Emily Olson, College Financing Night at GD & More

College Financing Night at GD

Parents and students are invited to attend a free seminar on paying for college, which will be held on Thursday, October 22, at 6:00 pm in the High School Black Box. This seminar is offered through MEFA, the Commonwealth’s authority on planning, saving, and paying for college. An experienced MEFA representative will provide an overview of the college financing process, including types of financial aid, how to apply, and financing options for your family. Before the seminar, be sure to visit MEFA’s website — mefa.org — to download a copy of the seminar presentation and explore other tools and resources to assist you in the college planning process.

PSAT Information

GDRHS will be administering the PSAT exam on October 14th.  The College Board is not allowing a Saturday exam, and the test is 35 minutes longer this year; therefore, we must start the exam early so as to minimize the disruption to the school.  Students taking the exam will need to arrive at the school at 6:45.

Yard Sale Fundraiser

In the spirit of community service and global awareness, students and staff traveling to Ecuador in April of 2016, are holding a Yard Sale fundraiser at Prescott, 145 Main Street in Groton. The yard sale is scheduled for Saturday, October 24th from 8:00 am until noon with a rain date of Sunday, October 25th. Don't worry, either way, you won't miss the Patriots! Students, staff, and parents will collect, sort and later sell donated items. 

Donations, a vital part of our yard sale success, should be brought to the rear entrance of Prescott on Friday, October 23rd, between 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm.  After the yard sale ends, any remaining items will be delivered to Savers in Nashua, NH. For a list of accepted donations, check the Savers of Nashua, NH donation center site.   Help us help local families and global efforts as we raise funds to help others, create a greener planet Earth by recycling goods, and support Savers designated nonprofit, the Epilepsy New England Foundation New Hampshire.

Thank you in advance for your generosity and support!

Google Cloud Camp at GD
EVENT POSTPONED/Date & Time TBA SOON

GDRSD will be hosting a Google Cloud Camp Event in the future, but the October 17th event is postponed.  

Emily Olson 

Backyard Productions Director & Producer

Summer Performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream

This summer, a group of over twenty teens from the towns of Groton, Dunstable, Littleton, and Shirley put on William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the park. As the director, it was a fun challenge to coordinate all the particulars. The common conception of a director is a person wearing a beret barking orders through a megaphone at the actors, but that is only partly true. Directing requires a wide verity of skills, such as managing a budget, reviewing concept designs for sets and costumes, and contacting newspapers to advertise; and that is only the tasks outside of the play practices. The best and sometimes most difficult part of this was the lack of adult assistance. The crew and I had to design and assemble all the costumes, set pieces, and props on our own. If something went wrong we would problem solve collaboratively to fix it, and sometimes we would revise a problem many times before we were satisfied with the results. By the time of the show the cast was more than ready to preform, and did an incredible job with the Shakespearian language and stage comedy. One of the most satisfying things about the play was how we were able to accomplish so much, even though we did not have a single member over the age of eighteen.

My assistant director, Julia Joyce, and I went into the preproduction planning on donating the money to a local charity. We made the show free to attend, and asked all who came to place a small sum in basket after the show so we could give all the profits to charity. Thanks to the generosity of the audience, we collected a total of $650. We decided to donate to Loaves & Fishes, because it is so active in our local community.

Directing and producing A Midsummer Night’s Dream was a great way to spend a summer, and probably one of the best summers I have ever had. The cast and crew were wonderful.  It was constructive to learn from my own successes and failings without adult guidance. The donation to Loaves & Fishes also gave us all a real sense of purpose that we were not only having fun, but benefiting the community. Additionally, Backyard Productions has been asked by the Shirley Historic District to perform a Shakespeare in the Park performance next summer. I already cannot wait for next summer to begin!