Garrison Forest School

'' Garrison Forest was established by Mary Moncrieffe Livingston (1869-1956), the head of a day school in Kingston, New York, in 1910. She had previously visited Baltimore to visit her sister and brother-in-law and was invited by the community to start a co-ed school. Within two years of opening, Livingston purchased an additional of land and expanded the school's facilities, including the addition of a stable. Livingston served as the first headmistress from the school's inception until her retirement in 1929. At this time, there were 300 students between ages 10 and 18 and the school had about 1,000 alumni. Under Hlavacek, the school bought a farm near Butler with the intention of developing it into a new campus, but eventually sold the site and returned to developing the existing campus. She was succeeded by G. Peter O'Neill, Jr., who began as an interim head before taking on the position permanently. He retired in 2014, making him the second-longest serving school head at 20 years, with Marshall and Offutt having worked 31. He was replaced by Kimberly Roberts (2014-2017). In 2019, an anonymous donor gave $5 million to the school, the largest donation in GFS history. The donation was used to renovate the main Upper School Building and library and to construct a new dormitory. As of the 2021/2022 academic year, 555 students were enrolled. ==Academics and extracurriculars==

The student to faculty ratio at Garrison Forest is about 7:1. There is also a beekeeping club to take care of the two bee colonies introduced to campus in 2018 with a grant from the Central Maryland Beekeeping Association. In 2004, O'Neill worked to create the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program, which allowed upperclassmen to work in labs at Johns Hopkins University twice a week for 15 weeks. During World War II, students at Garrison Forest started the Service League, a student-led community outreach program. Examples of affiliated charities and organizations include Ruth's Closet (House of Ruth), Women for Afghan Women, and the Baltimore Humane Society. Since 2005, the GFS faculty, staff, and administrators have sponsored a Habitat for Humanity house in Baltimore, an annual project that grew out of the school's initial reaction to Hurricane Katrina. The first GFS Habitat house was given to a family who relocated from New Orleans to Baltimore post-hurricane. GFS also offers the Jenkins Fellow program, a summerlong service project fellowship that can take place in the United States or abroad. The Lower School has had a financial competency curriculum, which includes visits from financial experts and virtual stock market trading games, at its core since 2015. GFS' a capella group is called the Ragged Robins after the school flower. ==Campus life==

Boarding High school students have the option to live on campus in one of three residence halls. About 27% of the student population boards. Athletics , also called the ragged robin Athletics have been a crucial part of the CFS curriculum since its foundation. On-campus facilities include an equestrian center with more than 15 paddocks; a show and event area; an indoor polo ring; four athletic fields, two of which are turf; six tennis courts; and the Elizabeth B. Searle '74 Athletic Center, which was opened in 2002. One of the earliest intramural sports at GFS was soccer, which was introduced in 1931 and acknowledged by the Baltimore Sun as the "only girls' institution in this vicinity known to teach soccer in the spring." A cow pasture on campus was converted into a hockey field; in its early days, before GFS had other teams to play, students competed with faculty. The GFS polo program was started in 1979 by Martha Williams's father. Between 1995 and 2012, six players had won the Polo Training Foundation's Interscholastic Player of the Year Award. Traditions Upon enrollment, high school students are split into two spirit teams: light blue or dark blue. At graduation, students wear white formal clothing and are given a bouquet of ragged-robins, the school flower, to carry during the commencement ceremony. ==In media==

The 1990 film Metropolitan refers to Garrison Forest as "one of those horsey girls' schools." == Notable graduates ==

• Louise Serpa, class of 1943 - rodeo photographer • Sheila Isham, c. 1945 - artist • Adele Simmons, c. 1945 - academic, former president of Hampshire College and MacArthur Foundation • Flo Smith Stone, class of 1956 - founder of the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital and the Margaret Mead Film Festival • Alexandra Creel Goelet, c. 1958 - heiress, forester • Wendy Watriss, class of 1960 - photographer, journalist, curator, artistic director • Marty Moss-Coane, class of 1967 - host and executive producer of Radio Times • Cricket Hooper Jiranek, class of 1977 - multiple Tony Award winner, Broadway producer • Carol Graham, class of 1980 - author, Leo Pasvolsky Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution • Patricia E. Campbell-Smith, class of 1983 - United States Court of Federal Claims judge, first African American judge appointed as Chief Judge • Sarah LeBrun Ingram, class of 1984 - amateur golfer • Alyson Grine, class of 1988 - North Carolina Superior Court judge; first woman to be a judge in the district and the only openly LGBTQ+ judge in the state upon her 2021 appointment • Sara Naomi Bleich, class of 1996 - noteworthy American psychologist and academic • Beth Botsford, class of 1999 - double gold medalist swimmer in the 1996 Summer Olympics • Jamie O'Brien, class of 2006 - television host and former Miss Maryland Teen USA ==References==