Residence Life
Discover new friendships.
"Residence life" is what happens outside of classes! Some students describe the experience as a year-long summer camp. They build very close friendships by relying on each other during the tough times and sharing the excitement of the good times.
When living with someone (or 127 someones), students learn and grow with each other which results in a closeness unparalleled in the traditional high school setting. GSSM students' campus life experience is very similar to college campus experience.
Evenings and Week-ends
As a residential high school, GSSM students do what most high schoolers do in the evenings and on weekends, except they have another 127 brothers and sisters to play with.
After classes, most students have dinner from 5 until 6 pm. From 6 until 8 p.m., they have club and society meetings, play sports, play music or just "chill" by watching TV, playing pool or video games.
From 8 until 10 p.m., GSSM students QUEST - which really means Quality, Uninterrupted, Enforced, Study Time. From 10 until 10:30 p.m., there's "happy half" when all students (male and female) mingle and socialize one last time for the day. At 10:30 p.m., all students return to their rooms for "room check" and then relax and wind down until "lights out" at midnight.
Weekends are more laid back with no QUEST or lights out. GSSM students are like most high school students and spend the weekend mornings sleeping in and the rest of the day studying, doing laundry, going on trips, going home to visit their family, or just hanging out.
Click here to see a copy of the 2007-08 Student Handbook.
Residence Life Staff
The residence life staff is charged with challenging and supporting personal growth and development of each student. The residence life staff members encourage this growth through their emotional support, counseling, informal advice, and programming and activities. For example, an RA might have an informal meeting with a student to discuss how to get along with their roommate or maybe meet with a student to counsel them through difficult times.
More formally, residence life staff members are responsible for programming with the students on their floor. The programming offered is educational, informative, fun and is targeted toward student growth and development.
Some students enjoy the residence life part of GSSM so much, they joke about how much fun it would be to live on campus without classes!
Dining Services
Dining Services staff members begin to feel like family. Not only do they know many students by name, but they also pride themselves on offering dining experiences that are tasty, healthy, inclusive of many different "tastes," and in some cases might be referred to as better than mom's homecooking!
Health Services
Just like at home, GSSM students get sick, too. GSSM students can see the nurse during those times to be assessed and either referred to a doctor's office or sent upstairs for bedrest for the day, at which time the student's instructors would be notified. Students who are out sick for the day have their meals delivered to their rooms by the residence life staff. If a student is not feeling well after the nurse leaves, the student will then see the residence life counselor on duty for any medical concerns.
Security
Security officers keep students safe at night and on the weekends. The security team never sleeps, as their job is to make sure everyone is safe and secure even while the GSSM students are sleeping. GSSM's keycard swipe system also ensures only residents are allowed in the building after 5 p.m. by using their GSSM ID. Officers are trained in emergency procedures for fire, tornado, power outage, medical concerns, etc. These officers make hourly rounds inside and on the perimeter of the building.
