Be BOLD Campaign

The 49,000-square-foot Center for Student Life, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation (SLEI) will be positioned in the center of campus and will provide a new central hub and main entrance for the school. The SLEI will replace the current administration building and Bengal Cafe  as well as the multipurpose building and the visual arts wing in the McMillion Media Center.

The SLEI will include centers for programs in entrepreneurship, design and the arts, engineering, public purpose, and student wellness. In addition to entrepreneurial incubator spaces, the SLEI will include an industrial makerspace that will accommodate textile design, woodworking, 3D printing, and welding. The SLEI will also include flexible, hands-on spaces allowing students to explore current and emerging technologies in robotics, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence.

Welcome Center

The new GDS Welcome Center will become the gateway to our school and the single access point for the rest of our campus, enabling us to demonstrate our hospitality while ensuring a safer, more secure campus.

Student Commons

This will be our students’ new home, a place where they can freely come and go over the course of their school day, whether they are meeting with friends, collaborating on a project, or stopping for a moment of respite.

Dining Commons

There is no better or simpler way to strengthen ties among our student body than to provide children with an opportunity to come together daily around a meal. By increasing our seating capacity to 400, we will be able to offer K-12 communal lunches for the first time ever. By incorporating elements of flexible design, we will gain the space we need to host conferences, events, and meetings all year long.

Community Commons

We want parents and alumni to stay involved and feel welcome every time they come to campus. With a bookstore, coffee shop, and meeting space specifically designed for parent groups, the Community Commons will give our parents a place to connect and gather.

Center for Design and the Arts

Classrooms and studios specifically designed for the visual arts, ceramics, graphic design, and textile design will ensure we meet surging demand for art classes, support students’ self expression and creativity, and provide the canvas we need to implement our comprehensive and integrated STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) curriculum.

Center for Engineering and Innovation

With woodshop (pictured above), an industrial makerspace, and a full range of tools at their fingertips for activities ranging from industrial design to woodworking and robotics, along with emerging technologies like virtual and augmented reality, our students will bring their ideas to life as they endeavor to engineer solutions using the same tools and technologies that are shaping the Triad’s economy and our students’ lives.

Center for Entrepreneurship

With collaborative working spaces and a pitch room, students will be able to apply the principles of design thinking and work together to develop their own startup ideas, identify solutions to problems posed by Triad businesses and nonprofits, and pitch their solutions to local community leaders.

Center for Public Purpose

This center will connect students with nonprofits located throughout the Triad, engage students in service learning opportunities across all grades, offer programs that strengthen students’ civic leadership skills, and serve as a community incubator and the hub for our growing all-school Student Philanthropy Council.

Wellness Center

With a focus on integrating research-based practices that support students’ social, emotional, and physical wellbeing, the Wellness Center will offer students a multi-functional space for relaxation, meditation, mindful breathing, and quiet connection. It will also serve as a learning center for nutrition, sleep, neuroscience, and mental health.

In the last three years, preschool enrollment at GDS has grown 93%! The construction of the new Helen Monroe Preschool is a strategic priority so we can continue to support enrollment demand in years to come. GDS has a longstanding tradition of providing an exceptional education for our students, and we are committed to continuing that tradition with a brand-new facility that will provide a safe and stimulating learning experience for our youngest Bengals. Spacious indoor and outdoor classrooms and a multisensory playground will provide nurturing learning spaces that allow our students to grow intellectually, physically, socially, and emotionally as they also sharpen their fine and gross motor skills. We plan to have the new preschool center ready for the 2024–25 school year. In the meantime, we will continue to offer our preschool program in the current Lower School building.

The new maintenance facility will be strategically relocated just behind the tennis center and will include public restrooms for tennis players, coaches, and spectators. A recent property acquisition paved the way for a new middle school driveway. The driveway (shown below) will run parallel with Lake Brandt Road and connect with the middle school main entrance driveway through the tennis center parking lot. This new driveway will increase carpool stacking and alleviate congestion on Lake Brandt Road during morning and afternoon carpool. We expect this project to be completed by August, 2024. 

In addition to enhancing our security camera software and adding additional security cameras on and around campus, GDS is also securing the perimeter of our campus with fencing and a welcome center gate at the north end of campus. Currently, about 80% of our campus perimeter is secured with a fence. We are working carefully and thoughtfully to balance safety with the importance of maintaining a warm and welcoming campus.