Letter from Josh Cobb, Head of School

Dear Graland Community,

Last year, I felt grateful when I could look up from COVID concerns and focus on the future. The strategic planning process allowed me this opportunity, and I appreciated everyone’s engagement and insight as we worked from draft to draft to a finalized plan.

One reason I was able to look to the horizon was because of the strong position of the school. Over the three school years significantly impacted by COVID, I knew that we would have the resources to meet the challenge, whether the need was teacher training, technology, safety, or staffing. The Graland Family of Funds, as detailed on page 22 and 23, displays support for those and other priorities. Without the generosity of this community, I would have been even more immersed in the crisis, unable to have the space to envision Graland’s strategic path forward.

Looking over the Gratitude Report, I know that we have the community engagement to follow our strategic framework to inspire students, empower educators, engage families and cultivate a culture of belonging. I specifically want to acknowledge the impressive annual fund effort of Development Committee Chair Kate Gulick, Director of Development Jessica Goski, and the entire Development Committee, who exceeded their goal by a significant margin.

Now that we have a framework to guide us into the future, I am excited to see how many mountains we can climb as we direct this community’s energy and generosity–its time, talent, and treasure–toward those strategic goals. Knowing how fully you have engaged over the last three challenging years, I am confident that we will spin the pinwheel of the strategic plan and thrive.

Josh Cobb

Head of School

Each year, every student at Graland receives a Lower School or Middle

School buddy to partner with for fun and engaging activities throughout the year. Here, Kindergarten and

Grade 4 buddies got together to play mini golf on the course that the fourth graders created in math class!