Perhaps the most important questions that any parent or student should be asking is "how well does Gaston Day prepare my child/me for college?" That really is the big question. And the answer has great consequences not just for college, but for life.
About this time every year, several of our recent graduates--now freshmen in college--communicate to tell us just how well things are going and how well GDS prepared them. This year is no different. One of these communications came in the form of an email from Katie Elder's parents to Dean Josh Lutkus. With their permission, I want to share the whole letter because I believe it accurately portrays just how well prepared our graduates really are.
Here goes:
Here goes:
Dear Josh,
I returned today from my first visit with Katie at Tulane. She is thriving and so happy! I wanted to send a quick email which I hope properly reflects the gratitude her Dad and I feel for the education and life experiences Katie received while a student at Gaston Day, and for the support you gave her throughout the years.
I am happy to report Katie feels well prepared for the rigor of her classes, and her professors are pleased and impressed with her work. In her Creative Writing class she was the only student who had been exposed to a writers’ workshop method of learning. (Thank you Mrs. Foster!) Her poems and short stories have been used frequently for reviews by the professor to demonstrate an example of the higher level of writing they are all to aspire to in college.
In her History and Political Science classes she is able to contribute significantly, even as a Freshman, in classes filled with upper level students. (The Honors college is small so she is frequently one of just a few freshman in the honors classes.)
We know she is positioned really well to take advantage of all the great things Tulane has to offer because she is so confident in her preparedness for college; thanks to Gaston Day. She is also taking a few risks--such as switching from Spanish to Russian for her foreign language. This has led to a great opportunity to spend the summer in Russia doing a language immersion program sponsored by the State Department. I know for a fact one of the main reasons she has little fear of trying new things such as this is because Holly Mason required her to do a live audition for Mary Poppins as a Sophomore. She did not give her a “pass”, even though she probably knew Katie could handle the role. At that time, Katie had a terrible fear of singing publicly. (Hello!!!!- meet her senior year alter ego Fiona!)
I love how each child is pushed just enough at Gaston Day to get them past their level of comfort. Without these experiences and the hundreds of other opportunities she had to speak publicly, debate a highly skilled teacher, represent her class, advocate for herself and others, and experiment with different ways to solve problems and think critically, I don’t think she would be having the college experience she is having. And it’s not only the wonderful experiences that helped to prepare her, it was the tough ones too. Like having to decide how to manage her time with a tough class load and many extracurriculars, coming back stronger after doing poorly on a quiz or a test, and persevering in AP Chemistry with the support of her teacher, even though “science is not her thing.”
So we wanted to say thank you and ask you to please pass on to the faculty how much we appreciate all of them and you. Katie loved her time at Gaston Day, and she is grateful as well to the educators who helped us to shape her into the young adult she has become.
Wishing you all the very best and.
Kind Regards,
Chris and Herb Elder
Congratulations to Katie on such an auspicious start to her college career. We hope you find this unsolicited, parent endorsement encouraging. This is what you can expect to accomplish with your Gaston Day degree. The proverbial sky is the limit.
