The Center for Public Good making an appearance in a parade on Greenwich Avenue

Photo credit: CPG Instagram (@gcds_cpg)

Since the Center for Public Good’s (CPG) was established in 2019, it quickly became one of GCDS’ proudest creations. With opportunities extending to students, teachers, and parents alike, anyone can get involved.

The CPG’s director, Ms. Donnalley, believes that the CPG is critical to the mission of the school, saying “[The CPG’s] goal is that our students, faculty, and families see how service is a part of everything we learn and do here at GCDS; it is the ultimate show of Tiger Pride. Service and CPG are at the core of the GCDS mission, ‘to enable all children in our care to discover and to develop what is finest in themselves—to achieve the highest standards in their studies, in their play, and in their character.’”

According to Mr. Lehn, the Center for Public Good Assistant Director, the CPG was effectively a part of GCDS long before it had its name. He mentions, “The same way we valued character before we had the TIGER PRIDE acronym, or we valued considering our inclusivity and how we strived to be a more diverse school [in terms of] thought and backgrounds before we had a DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) office… [GCDS] certainly engaged a lot with the community before the Center for Public Good was launched, so it existed before it was institutionalized.”

Students visiting Abilis at a library café service event.

Photo credit: CPG Instagram (@gcds_cpg)

Mr. Lehn’s hope for the CPG is that it will be a continuing experience that lives on with GCDS, while instilling the feeling that it’s more than just a school’s service program; as if an individual thinking “‘there’s this real vision; [GCDS] created something that’s special’,” as Mr. Lehn puts it. 

Ms. Donnalley says that the “CPG engages with students and families of every age group – from our youngest Nursery students to graduating seniors.” In the Upper School, students get emails from Mr. Lehn at the start of every sports season containing CPG offerings. They also get emails from Ms. Donnalley with service opportunities as well; there are numerous ongoing opportunities for involvement that go year-round. 

Getting Involved

If you’re interested in getting involved with the CPG, there are many ways to contribute every day of the week. 

During the week, there are numerous CPG offerings that students can get involved in. Every day there are opportunities to go over to the Greenwich Spanish School during free periods. The Greenwich Spanish School is an immersive pre-k program where students can work with kids and participate in activities all while speaking Spanish.

On Tuesdays, the CPG visits the Boys and Girls Club after school. This gives students a chance to help with programming and event coordination with the CPG. Students can design games, science experiments, and can assist with service partnerships.

On Wednesdays, students can log onto Zoom for an “Abilis Zoom Party” where volunteers can play various games, like name that tune, pictionary, and finish the lyric, with Abilis clients. 

Thursdays consist of a collaboration between the Stanwich and OCR campuses when the CPG takes groups of students to help out with GCDS’ current service projects. It gives Upper School students a chance to not only work with their younger peers, but also help give back to the local community. 

According to Mr. Lehn, “on Sundays, there’s Abilis arts and crafts [11:30AM] and Hoops and Movement [12:30PM],” which he says are great ways to get involved with Abilis and have fun. 

When it comes to summer opportunities, Mr. Lehn, along with other CPG coordinators, are working on building a foundation for the networking of summer events. Mr. Lehn says, “We’re trying to construct a little bit of a list of ways to get involved with some of our partner organizations over the summer and blast that out because we know it’s a good time for people…  It’s building this menu of opportunities we can push out every year.” 

With all these opportunities in mind, Ms. Lehn notes, “[GCDS] values service, and [GCDS] values engaging in the community, and [GCDS] values empowering the way [GCDS students] want to make the world a better place.”

Students have received emails about summer involvement and the CPG is excited to get the summer started!