May 22, 2023
Dear GUSD Staff, Friends, Families, and Students,
Graduation is this Thursday. Can you believe it? The 2023 Globe High School seniors will walk across the stage at Harbison Field and leave that evening as alumni of GHS. It seems that the longer I am in a school leadership role (this is my 29th year as a school superintendent), each year goes by more quickly than the previous one.
Just this past Tuesday, the Senior Awards were held at Globe High School. 2023 graduates were honored for various academic, athletic, community service, and scholarship achievements. It was very gratifying to watch as our students were honored for their various accomplishments. If you have never had the opportunity to attend one of those awards programs, I would encourage you to do so in the future. It is truly a remarkable event.
During the course of the evening our GHS seniors were recognized for the various institutional and local scholarships they are going to receive. An amazing statistic about the scholarships is that over $2,000,000 in scholarships were offered to the GHS Class of 2023. I believe GHS has plenty of students who excelled in part because Globe High School is positioned as a place where excellent students can achieve to almost any level they aspire to.
At the end of the evening I shared a few brief comments about how special Globe High School. Researchers have sought to determine what is the “perfect” size for a high school. Some experts suggest that bigger is better. They cite more class offerings, more variety of extracurricular programs, and better resources for facilities as advantages of larger schools. Other experts say smaller is better focusing on the more personal approach to students offered in a small school setting. I would support the position that Globe High School is nicely sized to be big enough to offer great opportunities to students (dual enrollment, wide variety of extracurriculars, and a diverse student body) while being small enough that each student can find their niche if they seek it out.
So, as we complete another school year, I thank all of you (students, staff, parents, families, and community) for your investment in the class of 2023. Your commitment to their success is paying dividends already. The school district vision “Capturing Hearts, Empowering Minds” is being lived out in our 2023 graduates.
Best wishes for a great summer,
Jerry Jennex, Superintendent