Developing
in our students the intellectual, ethical and interpersonal foundations that they need
to be successful lies at the core of a Greensboro Day School education. We
believe that when our students posess these core foundations that they will lead fuller lives and go on to have great college experiences and become engaged, happy and
productive citizens.
While the
intellectual and ethical elements of our mission are more easily seen in our
academic programs and honor system, the interpersonal development that we do
with our students is not as easily seen. This work takes place primarily in our
advisory system in the middle and upper schools and through our Second Step
program in the lower school.
At the heart
of our advisories and Second Step programs is the belief that helping our
students to know themselves and to understand others will allow them to engage
more productively with their peers and teachers, decrease stress and increase learning. We
believe that developing our students' interpersonal foundations helps them to
more fully develop their ethical and intellectual abilities.
While
raising emotionally intelligent children may seem like a “soft” skill, we
believe that it is critical in becoming confident, engaged and able
citizens. The fact is, we are an emotionally driven species that is
constantly pulled and pushed by the events around us. And, if we are not able
to understand the motivations of others and why we react the way that we do, we
will more than likely come to see ourselves as victims and not as capable and
important contributors who have a range of skills in addressing our
own needs and those of others.
Knowing that
emotions drive our daily actions, it’s important to learn how to effectively
deal with them. Children who know how to manage their feelings and develop
emotional intelligence at an early age are more able to calm themselves and
thus improve their concentration, have higher academic achievement, live in good
health, and establish better relationships with their peers.
We strive each and every day to develop in our students the intellectual, ethical and interpersonal foundations that
they need to become constructive contributors to the world so that they can lead happy, successful lives.
