Skip To Main Content

Campus and Sustainability

In the words of our mission, we are “cheerfully committed" to "the faithful stewardship of the earth.” 

Our community has a deep appreciation for the gift of our physical spaces and recognizes the responsibility that accompanies this gift. Woven into the education of our students, the use of our land, and the daily life of our community members, is gratitude for the history and spiritual nature of our campus.

Campus Master Plan

GS Aerial Photo.

 

Creating a Vision for the Future

The George School Long-Term Campus Master Plan

George School is graced with a beautiful space to live out its mission. As responsible stewards of this campus, we value the history and spiritual nature of both the land and the school. We have an obligation to ensure that our use of this land aligns with our goals and values and meets the school’s ever-evolving community and programmatic needs.

The vision outlined embraces the uniqueness of our campus and aligns our use of it with the school’s strategic plan in order to best support programmatic needs for our current and future students.

We are grateful to all who have been involved in the two-year process of creating this plan. Thank you to our board members, administrators, faculty, and staff on our Campus Master Plan Steering Committee for engaging with members of the community in town halls, focus groups, meetings, and conversations to begin to imagine a future for George School's campus.

Goals

  • Guide decisions on campus land use, development, and preservation.
     
  • Challenge existing thinking and norms regarding function and use of campus buildings and spaces.
     
  • Generate fresh ideas and new opportunities for modifying and using our physical spaces to enrich school programming.
     
  • Embrace the uniqueness of George School’s campus and value the history and spiritual nature of the school.

Guiding Principles

  • Align with the Strategic Plan and use a school mission-focused approach.
     
  • Flexibly support academic program excellence.
     
  • Consider philanthropy.
     
  • Support financial and environmental sustainability measures.
     
  • Seek to differentiate George School and provide community benefit.

Areas of focus

  • Solidify academic quad.
     
  • Foster interdisciplinary teaching and learning.
     
  • Improve accessibility.
     
  • Strengthen the residential core.
     
  • Present a clear and clean impression behind Main Building.

Major Projects


Transformative projects that require significant funding, careful design, and planning.

  • New academic interdisciplinary building.

  • New addition and renovation to join Bancroft and Spruance-Alden Science Center, solidifying the academic quad.
  • New dining/community building and renovation.

WHAT’S NEXT?

A Master Plan Coordination Committee consisting of Board and administrative team members has been established. The main focus of this committee is to generate forward momentum as we begin realizing the master plan in timely, thoughtful, and strategic ways.

This long-range plan is designed for phased implementation as financing and fundraising become available, and offers a flexible framework as academic, residential, and community needs grow and evolve. At its core, the Campus Master Plan allows for an optimal learning environment for both current and future George School students.

Recent Campus Updates

Several students roasted marshmallows at the George School firepit.

Completed Projects

Our Physical Plant Department has been hard at work updating our campus facilities and coordinating projects throughout the campus.


Here's what's new:
 

  • Community fire pit gifted by Trustee Brian Wise '93 in honor of his class.

  • Updated wayfinding signage throughout campus.

  • EV charging station in FAC parking lot.

  • Updated shared residential spaces.


WHAT’S NEXT?
  • Walton Auditorium updates beginning in summer 2025.

 The Environmental Stewardship Oversight Committee (ESOC) meets quarterly throughout the year continually moving toward a position of leadership in the area of environmental sustainability. Areas of focus include construction and renovation projects, student and faculty initiatives, and working closely with the Physical Plant Committee to incorporate best practices related to energy efficiency by ensuring increased visibility in our internal and external communications as well as drawing from the expertise of alumni and community.

Student Focus on Sustainability

Green Initiative Contest

This initiative is to encourage George School students to develop new proposals for improving environmental awareness and enhancing environmental education on the George School campus. Students can work independently or in groups to submit proposals that focus on energy conservation, environmental education, educational community outreach, renewable energy, or sustainable living. 

Here's how it works:

  • Students are invited, as individuals or groups, to submit proposals that describe their idea; a statement of how their idea reflects part of George School's mission: faithful stewardship to the earth; how it would enhance student campus life; and how it would have an environmental impact a local or global level.
     

  • Participants typically have six weeks during the school year to develop and submit a proposal to Director of Physical Plant Robert H. Kleimenhagen, Jr., CFM, SFP, ProFM. The contest is held bi-yearly.
     

  • Finalists are notified and prepare oral presentations to make at a panel comprised of trustees and faculty members of the Environmental Stewardship Oversight Committee (ESOC), Finance Committee, and Physical Plant Committee (PPC).
     

  • Winners are then selected and work with Physical Plant to further develop the scale of their project, review funding and budget details, the project timeline, and move forward with construction and implementation of their initiative on campus.