Rebecca Kostich, Isabelle Colantuonio, Jonathan O'Connor

GDRHS has invited local artist Judy Romatelli (Periwinkle Art & Glassworks) back to the school to lead a fused glass workshop with students who have expressed an interest in art. Each student will create a fused glass leaf that will be placed onto a 2D or 3D sculpture in the shape of a tree. This is the second phase of a collaborative community glass mural first begun in 2023 with a grant from the Arts Boosters. The workshop will be held during Term 3 (January - April 2026) when most advanced art classes are scheduled and will include 60-80 students in those classes. The tree sculpture will be permanently installed in a highly visible location either at GDRHS or downtown Groton.

Jennifer Dineen, Alyson Cullen

GDEF funded the purchase of (30) sets of Rekenrek manipulatives for use by all District kindergarten and grade 1 teachers, including SPED teachers.

Lisa Sama

In alignment with MA science, technology and engineering (STE) standards and requirements, 7th grade students spend two weeks building working paper speakers. This unit explains the function of a communication system and the role of key components: the source, encoder, transmitter, receiver, decoder and storage. This grant funds the purchase (60) reusable paper speaker kits for hands-on learning in the classroom.

Samantha Emberley, Elizabeth Bailie

HOSA is a national program that allows students to learn about healthcare careers and compete in health-related events. This sponsorship provides funding for student attendence at the 2026 State Leadership Conference.

Christine Lamson

Currently there is growing student interest in an Advanced Placement African American Studies class. The History department would like to run the class as a pilot during the 2026/27 school year with the goal of making the class permanent in the program of studies. This grant funds the purchase of (25) AP-approved textbooks required for the pilot.

Deryn Copeland

This year's 8th grade has shown high-level enthusiasm about the ELA unit on S.E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders. The Tony-award winning Broadway stage adaptation of The Outsiders will be showing in Boston this spring and the 8th grade will be attending a show on April 8th at 7:00pm. This grant funds help offset the cost of ticket admission to families.

Erin Moriarty, Caitlin Vaillancourt, Elizabeth Pawlak

A group of parents will be hosting two screenings of the documentary Screenagers: Elementary School Age Edition on March 3rd and 7th in the GDRMS Performing Arts Center. Each screening will include a moderator to facilitate discussion and share actions families can take to establish healthy screen boundaries. These screenings would be offered to FloRo, SU and GDRMS families.

Marianne Breault

The courtyard space in the MS Stoddart Building (housing 5th and 6th grades) has significant deterioration of the garden planting beds and is currently overrun by invasive species.This grant requested funding for supplies to help repair and revitalize the courtyard space so it is suitable for experiential student learning opportunities in STEM. Work began last year with a successful community courtyard cleanup which brought together current and former students, faculty and administration, and family members who want to improve the space.

Brian O'Donoghue, Laura Taylor, Amy Wheeler-Sutton

Florence Roche requested funds to implement a new program called Parents for Caring Schools (a program developed by Harvard's Graduate School of Education.) This program will train a parent to lead fun and engaging lessons which teach students how to treat others with kindness, expand their circle of care, understand emotions while building a stronger sense of belonging at school. These lessons will be taught to students during FloRo's monthly all-school meetings during the 2025-26 school year and will utilize parent volunteers to plan and run them. The grant provides funds for access to the curriculum, program books, and assembly supporting materials.