’03 Grads Reunite to Support Campaign: Dartmouth graduate Marshall Bartlett (second from right) ran in a special election for the Mississippi House of Representatives, District 11, with the help of former classmate and Tulane graduate William Payne (center), his campaign manager and web designer. Showing their support at a recent political event in Como, MS were former GSL classmates (left to right) McCauley Williams, a UVA graduate, law student and intern with Paul Tudor Jones; Nick Palazola, a former Montessori teacher and current U of M student; and Justin Brooks, who is working for The Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Memphis.
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Ward
First graders were divided into three grou rehearsed for ps and several weeks with Mr. Robe dressed in ‘70 rt. They s, ‘80s, or ‘90 s costumes fo Celebration pe r the rformance in front of the wh big ole school.
Grace After Hours Profile:
Robert Ward
Italian Dinner!:
Mr. Kvande visits with ninth grade alumni
Cole O’Keeffe (’12) and Will Harwell (’12).
Hutchison Honors: At Hutchison’s Fall 2012 Sports Banquet, Claire Sentilles (‘11) was named MVP for varsity cross country, Anna Harwood (‘10) was named most improved player in JV volleyball, and Rainey Charbonnet (‘12) received the leadership award for freshman volleyball. Fun in D.C.: GSL Church’s organist Wesley Emerson visited D.C. in the fall and attended a small dinner party held in his honor by several GSL alumni. Front row:
Marynelle Wilson (’94), Wesley Emerson,
Elizabeth Tual (’00), host Kacey Hickey Davies (’85); back row: Anne Cook Burruss, John Burruss (’95) holding baby Jack Burruss, and Lulu Wilson (’99).
During the afternoons at GSL, he is best-known as Mr. Robert, long-time after-care instructor with the ready smile, easy laugh, and unflappable demeanor. But to hundreds of GSL and neighborhood children who have also been lucky enough to enroll in his summer camp dance classes, he is also an expert choreographer with some of the hottest dance moves around. In fact, dance is his first love, and when he is not working at GSL, Ward stays even busier running his professional dance company M-Town Image, which boasts more than 50 members and tours nationally, performing at such prestigious locales as New York’s Apollo Theatre and at several D.C. events during the recent presidential inauguration. At press time his company is rehearsing for an upcoming hip hop dance competition in Memphis, and planning for a tour in Rome that is scheduled in May. A native Memphian, Ward attended Douglass Elementary School and began training in dance at an early age. He continued to pursue these interests at Craigmont High School, where he also participated in choir and the marching band, graduating in 1998. He began working at GSL in 1999, and soon after launched his first week-long hip hop summer camp. The hip hop camp became one of GSL’s most popular offerings, and this summer he will offer three sessions. He is also in demand every year as a dance judge at the school’s Father-Daughter Dance. Finally, it has become a tradition for Ward to train the first graders for a dance performance at Celebration. This year’s “Dance Tribute to the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s” was perhaps his most ambitious work to date, garnering rave reviews from an enthusiastic student and parent audience. (View it on Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/59752483.)
“I guess I’m just a jack of all trades and kind of a Pied Piper of children around here,” Ward says with a smile. “I have always loved dance, but I was fortunate to get into leadership roles early on that allowed me the opportunity to help mentor younger dancers and form a company to pursue this interest. It really all started in my grandmother’s backyard, but now my company primarily trains at Davis Community Center and First Congregational Church. We travel as much as we can, and it’s a lot of work but I love it. I feel like I’m still 18; I’m living a fun life!” spring
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