There is no question that this year is one for the history books. The anxiety brought on by an unprecedented pandemic had the potential to bring the school year to a halt before it even began. Instead, every student, faculty and staff member, administrator, and GFA family united with a goal of moving forward together. Along the way, new partnerships were formed, unknown talents emerged, the campus was transformed, and innovation became the new normal.

Part of what it means to be a 21st century student is to extend education beyond the classroom. Greens Farms Academy not only encourages its students to examine their entire world — by asking questions, identifying problems, discovering and sharing solutions — but it identifies this level of inquiry as a critical component in developing the thinkers and doers of tomorrow.

Senior Sanskriti Kumar has been working alongside Connecticut state representatives for the last couple years hoping to ensure the safety of food-allergy sufferers. Together they have written and hope to pass legislation that would require restaurants to implement better practices to ensure the safety of those with food allergies.

Often, great ideas are born from the desire to fulfill a need. Computer science aficionados-turned-advocates Neil Chaudhari ’24 and junior Will McGonagle ’23 noticed that their shared passion for programming didn’t have much of a community presence, particularly among people their age. That, they decided, needed to change.

Anthony “Ace” Patterson considers his world to be an open songbook. From his formative years at GFA to his current job at Facebook, music weaves in and out of his life, tying each experience to the next. Rapper, marketer, family man, volunteer, mentor, Patterson sees music as a way not just to fuse together the different facets of his life, but to share them with others.

Upper School Science and Sustainability Teacher Heather Heenehan, Ph.D., studied Hawaii’s spinner dolphins while pursuing both her master’s and doctorate degrees at Duke University. What began in 2009 became an amazing seven-year journey for Heenehan as she and her colleagues researched the effects that tourism had on the health of this dolphin population.

Lily Miesmer and Jack Miner launched their brand in 2020, a year now-notorious for instilling uncertainty. Yet instead of waiting it out, they discovered ways to take the difficulties of COVID — the isolation of being in lockdown, the abandonment of regular routines, the financial chaos — and turn them into opportunities.

Imagine a man carries a gene variant called MAOA-L — also known called the “human warrior gene” because it has been associated with aggressive, violent behavior. Now imagine that he has committed a violent crime in the midst of an argument with his girlfriend. Can his actions be attributed to a genetic predisposition?