Annual Fund
Dear Guilford Day School Community,
The time is upon us to direct our attention to the Annual Fund. This year’s Annual Fund has a more specific focus than it has in years past, when all funds raised went into the operating budget to be used where needed. This year, all funds raised will go directly towards technology.
As our school grows and technology continues to advance, all of our Guilford Day School students need to be able to have frequent access to updated computers and software. A large percentage (54%) of our students has been diagnosed with dysgraphia or other written language disability. While all of our students benefit from extensive exposure to keyboarding, these students in particular need to use the computer for much of their written work. Also, 38 percent of our students have been diagnosed with a reading disability. These students greatly benefit from specialized programs that are able to read text aloud. A growing student body necessitates a larger number of updated computers for constant student use.
Many of the specialized programs that our students need will only work on updated computers. All of our students in grades 1-5 take keyboarding once per week, using a highly motivating and effective program. Our high school graphic design class as well as the high school yearbook class use special programs daily. The eighth grade computer test has moved to an online version, which requires the use of updated computers to practice and take the test.
The unique academic needs of our students necessitate that an adequate number of updated computers be readily available. With these needs in mind, we have three technology goals for this school year. We would like to update one of our labs in the media center, purchase a laptop cart with 10 laptops to be used as a mobile computer lab, and update faculty and staff computers.
We are grateful for the continued support of the Parent Faculty Association, who has again this year identified our technology needs as its educational initiative. Although they will be able to provide a lot of assistance towards our goals, we still need your help. We hope that you received a letter earlier this month regarding the Scholarship Endowment Campaign, and want to stress that that campaign is our major focus. We are striving towards 100% participation in the Scholarship Endowment. However, we hope that you understand our need to raise money to fulfill the technology needs of our current students and will donate to the Annual Fund if you are still able.
Remember, each dollar raised through the Annual Fund will go directly towards meeting our technology goals. Thank you for your continued support of Guilford Day School as we work to change the lives of our students.