Learning Through Experience

WINTERIM FOR MIDDLE SCHOOLERS AT GPS By Lucy Morris Blancett ’09

ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED WEEKS of the school year for GPS students is Winterim. Held in mid-February, Winterim is an opportunity for students to experience learning outside of the traditional classroom setting. In fact, many alumnae report that their Winterim experiences had an impact on what they chose to do in college and beyond.

Winterim experiences for Middle and Upper Schoolers are structured differently. In the Upper School, students can choose from a variety of on- and off-campus learning opportunities based on their interests. For example, this year some students visited Puerto Rico to work on their Spanish and engage in Spanish culture; others learned to scuba dive, visited the Florida Keys, participated in service-learning at Lula Lake, or learned how to adult thanks to lessons on financial responsibility, cooking, car care, and more.

In Middle School, the Winterim experiences are curated at the grade level by class deans, so students can learn alongside their classmates. This provides an opportunity for girls to get to know their classmates better while expanding their horizons and taking what they have learned in the classroom and applying it in the real world.

Kipton Lankford Tugman ’92, Dean of the Sixth-Grade Class, with the help of the sixth-grade team, crafted a special week of learning focused on the heart.

Sixth-Grade Itinerary » Sheep heart dissection » Card writing for the elderly » » Note writing to senior class Cats A trip to an area farm to learn about tea, hike, practice yoga, and create their own lip balm » Art fun at Pinspiration » Bowling and laser tag » Making friendship bracelets » Swimming and other aquatic fun at the UTC Aquatic Center

“The goal for Winterim in sixth grade is for the girls to have the time and space to bond as a class. Winterim is thoughtfully planned to include ties to each class as well as time for the girls to have fun and get to know each other in a non-academic setting.”—Kipton Lankford Tugman ’92, Dean of the Sixth-Grade Class

“We stayed at school on Monday and did Valentine’s Day things, since it was Valentine’s Day. We did a sheep heart dissection and made glass hearts in math using perimeter and radius. We had been learning about arteries and veins and about the heart in science, so we got to see some of that, and we learned about pi in math, which we used to create our glass hearts. We also made blankets and scarves for the homeless and wrote notes to our Cats. The next day, we went to a farm and made tea stuff, drank and smelled tea, and went on a nature walk and did yoga. We had a ton of fun all week, and we look forward to going on overnight trips in the future!”—Bea Burbank ’28

sixth-grade

seventh-grade

Jenny Bullard, Dean of the Seventh-Grade Class, planned a week of adventure that began on campus and culminated in a two-night stay at an incredible cabin in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

» Seventh-Grade Itinerary Catapult building in the GPS makerspace » A tour of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and the McClung Museum » Family-style meals and activities at the cabin » Winter activities at OberGatlinburg » Brownie bake-off by advisory » Stargazing and constellation identification » Hiking at Sugarlands Visitor Center » Shopping at West Town Mall

“These grade-level trips provide our girls with an invaluable opportunity to build relationships and to make lasting memories while engaging in a meaningful experience tied to our curricular goals. As with all we do, our goal was to ensure that our plans aligned with our school’s mission, values, and curricular goals and outcomes. While we anticipated several days of fun, we also sought to engage our minds, cultivate some of our strengths, and nurture our self-confidence and respect for others.”—Jenny Bullard, Dean of the Seventh-Grade Class

How to Build A Catapult

“It was really fun getting to hang out with the class. During the trip, we got to get to know each other on a deeper level as an advisory. We could talk more than we can just at school. It was really nice to have no technology allowed on the trip, because no one was stuck on their phone the whole time. It was a lot better to have everyone in the moment than on games or social media. I feel like our class got a lot closer during the trip. Being able to use what we were learning in school on a trip and still have fun was really great. The one thing that our whole grade would want to change is making the trip longer because we had so much fun!”—Amiya Phade ’27

The eighth-grade class ventured across the South to learn about Civil Rights, in a trip planned by Jordan McCarter ’96, Dean of the Eighth-Grade Class. Their itinerary was full of historical landmarks, destinations in Chattanooga, Georgia, and Alabama, and—of course—fun.

Eighth-Grade Itinerary » Ed Johnson Memorial Walk » Animal attractions at Zoo Atlanta

“We have taken this trip to Atlanta and Birmingham with the eighth-graders for four or five years now because it aligns with our English and Citizenship in Action curriculum. We learn about events of the Civil Rights movement that made a difference, key figures, and so much more. We certainly build in quite a bit of fun, too—the girls got to play bingo while hunting for specific art in the High Art Museum, they tasted over 100 flavors of cola at the World of Coke, and they got to spend the night under dinosaur bones as we had a sleepover at the McWane Science Center. It’s always been a beautiful experience to watch the girls laugh, learn, and grow as we explore different cities and spaces together.” —Lindsey King, Eighth-Grade English Teacher » Scavenger Hunt at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta

» Cola tastings at World of Coca-Cola » Fish sightings at the Georgia Aquarium » Dinner at the CNN Center

» Fun and games at Main Event » Tour of Birmingham Civil Rights Institute » Tour of the 16th Street Baptist

Church » Sleepover at McWane Science Center

» Ice skating at Pelham Ice Arena

» Shopping at Gadsden Mall

“This was our first out-of-town school trip, and it was really fun. The first day we got there, we started at the High Museum and they gave us a scavenger hunt that Ms. (Diane) Yu had made. It helped us appreciate the art! When we went to Montgomery, we went to the 16th Street Baptist Church and learned about the bombing. It was very interesting. Then we walked through a statue garden that had a bunch of sculptures with QR codes so we could learn about them. Then we went to the science museum, where we got to spend the night. It was really cool. We ended up getting to see a film about cave exploring in a big dome theater, which was awesome. Overall, I really enjoyed the trip! I knew it was going to be fun, but it was even more fun than I thought it was going to be. I feel like I got closer to some of my classmates and talked to people I don’t usually get to talk to.” —Paulina Proshkin ’25

Each year, our faculty work hard to create meaningful Winterim experiences for our students that incorporate learning and class bonding, and we love seeing each girl make the most of the opportunity by fully engaging with the material, talking to classmates they may not typically have the opportunity to, and making memories that will last a lifetime.