Guest PatChatter: Cori R. chats about Community Service!

I have been involved with the Community Service Organization (CSO) at GA since middle school. Thanks to Mr. McVeigh, CSO's Upper School coordinator, I have become much more devoted to CSO. 

During my senior year, I served as a leader of CSO. This spring CSO held a blood drive, which collected 65 pints for the Red Cross and will literally saves lives. CSO also brought various speakers to GA this spring. GA Alumni Eric Williams spoke about transitioning from his rough childhood in Philadelphia to becoming a GA student and basketball player, and also the program he created to help people integrate back into society upon being released from prison. John Prendergast and Michael Maddox, co-authors of Unlikely Brothers, shared their distinct stories and how their lives intertwined through the Big Brothers program with GA students. In addition, GA continued to host service trips to local shelters such as St. John's Hospice, and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity. 

CSO has been such an important part of my senior year! I am sad to leave it all behind but have happy memories to think about moving forward. 

-Cori 

**Click on the photo below and listen to Mr. McVeigh talk about CSO at Germantown Academy!**

Taking Science by Storm

There are over 70 students in Upper School that take GA’s Independent Science Research course.  I am one of them.  Some of us work in labs like Fox Chase and others develop their projects at home or at school.  My project involved wrapping glaciers (really ice blocks) in reflective blankets to reduce their melt.  My lab was my garage.   Two weeks ago, many of us attended the Delaware Valley Science Fair where we competed against hundreds of students representing over 25 schools.  It’s amazing to get to this level of competition because everyone’s projects are worthy of recognition.  Three to four judges stop by each project to then determine which experiments qualify for category awards, special awards, and even scholarships.

GA brought down the house!  Not only did we rack up on the category, special awards, and scholarship monies, but GA now boasts three of its own experimenters will move on to the International Fair.  This is unbelievable and a first for GA to have several attend this fair at one time.  I would be remiss if I did not thank our fearless coordinators and teachers – Dr. J. and Ms. Smith – for our unprecedented success.      

-Michael