Student Spotlight: Cecelia S. ’25

Our spotlight series profiles students making impact in the community and beyond.

How do you feel that you best represent your school?

I best represent my school through two leadership experiences. I have been a student ambassador where I am paired with potential new students. They shadow me for a day, and I answer their questions about our school community. Additionally, this year I served as the president of the Middle School’s Student Council. Through this, I started a digital school newspaper that gave students a chance to voice their perspectives with our community.

This has been an unusual year and a half due to the pandemic and its effects on schools. What did you most miss about being on campus when schools were shut down?

During the pandemic, I missed our school having the traditional eighth-grade events such as the Opening Expedition, the Winter Formal, the choir competition in Hershey Park, and the overnight Williamsburg trip. I also missed playing on the fields and courts during sports seasons.

What tradition or experience did your school make a point of continuing despite being on lockdown?

Despite the pandemic, we were still able to have our annual All-School Relay. When students enroll at GCS, they join either the Glen or the Elg team. A boy and girl from each grade participate in a relay race, passing a baton from the Little Dragons to the seniors. The race is a friendly yet competitive tradition because it gets the whole school excited to watch their friends race.

Do you have a favorite place on campus?

My favorite place on campus is the turf field at Dragon Stadium. It is where I first started playing field hockey, where we played kickball in gym class, where we played capture the flag during summer camps, and where countless memories were made for my grade.

What teacher/coach/mentor has made the biggest impact on you?

Two teachers have made the most significant impact on me because of how they taught. My eighth-grade U.S. History teacher, Mr. Charlie Stewart, made classes more of a group conversation.  Mr. Stewart taught me a lot about history, offered many perspectives on life, and changed the way I look at a lot of things in the world. My eighth-grade advisor and middle school Spanish teacher, Mrs. Sahar Jones, incorporated creative games into her teaching, making learning Spanish so fun. I always looked forward to our morning advisory meetings because Mrs. Jones always brightened my day.

If you had to give one piece of advice to your younger/lower school self, what would it be?

The advice I would give to my younger self is to push myself to the limit and work hard at everything I do to achieve everything to its full potential.

What is the biggest lesson you will take away from your school experience?

One of the biggest life lessons I have learned at school is to always try new things. I’ve learned that no matter what I think the outcome will be, I will never truly know until I try.  All of the teachers at GCS are so encouraging and supportive that they give us the confidence to learn new skills and discover our talents.