Tracie Catlett, Head of School, Greensboro Day School

In an interview with Invest:, Tracie Catlett, Head of School at Greensboro Day School, discussed enrollment growth, experiential learning, and community connections. “Education at GDS is not solely about the transfer of information or knowledge to a student’s brain. Education is profoundly human. It is built on relationships, curiosity, challenge, and teachers who know their students and care deeply about who they are becoming,” Catlett said.

What have been the school’s most significant recent developments, and what are your priorities moving forward?
Greensboro Day School has experienced significant enrollment growth over the past seven years. With continued domestic migration into North Carolina and growing interest in the Triad, it has been exciting to see our community grow. A few years ago, we opened our first preschool building, the Helen Monroe Preschool, and our educational program now begins with two-year-olds. Families can invest in their children’s education from age two through grade 12 in one place where they can grow, flourish, and be known.
More recently, we cut the ribbon on our 50,000-square-foot Center for Student Life and F.M. Kirby III Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. The first floor includes a state-of-the-art dining commons, The W, and the Gail Isaacson Bernstein Center for Engineering and Innovation, which includes a makerspace, a robotics lab, a metal shop, and a wood shop. In these spaces, students explore emerging technologies and get their hands dirty. Also located on the first floor is a brand-new visual arts studio, ceramics lab, and art gallery.
The second floor is home to Kay R. Hagan Center for Public Purpose, the Kirby Center for Entrepreneurship, and the Kirby Wellness Center. The building serves as our new front door and a vibrant student hub, where young people can explore, create, work with their hands, solve problems, and engage in distinctly human ways that artificial intelligence cannot replace. Our priority now is to fully bring these spaces and programs to life and ensure they deepen the student experience across the school.

How are you incorporating entrepreneurship, innovation, and real-world problem-solving into the student experience?
We begin when students are young. Students in preschool and lower school tinker and begin exploring what it means to be a “maker.” Beginning in fifth grade, every student takes an introductory product design and fabrication class as well as a robotics class. In Upper School, students can pursue additional electives in product design, engineering, robotics, and more specialized opportunities.
For the first time, we are also offering a furniture-making course. High Point is the furniture capital of North America, so we see a natural opportunity to learn from the expertise in our own region. Students will begin with an idea, apply the design-thinking process, and ultimately create a finished product, such as a piece of furniture they create in the woodshop and/or metal shop.
We are also launching a public incubator lab, or iLab, through the Kay R. Hagan Center for Public Purpose. Businesses and community organizations will be able to bring us real challenges they are facing and invite our high-school students to contribute ideas and solutions. Students will work on these projects with guidance from the center’s director, connecting their learning directly to the greater Triad community.

What excites me most is that these students will not simply be working from a textbook or solving hypothetical problems. They will be engaging with real questions presented by leaders in local companies and organizations, developing the creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving skills they will need well beyond school.

How will the school extend these learning opportunities to the broader community?

We’ll do this in two ways — through the adult community in the Triad and our students’ direct work with local organizations across the Triad.

We often hear from our alumni, parents, grandparents, and parents of alumni who say they want to go back to school. In response, we recently launched the Lifelong Learning Lab, an after-hours program where adults can enroll in evening enrichment classes on campus, and it’s open to adults in the Triad community. Adults can enroll in an introduction to welding course, design and create pottery in a ceramics class, or attend a civil discourse course. Much of what we are doing centers on innovation, entrepreneurship, and connecting the community to Greensboro Day School and Greensboro Day School to the community.

For our students, each grade level at GDS K-12 is aligned with a United Nations sustainability goal. The students in each grade learn about the global issue through integrated curriculum and activities and participate in a culminating sustainability project. Many of our grade levels are partnered with outside organizations to complete their sustainability project, such as the Greensboro Science Center, Peacehaven Farms, SAGE dining, and Guilford County Schools. 

Ultimately, GDS aims to be a private school with a public purpose.

What does success under the school’s 2030 strategic vision look like?

Our strategic vision is aspirational: we want our students to reach their full potential, live lives of purpose, and create a lasting impact on the world. Students who graduate from Greensboro Day School leave with an incredibly strong academic foundation and attend top colleges. But what matters most is that they leave GDS prepared to enter the world with intellectual curiosity, strong critical-thinking skills, and the character to lead ethical, meaningful lives as good people.

How is rapid technological change affecting education and the way you approach teaching and learning?
We are living through a technological revolution. The world has always changed, but the pace of change today is extraordinary. Social media, artificial intelligence, and emerging technologies have transformed how we communicate, access information, and engage with the world. Students are entering classrooms increasingly distracted, making this an especially important moment for schools to think carefully and intentionally about the role of technology in learning.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, schools enthusiastically embraced one-to-one devices. Today, we know far more about children’s cognitive and neurological development, how attention affects learning, and the ways technology can contribute to distraction and mental health concerns. Education has always experienced pendulum swings, and we are now seeing some colleges and universities return to blue books, oral examinations, and other forms of assessment that require students to demonstrate what they know without relying on technology.
Schools must be willing to ask hard questions. What does it mean to place a laptop in a student’s hands? Is the device deepening engagement or competing for attention? Does the technology genuinely improve teaching and learning, or are we using it simply because it is available? These questions extend well beyond artificial intelligence.
Educators have sustained an extraordinary pace of change since the pandemic, and concerns about burnout are real. We often talk about intelligence quotient and emotional intelligence, but adaptability quotient may be becoming just as important. If constant change is now the norm, we must consider not only how we prepare students to adapt, but also how we support the educators and school systems being asked to evolve continuously. With fewer people entering the teaching profession, that responsibility is becoming even more urgent.
We recently redesigned our artificial intelligence framework, knowing that portions of it could be outdated within 60 days. That is the reality of this moment. Our responsibility is not to predict every technological development, but to create thoughtful classroom practices that prepare and protect students, preserve the deeply human nature of learning, and help young people use artificial intelligence with judgment, responsibility, and ethical purpose.

How are you supporting the mental health and well-being of students and faculty?

We are deeply invested in the health and well-being of our faculty and students. There’s a well-known saying that states you measure what you value. At GDS, we measure our community’s well-being and sense of belonging annually and use collective themes to inform programs intentionally designed to help students and employees expand their wellness toolbox. 

The new state-of-the-art Kirby Wellness Center offers a quiet, meditative space where students can sit unplugged in a distraction-free space during school-day breaks. Our inclusive dining program offers an all-you-can-eat lunch for our students and employees. Dining options are diverse and include healthy, made-from-scratch meals. We also offer a comprehensive wellness and community connection program for our employees, which includes a variety of opportunities like yoga classes, fitness classes, book club, organized walks in the local park, an occasional happy hour, an after-school craft class, and more. 

How do strong schools contribute to regional competitiveness and economic development?
Strong schools are essential to economic growth and community vitality. Thriving regions need not only excellent schools, but a diverse educational ecosystem that includes strong public schools, independent schools, faith-based schools, schools that specialize in supporting learning differences, Montessori programs, and other high-quality options.
That diversity matters because families and students have different needs, and different schools can provide distinct educational experiences. The more varied and high-quality our educational options are across North Carolina, the better positioned our communities are to attract and retain families, support employers, and encourage new businesses to invest in our state. A strong educational ecosystem is not separate from economic development. It really is foundational.

Where do you see the greatest opportunity to strengthen the school’s impact?
One of our greatest opportunities is to highlight what we already do exceptionally well that artificial intelligence cannot replace. Greensboro Day School teachers care deeply about children. One of our core values is “relationships for life,” and we will never stop emphasizing the human connection that is at the heart of our community.
Our teachers care deeply about whether students learn and who they become. Students come to school not only to gain knowledge, but to connect, develop character and citizenship, look each other in the eye, and build the interpersonal and life skills they will need beyond the classroom. Education at GDS is not solely about the transfer of information or knowledge to a student’s brain. Education is profoundly human. It is built on relationships, curiosity, challenge, and teachers who know their students and care deeply about who they are becoming.
We have two major construction projects behind us: the Helen Monroe Preschool and the Center for Student Life and F.M. Kirby III Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. This year, I am especially excited to move beyond construction and focus fully on people and programs. We can now live into these spaces, invest in one another, spend time together, and bring the programs within them to life.
It feels energizing to return our attention to what matters most. I began my career as a teacher, and I still believe education is my calling. Even amid the extraordinary pace of change brought on by the pandemic and now artificial intelligence, I have tremendous hope in the work we do as educators and in the opportunity and responsibility that schools have to help students become thoughtful, capable, and good human beings in the world.