Blog

Community Spotlight: Mark Harris

Today’s spotlight shines on Mark Harris, community volunteer and father of senior-year student Sara Harris. HVAC extraordinaire Mark has been working around the school the past few weeks to ensure all three classrooms maintain a comfortable temperature for learning. Mark has donated his time to help the school with all things heating and cooling for the past four years; he has installed two HVAC systems for the school and he maintains them regularly.

According to Mark, he keeps coming back to help around the school because of “the quality of the education that my daughter receives and the professionalism of the people that teach her”. When he is not volunteering at TCS, Mark is an instructor at Community College of Baltimore County. We are very grateful for all of Mark’s work around the school!

Gearing up for back-to-school

It’s crunch time here at The Community School! The school is noisier than normal today as everyone hurries around putting the final touches on renovations, organizing, cleaning, and curriculum planning. As everything comes together in the later hours of the day, you can feel the excitement in the air. The staff met for one last check-in to prepare for the events of the day tomorrow. We know all of the hard work of the summer will pay off once the students are here. We look forward to seeing everyone here in the morning, well-rested and ready for another year of learning!

Community Spotlight: Eddie Gavin

We want to shine a spotlight of gratitude on Eddie Gavin, long-time member of the TCS community. Eddie has been working hard for a few weeks to make sure our building is ready for the students next Wednesday. He owns his own home improvement company, making him the perfect man for the job. Eddie has helped with every major TCS building project over the last 40 plus years.

Tom and Eddie were next-door neighbors in the 1970’s on 27th street, and in 1977 when Eddie was just 12 years old, he helped start the founding organization that would become The Community School. Eddie has been consistently involved in the organization ever since, and today he serves on our Board of Trustees. In fact, the Gavins’ involvement with TCS is a family affair. Four generations of the family have been involved including Eddie’s son who is a TCS graduate. Eddie’s brothers, Timmy and Kenny, and son Michael have been here working on the building as well. Eddie’s son Ryan, who also serves on the Board, has volunteered several evenings this past week to make sure the computers are set up for the start of school. 

Thank you so much, Gavin family, for all that you do – and happy birthday, Eddie! We appreciate you a lot!

Second Orientation Meeting Complete!

We welcomed another half of the community Thursday night at our second orientation meeting for students, families, and sponsors! As in the last meeting, we discussed community expectations around behavior and communication and changes for the upcoming school year. Aidan, a rising Junior, said “I learned a lot about how the school is going to be different this year. It was very informative and important for the students to know what will be happening”.

It was a great opportunity for the new and continuing families to introduce themselves and learn about each other. School starts just next week and we are so excited to jump back in to another successful year!

First Orientation Held for ’19-’20 School Year!

The first orientation meeting for the new school year was a success! We are counting down the days to the start of school, and the excitement is building. Half of the community, both new and continuing families, gathered together last night. We had a great mix of students, parents, guardians, sponsors, and siblings. On the agenda were introductions, community and school guidelines, and changes for the 2019 Fall Semester. These meetings are a great time for our continuing families to get to know our new members; it’s wonderful to see the community in action as we welcome the newcomers. Thank you to everyone who came out and participated!