GDS Receives Historic $5 Million Gift

We are thrilled to announce that Greensboro Day School has received a $5 million gift from Steve and Jackie Bell—the largest gift to the school in its 53-year history.

The gift serves as seed funding for the school’s planned Center for Student Life, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, which was recently announced by Tracie Catlett as one of the priorities of the school’s new Campus Master Plan.

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

“Jackie and Steve Bell have been tremendous supporters of and investors in education in North Carolina at the college and PK–12 levels,” stated Head of School Tracie Catlett. “We are so grateful for their passion and historic philanthropic support for Greensboro Day School’s future Center for Student life, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation. Greensboro needs a strong public and private school system to support the economic growth that is happening now and to attract future growth in the Triad. This Center will deepen the school’s connections within the community and ready our students for what’s next in business, technology, design, and innovation, and it will serve to strengthen the school’s commitment to academic excellence, public purpose, and adolescent wellbeing. The Bells’ historic gift has certainly created significant momentum for making this vision a reality.”

Jackie and I have loved living in Greensboro for over 53 years. We have been fortunate that 13 of our children and grandchildren have attended GDS, including 4 who are at the school this year. Greensboro Day School has been a very positive influence on the Bell family! The high quality and dedication of the faculty and staff will ensure a great learning and social environment for current and future Greensboro area students. Our gift will help create a new facility that will foster innovation and equip students with the skills they need to become leaders in the Triad and beyond.

Steve Bell

“We are very grateful to Steve and Jackie Bell for their historic and transformative gift,” said Chief Philanthropy Officer Dr. Ian Patrick. “The Bells know that having a top-flight independent school such as Greensboro Day School is essential to the city’s future economic development efforts, and I know that there are many parents or grandparents of GDS students or alumni that feel the same way. We will be calling on everyone in the GDS community to help make this exciting project a reality.”