Week of November 7

The Panther Post

News & Updates from Gum Springs Elementary School

Week of November 7-11, 2022

News & Updates

Congratulations to our October Tribe of the Month Winner: RUNASIMI (RED TRIBE)! As their reward, all Runasimi members may show tribe pride by wearing a favorite hat on MONDAY.
We are honored to pay to tribute to veterans and active service members who are part of our Panther family during this Friday's Veterans Day ceremony. We want to include information about your family members in our slideshow presentation, along with a picture if you have one you'd like to share. It means so much to our students to see their family members recognized for their loyalty and patriotism. Veterans and active service members are also invited to attend the ceremony at 9:00 A.M. with your special Panther. To have your veteran included in this year's slideshow OR to RSVP if you are a veteran or active service member, please complete THIS FORM. We have extended the deadline to Sunday, November 6 at 9:00 A.M. We will share a video of the ceremony on social media Friday, if you would like to watch as well. Thank you for helping us pay tribute to this very important part of our Panther family. If you are signed up to attend, please plan to park in the BACK of the school and enter through the gym exterior entrance. Please do not arrive before 8:30 A.M., as WJMS buses will be using the same entrance until that time.
If your child is planning to work on a project at home for the School Technology competition, please complete THIS FORM by Sunday, November 13 at 11:59 P.M. to let us know. We will communicate directly with participating families about how to submit projects for the competition. All projects are due Monday, November 28. If you need more information about the competition, check out last week's edition, using the "Previous Editions" link on the menu above.
Jackson County Holiday Connection is currently accepting applications for holiday family assistance. You can also sign up to support their efforts by sponsoring a local family. All information is available at https://www.jcfamilyconnection.com/.
Thank you for making time attend parent conferences during the last few weeks. We know that students are most successful when schools and families work together, and we appreciate your willingness to be an involved and supportive parent.
Don't forget to set your clocks back an hour this weekend! (Nobody wants to arrive at school any earlier than you have to on Monday, right?!)

This Week's After-School Clubs

Tuesday: Panther LEGO League

Thursday: Science Olympiad Team first practice

Upcoming Events

November 8: JCSS Food Drive (Free entry for any JCSS students who bring 2 two items to the JCHS-EJCHS basketabll scrimmage)

November 10: GSES Spirit Night at Chick-Fil-A Braselton, 4:00-8:00 P.M.

November 11: Veterans Day Program, 9:00 A.M. (See information in News and Updates.)

November 18: Teacher Workday - No School for Students

November 21-25: Teacher & Student Holidays

November 28: Student Technology Competition Projects Due

November 7-11 is National School Psychology Week, and we are honored to spotlight Rachel Greenlee, our GSES psychologist. Mrs. Greenlee works tirelessly to help meet our students' needs and is a true advocate for students! We value the wealth of knowledge she brings to our school and the passion with which she uses it to help our students grow. Thank you, Mrs. Greenlee, for investing in our students and staff!

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT:

GSES PTO

As we think about the things we are thankful for this November, our community of active GSES supporters is near the top of the list! We are fortunate to have such an active and invested PTO leading the charge and making all the magic happen behinds the scenes at GSES. They are the boots on the ground--planning and coordinating events like the Fun Run, Fall Festival, and upcoming Holiday Shoppe and giving tireless effort to raise money for important projects that help make GSES even better!

You can learn more about GSES PTO and how you can get involved by clicking HERE. This week, we'd like to introduce you to the officer team who leads this active group. They are all eager volunteers who want to connect to our community, so please be sure to introduce yourself next time you see one of them. Thank you to ALL of our PTO volunteers! We appreciate you so much!

president:

Kelli Eureka

My family has been in the Jackson County school district for the last five years, and I have served on the PTO Board for the last four years. The past two years I have served as the GSES PTO President. We grow bigger and bigger every year, and it just gets better! I love having different and fun events for our students. My main goal is to help make students’ elementary school years as fun as possible!

I am originally from Columbus, Ohio (Go Bucks!) and moved to Georgia in 2008. I have an 11 year old son at WJMS and a 2nd grader at GSES. I enjoy coaching my daughter’s softball team and chauffeuring my kids to all of their different sports! :) I love the small-town feel of our town and our schools. Both of my kids are very involved in Jackson County sports programs and have enjoyed them for the last five years.

I have truly enjoyed every year that I have served on the PTO Board!

vice-president:

Hannah Freyre

Hi, my name is Hannah Freyre and I have lived in Jackson County for a little over 3 years with my husband, Preston and my 2 daughters, Leighton who is a sophomore at JCHS and Hollen who is a 4th grader at GSES. First and foremost I am a wife & mom! I take an active part in volunteering for many local & state organizations, and I have coached cheerleading for many years. I love to travel, read, play tennis, and cook.

I love being a part of our JAXCO schools and community! The close-knit, warm and inviting community is truly about family & pride! I choose to volunteer for our wonderful school community because I want my children to see me have an active part in their education and to learn about servant leadership. I truly want to help continue to make JAXCO schools a statewide recognized system known for their academics, sports and sense of community.

We would love to welcome anyone interested in taking an active part in our schools to come and volunteer! We are so blessed to have the most amazing schools, administrators, teachers & staff! They work diligently for each and every child and that is exactly where we want the focus to be as a community.

secretary:

Liana Dorethy

I grew up in Snellville, Georgia, and I met my husband while attending Auburn University (WAR EAGLE!). We have been married for 14 years and have 2 beautiful children and 2 dogs. We moved back to GA in 2014 after living in Florida for 8 years. My son Knox is in 3rd grade at GSES, and my daughter Finlee is a 1st grader.

I joined the PTO Board because I wanted to be more involved behind the scenes. I love all the wonderful events that take place at Gum Springs and take great pride in knowing that I was a part of making the teachers, staff and students feel appreciated and cared for.

I love the tight-knit community and the pride that comes with living here!

Treasurer:

Bradi Newman

My husband and I have been married for 13 years and have two boys, Eli (12) who previously attended GSES and now is in 7th grade at WJMS and Charlie (8) who is a GSES 3rd grader. We also have a sweet three year old chocolate lab named Willow. We moved to Jackson County three years ago from Dacula and love the community we live in. I also am a business owner and recently opened a brick-and-mortar boutique in downtown Hoschton.

I was asked by other board members to be the Treasurer of the PTO Board because of my love for QuickBooks and Excel! I was always responsible for QB and other accounting needs at my previous employer, so what better way to contribute my skills and volunteer my time to our community. It has been an absolute blessing serving on the PTO board. I enjoy working alongside the women who volunteer their time. Getting to volunteer at the school is something that we weren't able to do in past years, so this has been such a great experience getting to go inside the school and interacting with staff and the kids.

I love that GSES (and the other schools in Jax Co.) still have a "small town feel" to it. The faculty and staff know us by name, and I feel that most families here have the same mentality of "it takes a village" to raise our children with respect, morals and values.

Hospitality:

Kelli Williams

I have been married for 13 years to Drew Williams, who’s a teacher at Jackson County High School and an assistant coach for Girls’ Basketball. Both of my sons attend GSES. Mason, who is 9, is Mrs. Pek’s 4th grade class, and Gaines, who is 7, is in Mrs. Auten’s 2nd grade class. My favorite job in the whole world is being a Mom to Mason and Gaines! I also work in Marketing for the Georgia Department of Agriculture. I taught Family and Consumer Sciences at Jackson County High School before taking the job with GDA. Our family has two goldendoodles, Chief and Mags.

I was asked almost two years ago to serve as the Hospitality Chair for PTO. My job as Hospitality Chair is so much fun because I get to plan monthly treats to give our faculty and staff as a thank you for ALL the hard work they put into helping our children learn and grow!

It’s been a pleasure to serve on the PTO Board at GSES. I get to work with such amazing women who also volunteer their time to our school.

We love GSES! From the moment we walked through the doors on Mason’s first day of Pre-K, it just felt like home. The teachers and staff are so friendly and create an incredible learning environment for our children.

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