives. “Maria helped host the Catch Night of Champions event last October in front of 400 attendees,” he noted. School officials were on hand May 13 at the Optimist Club in Clinton Township when Fields accepted her award from club members. 16 FALL 2015 / THE ACADEMIC
GPA MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS ATTEND DIVERSITY SYMPOSIUM Eight middle school students from The Grosse Pointe Academy joined students from nine other schools affiliated with AIMS (Association of Independent Michigan Schools) on April 16 at a Middle School Diversity Symposium titled “#identity.” The symposium was held at Emerson School in Ann Arbor. All eight students from GPA— Samantha Savage, William Kendrick, Henry Whitaker, Tai Daniels, Isabella Tomlinson, Brooke Popadich, Christina Thomas, and Lexi Belyue—were self-selected by completing an online form and reflecting on identity. Throughout the day at Emerson, they took part in group activities, including brainstorming preconceptions of identity, discussing racial bias, privilege and how assumptions are made about socio-economic status. “Our students seemed to have a great time meeting and connecting with the other students,” said Megan Black, GPA’s technology and learning specialist. “They represented our school with empathy and made meaningful contributions. Madame El-Hosni and I couldn’t have been prouder.” About AIMS: The Association of Independent Michigan Schools (AIMS) is a non-profit organization of primary, elementary, and secondary schools whose purpose is to support and advance independent education in Michigan. The AIMS Southeast Michigan Diversity Committee (SEMDC) is a consortium of representatives from member schools whose focus it to promote professional development and education for faculty, staff, administrators and students in the area of equity, justice, multicultural education and diversity. The SEMDC plans and offers workshops and symposiums to faculty, staff and student constituents. THE GROSSE POINTE ACADEMY / FALL 2015 17
Page 1 and 2: THE Academic FALL 2015 THE GROSSE P
Page 3 and 4: Contents Fall 2015 Volume 1 No.1 pg
Page 5 and 6: ALUMPROFILE FORMER ACADEMY STUDENTS
Page 7 and 8: Arts and academics FOUNDATION OF AC
Page 9 and 10: “I attended GPA from preschool to
Page 11 and 12: ISACS TEAM CONCLUDES IMPORTANT RE-A
Page 13 and 14: THE GROSSE POINTE ACADEMY NETS BIG
Page 15: ACADEMY A BIG PART OF DETROIT CHILD
Page 19 and 20: A summary of GPA student results ar
Page 21 and 22: SOCCER-PLAYING ROBOTS AND ‘SQUISH
Page 23 and 24: “My first assignment with State w
Page 25 and 26: “Since the economic situation is
Page 27 and 28: Varty is with daughter, Meg, who at
Page 29 and 30: Academy alum earns big scholarship
Page 31 and 32: called World Views and Civilization
Page 33 and 34: Mad for Montessori What do you call
Page 35 and 36: of her birth in New York City. But
Page 37 and 38: emainder of my teaching years at th
Page 39 and 40: ight choice CURRENT PARENTS DISCUSS

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