"Garden City Community School has been a godsend for our family. This school is an amazing collection of compassionate, dedicated teachers like we have never seen. We have one child diagnosed with Autism, another with Asperger's Syndrome and twins in first grade. Garden City has reached out to our children, where they are, and encouraged their strengths while challenging the areas in which they are not as strong. Because of the small class sizes, and the interaction between the different classrooms, our children have grown socially and verbally. Our children come home, daily, with information they've learned from school, wanting to talk about what their teachers have taught them. They feel loved and valued by the staff, and safe in the school environment, with the other children. Cindy Hoovel has proven herself as a leader, and has made the effort to communicate with us in ways that make us feel valued and respected as parents and as a family. GCCS's focus on the 5 R's - Respect, Responsibility, Resourcefulness, Reliability and Resilience, have strengthened our children as individuals and as community members - and they assist in parenting, at home, as well! We trust Garden City Community School with the most important people in our lives - our children."

Nathan and Katie Coe.
(parents of Alexzander, Gabriel, Michaella and Charles)

"The dedication shown by the staff at GCCS is inspiring. I believe that it does take a village to raise a child, and at GCCS my daughters have role models that I believe in. When I decided to enroll my daughters at GCCS, it was the staff bios on the school website and meeting the staff that really helped make my final decision. It is important to me to be involved in my daughter's school experience. I have been welcomed and encouraged to participate in my daughters' classes and at all levels of school involvement."

Candy Wildt

"I never thought I’d hear my son explaining to me the differences between Incan, Mayan and Aztec cultures. He has become genuinely engaged in the learning process. Garden City Community School’s philosophy of facilitating learning works well for him and allows him to be successful in the classroom."

Laurel York Odell

"My son is a gifted and talented 6th grader who is absolutely thriving at the Garden City Community School! Although he tested as being creatively gifted in his prior traditional elementary school, and had high ISAT test scores and was reading at a college level at the beginning of his 6th grade year, the traditional middle school approach was leaving him feeling squashed, unhappy, and beginning to truly hate school and learning. Our home life in the evenings were filled with hours of homework and stress and no time for connecting as a family, and despite his hard work and obvious abilities, he was starting to come home with D’s and F’s. I saw his self-esteem and his love of learning disappearing and our family life deteriorating. Within days of starting school here, my son was back to being his happy, creative self, and the school-related stress in our family disappeared. We found time in the evenings, again, to talk and read and play games, and to reconnect as a family. Now my son enjoys school, has recaptured his love of learning, and is using his intelligence and creativity in an environment where they are encouraged and welcomed. His grades are back up and he is proud of his success, and I am proud of him. Thank you, Garden City Community School!"

Ester Zack

(return to top of page)

Student Voices

Letters to future 7^th & 8^th graders from our oldest students at GCCS

"Dear Possible New Student,

You should really consider attending this school. This school is pretty different from “regular” school. GCCS is an art-based school, which is good if you especially like art. The school is k-8 and the classes are split between two different grades. It’s similar to an elementary school, but just because we have one main teacher, and we’re in a classroom most of the day instead of going to several different classes every 45 minutes. We have good teachers and we do something fun every day, usually. Garden City Community School is a good school to go to and I strongly recommend it."

Jasmine

"Dear Student,

You should really come to our school. I think you would really like it. Everything we do pretty much you have a say in. We are project-based school so we never really work in text books, and are always having fun. Most of the time you don’t even realize you are learning because we are having so much fun. But when the test comes or questions, you have all the answers correct. It’s really nice here at GCCS. Coming from a student’s perspective, it’s great and I hope you can join us."

Lacey

"Dear Student,

There are many cool things about GCCS. Because we are such a small school, we have one 8th grade teacher and one class. Therefore you really get a chance to get to know the other students in your class. The other thing is, you don’t have any homework!! The teachers are very cool and I think you would like it here."

Chloe

"Dear New Student,

I think you should join this school because kids here at GCCS learn a lot of things, but at the same time have fun. We have a daily routine every day, but every class’s routine is different. Us 7th and 8th graders just finished out Asia projects, but with the school we are doing a process of Dancing Through Schools dance practice for two weeks straight, which will end up in a performance. We have a whole-school community every Wednesday and we have one in our classrooms every day. We also have break at some point in the day. So I hope you have fun here new student."

Gretchen

(return to top of page)