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Gray Stone News


March 13, 2024

Gray Stone marksmanship teams take top honors

Gray Stone Day School students won first, second and third during a regional competition that included 32 teams.

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October 30, 2023

National Honor Society taps new members

The Gray Stone Day School National Honor Society held its annual induction ceremony on October 18th. Twenty-five students were tapped by current members of the organization along with National Honor Society President Matayah Grubbs who led the candlelight ceremony.

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October 3, 2023

Gray Stone Mock Trial finishes 3rd at Yale Invitational Tournament

The Gray Stone Day School Mock Trial team successfully competed in the Yale University Mock Trial Bulldog Invitational tournament September 30-October 1. This national tournament pulled in over 30 teams from across the nation where participants engage in trial simulations and showcase their critical thinking and public speaking skills, as well as knowledge of legal practices and procedures.

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September 14, 2023

Gray Stone students awarded with Academic Honors from College Board National Recognition Programs

Students at Gray Stone Day School have earned academic honors from the College Board National Recognition Programs. These programs celebrate students’ hard work in high school and showcase their strong academic performance. The academic honors for rural area, Black, Indigenous, and/or Latino students are an opportunity for students to share their strong academic achievements with colleges and scholarship programs that are seeking to recruit diverse talent.

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August 29, 2023

U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT: Gray Stone ranks among top high schools in N.C.

US News and World Report has released the 2023 rankings for the Best High Schools in America. Gray Stone Day School ranked 16th out of all public high schools in North Carolina. It ranked 125th nationally out of 1,854 public charter high schools and ranked #612 (top 2%) out of 25,000 public high schools reviewed in the nation.

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August 14, 2023

Seniors Retreat to Mount Shepherd

On Friday, August 11th, the class of 2024 kicked off their final year at a day-long retreat to Mount Shepherd located in Asheboro. This annual tradition for seniors is a way to prepare for their final lap of their high school careers bonding over shared memories and the monumental year ahead of them.

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May 5, 2023

Gray Stone Senior named National Semifinalist in International Geography Bee

Connor Conforti, a senior at Gray Stone Day School, recently competed in the International Geography Bee in Arlington, Virginia and was named a Varsity Division semifinalist.

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March 29, 2023

Carter selected for NC Governor’s School

Anna Lynn Carter, a junior at Gray Stone Day School has been selected to attend the 2023 session of the North Carolina Governor’s School, a 4-week summer program offered by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

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March 28, 2023

Seniors visit the Lowcountry

As the COVID-19 pandemic forced students and schools to change their daily routines, restrictions for some traditions such as overnight field trips, have lifted. The Gray Stone Day School graduating class of 2023 were finally given the opportunity to travel to the Charleston SC area to enjoy some quality time as a class before graduation.

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March 27, 2023

Gray Stone Day School Project Reviews

As part of the graduation requirements, students at Gray Stone Day School are required to perform a service project while in high school. They must also do a presentation before a review committee to share their project. After telling about the project itself, students reflect how this experience impacted others as well as themselves.

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March 15, 2023

Juniors visit Washington, DC

The junior class of Gray Stone Day School recently returned from a 3-day field trip to Washington, DC. Organized and led by social studies teacher, Mr. Clay Honeycutt, 56 students and 5 chaperones boarded charter buses on the early morning hours of March 1 to embark on some the nation’s most treasured landmarks.

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March 2, 2023

Races illustrate energy transfer at Gray Stone

Students in Billy Mills’ engineering-design class at Gray Stone Day School were greeted with an unusual challenge to open the 2023 spring semester.

The challenge? Build a self-propelled mini-car.

The motor? A mouse trap.

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February 28, 2023

Spanish Honor Society inducts new members

The Spanish Honor Society (SHS) of Gray Stone Day School celebrated its annual induction ceremony on February 22 nd inducting 11 new members. To keep with tradition, the ceremony takes places at a local Hispanic restaurant where students and chapter leaders conduct the ceremony entirely in Spanish. This year the club visited Jalapenos Restaurant located in Albemarle.

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February 14, 2023

AP Environmental Science Studies at Aquaponics Greenhouse

Studies show that one of the best places to learn is an outdoor classroom. Students in Ms. Heather Ferguson’s AP Environmental Science class recently took part in a living classroom working with soil science and aquaponics at Juneberry Ridge, a working farm located in Norwood, NC.

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February 13, 2023

Gray Stone receives honor for diversity

Gray Stone Day School has earned the College Board AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award for achieving high female representation in AP Computer Science Principles. Schools honored with the award have expanded girls’ access in AP computer science courses.

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February 7, 2023

Gray Stone Mock Trial places second in regional competition

The Gray Stone Day School Mock Trial team competed in the 31st annual North Carolina Advocates for Justice Mock Trial regional competition on February 4 in Gastonia and Salisbury. Gray Stone Day School sent two teams out of 72 across the state participating in the competition.

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January 30, 2023

Gray Stone Students Compete in The Great History Challenge

Gray Stone Day School middle school students recently competed in The Great History Challenge, a national academic competition where students are asked trivia-style questions allowing students to demonstrate their history knowledge. All questions come from the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) curriculum standards.

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January 19, 2023

Gray Stone holds a Mental Wellness Day for Students

Gray Stone Day School continues to spread awareness about the importance of mental health with its partnership with Mission 34, the nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating the stigma surrounding mental illness through education and awareness. High school students were given the opportunity to experience an interactive event focusing on overall mental wellness.

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January 12, 2023

Digital & Social Media Presenter Addresses Gray Stone Students and Parents

On January 10th, Gray Stone welcomed professional speaker and “Edutainer” Robert Hackenson, Jr. to present an engaging and interactive student and special parent session on Social Media Landmines and the potential issues and safety concerns that come along with modern technology.

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October 27, 2022

Seniors Recognized as Commended Students in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program

Gray Stone Day School seniors Ritika Ravikumar and Andy McLeod have been named Commended Students in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program. They are among 34,000 of the approximately 50,000 high scorers who took the 2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test during their junior year.

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October 20, 2022

Gray Stone holds Knightfest

Gray Stone Day School held its annual Knightfest on Friday, October 7 th for both middle and high school students. Preceding the homecoming soccer game, the event was planned and executed by Melissa Eudy’s high school Leadership class.

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September 22, 2022

State Assistant Superintendent of Innovation visits Gray Stone

Gray Stone Day School welcomed special visitor, Dr. Andrew Smith, State Assistant Superintendent of Innovation with the Department of Public Instruction, on Friday, September 16.

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September 1, 2022

Gray Stone Students Receive National Recognition

Nine Gray Stone Day School students have earned academic honors from the College Board National Recognition Programs. These programs grant underrepresented students with academic honors that can be included on college and scholarship applications and connect students with universities across the country, helping them meaningfully connect to colleges and stand out during the admissions process.

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August 29, 2022

Gray Stone partners with Mission 34 to address mental health needs

On Friday, August 26, Gray Stone staff and faculty attended a staff development training on meeting the mental health needs of its students and community. Charlotte resident Fonda Bryant, a mental health and suicide prevention advocate dedicated to helping save lives, shared her own personal struggle with depression and provided QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) training and tips on recognizing suicidal warning signs, clues and communication skills to act vigorously to prevent a possible tragedy.

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August 9, 2022

Staff Retreat held at Juneberry Ridge

On Friday, August 5th , Gray Stone staff and administration enjoyed a day-long retreat to Juneberry Ridge located in Norwood, NC to kick-off the 2022-2023 school year.

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June 15, 2022

Gray Stone hosts STEM camp

Gray Stone Day School recently hosted two summer STEM camps for rising 6th and 7th graders. They will sponsor two more toward the end of the summer as well.

Utilizing their new Design Lab space, Jeff Brown created a camp where students built a hydraulic robot.

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June 6, 2022

Gray Stone Day School - 2022 Graduation

After 4 years of challenges, both academic and social, the Gray Stone Day School graduates celebrated their accomplishments on a beautiful Saturday morning on the soccer field.

While high school principal, Jeff Walter, announced their names, Stephen Chambers, Chairman of the Board of Directors, presented 89 seniors from seven counties their diplomas. The students earned almost 2.8 million in scholarships and 96% are choosing to attend college in the fall.

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May 3, 2022

Spring Concert Series at Gray Stone Day School

On Friday, April 29th, Gray Stone Day School presented a spring concert series featuring its very own music teacher and flutist Ricardo Gil accompanied by two other musicians, harpist Grace Wepner Ludtke and violinist Julian Smart. The musicians showcased their talents for students, staff and guests of Pfeiffer University in the Henry Pfeiffer Chapel.

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April 28, 2022

U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT: Gray Stone ranks among top 10 high schools in N.C.

Out of more than 600 high schools in North Carolina recently ranked in U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 “Best High Schools” report, Gray Stone Day School found itself among the top 10.

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April 4, 2022

Gray Stone STEM students compete in 2022 chariot races

Students in Jeff Brown’s Design Lab classes recently concluded their Capstone Spring project of designing, building and racing Roman Chariots. For the past 2 months students used the physics principles of Potential Energy, Kinetic Energy and Momentum plus creative and innovative thinking to build Chariots conforming to detailed rules and restrictions.

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February 8, 2022

Gray Stone Mock Trial Team battles at regional competition

On February 5, the Gray Stone Day School Mock Trial Team competed against 7 teams in the 2022 NCAJ High School Mock Trial Regional Competition. North Carolina Mock Trial is an academic competition organized by the Carolina Center for Civic Education. It involves students portraying as lawyers and witnesses in a simulated criminal or civic trial. Teams are scored by real judges and attorneys based on their knowledge of the law and the ability to think on their feet.

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January 14, 2022

Gray Stone Day students earn national recognition

Two Gray Stone Day School students have been selected by The National College Board for the National Rural and Small Town Recognition Award. Jacqueline Steenwyk and Ethan Wilkins, both seniors, earned this recognition based on their academic achievements in school and outstanding performance on the PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10 and/or AP Exams.

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January 5, 2022

Gray Stone teacher works to connect with students through his passion for music

Middle school students from Gray Stone Day School were treated to an intimate concert last month inside the Henry Pfeiffer Chapel from a professional flutist who also happens to be a new music teacher at the school. He performed several pieces, incorporating unconventional playing techniques such as humming and over-blowing to produce several notes at the same time.

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December 28, 2021

Gray Stone students learn to problem solve, overcome failures in Design Lab class

Too often in school, success is narrowly measured around whether students pass a host of tests and exams. And for many students, who spend hours each week studying and pouring over notes, they have come to learn that failure is not an option.

But at Gray Stone Day School in Jeff Brown’s Design Lab class, located in a spacious classroom known as the Innovation Lab, failure is not only expected, it’s encouraged as part of the learning process. Over the past two months, Brown’s students have been working in pairs to design and engineer hands-on projects.

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December 8, 2021

Quiz Bowl team participates in Fall Quiz Bowl League

The Gray Stone Day School Quiz Bowl team recently participated in the Fall Quiz Bowl League competition hosted by the North Carolina Association of Scholastic Activities.

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November 12, 2021

Carolina Panthers name Gray Stone, North Stanly athletes Community Captains

At halftime of last Sunday’s Carolina Panthers NFL game, 10 student-athletes from North and South Carolina were named Community Captains. Two of the nominees were from Stanly County.

Gray Stone’s Katelyn Griggs and North Stanly’s Luke Shaver were both honored during the ceremony, which recognized students for their accomplishments on the field and courts along with their respective classrooms and communities.

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November 10, 2021

Gray Stone students inducted into National Honor Society

Gray Stone Day School had its annual National Honor Society induction Nov. 4.

Members are selected by a faculty council for meeting high standards of scholastic achievement, leadership, character and service.

A ceremony led by current members of the National Honor Society, and President Georgia Burleson, tapped 23 students for membership.

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November 1, 2021

Gray Stone Day School holds Knightfest

Gray Stone Day School held Knightfest on Friday with activities for both the middle school and the high school. The event usually precedes the Homecoming soccer game but that event was canceled due to the weather.

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August 16, 2021

Gray Stone tabs women’s soccer coach as new athletic director

For the first time in the school’s history, Gray Stone Day has a new athletic director.

Scott Wolfe, a teacher and coach with 27 years of experience, takes over for the school’s original athletic director, Jeff Morris.

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August 12, 2021

Gray Stone is back to the books

Gray Stone Day School welcomed students on Wednesday for the first day of school. Open House was held on Monday and Tuesday, with incoming sixth graders spending an afternoon following their schedule and meeting their teachers.

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June 7, 2021

Gray Stone graduates 87 while honoring outgoing women’s basketball coach

Along with the 87 graduates of the Gray Stone Day School Class of 2021, one member of the staff leaving the school was honored.

Robert Stack, the Knights’ women’s basketball coach, dean of students and principal of Gray Stone Middle School, was the keynote speaker at Saturday’s commencement exercises.

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April 27, 2021

Gray Stone ranks in US News and World Reports Best High Schools

US News and World Report has released the 2021 rankings for the Best High Schools in America. Gray Stone Day School ranked #820 out of 24,000 public high schools in the nation. It ranked #164 nationally out of 2,845 charter high schools and #24 out of all public high schools in North Carolina.

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April 14, 2021

Students return to Gray Stone as school switches to Plan B

For the first time in more than a year, students at Gray Stone Day School are now back on campus for in-person learning. The first group started on Tuesday.

Now operating under Plan B, the school is on an A/B rotation schedule, where one group of students comes to Gray Stone on Tuesday and Wednesday while the other group comes on Thursday and Friday. Monday will still be virtual.

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March 7, 2021

Gray Stone AD honored by state association

One local high school athletic director has been honored by a state association for his contributions to high school athletics at a local and state level.

Gray Stone Day School Athletic Director Jeff Morris was honored by the North Carolina Athletic Directors Association as the 2020 Athletic Director of the Year.

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October 1, 2020

Gray Stone AD wins Charlie Adams award from NCHSAA

Gray Stone Day School Athletic Director Jeff Morris was one of eight recipients of the 2020 Charlie Adams Distinguished Service Awards, announced last week by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.

The NCHSAA presents one award in each of the eight regions to individuals with at least 10 years of experience in education and athletics who are still active “and has regularly gone ‘above and beyond’ the call of duty at both the local and the state level,” a press release said.

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June 21, 2020

Gray Stone graduates Class of 2020 with individual ceremonies

Traditionally, not every graduate of a high school gets the chance to deliver a speech to family and teachers.

In the case of Gray Stone Day School’s Class of 2020, every graduating senior got the chance to do just that.

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April 30, 2020

Students virtually present senior projects to teachers, community members

Though the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted life for many, classes are still in session for students at Gray Stone Day School, albeit virtually.

And for the 94 seniors in the class of 2020, aside from continuing classes online, they have been working on their senior projects, which is a graduation requirement at Gray Stone.

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April 24, 2020

Gray Stone ranks in US News and World Reports Best High Schools

US News and World Report has released the rankings for the 2019 school year. Gray Stone Day School ranked #535 out of 24,000 public high schools in the nation. It ranked #105 nationally out of 2,845 charter high schools and #13 out of all public high schools in North Carolina.

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February 27, 2020

Gray Stone Day School Earns 2020 Quiz Bowl Trophy

Albemarle, NC – The Stanly County High School Quiz Bowl is an academic competition, which allows high school students the opportunity to demonstrate academic excellence by responding to questions on a wide variety of academic subjects.

The Quiz Bowl competition was held at Stanly Community College (SCC) on Saturday, February 15, 2020. Each of the following high schools brought two teams to participate in the double elimination competition: Albemarle School, Gray Stone, North Stanly, South Stanly, Stanly Early College and West Stanly.

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February 18, 2020

Gray Stone Students Compete in Art Showcase

Art Students from Gray Stone Day School recently competed at the North Carolina Scholastic Art Showcase. After placing first at the central regional competition in January, Gray Stone went on to place fourth in the state competition.

The North Carolina Scholastic Art Showcase is hosted by the North Carolina Association for Scholastic Activities. The state competition was held on February 8th at Cox Mill High School in Concord, North Carolina. There are eight categories, and Gray Stone submitted in seven of these.

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December 27, 2019

Gray Stone adds new online sports broadcasts

With the growth of new technology allowing sports to be streamed worldwide on the Internet, high schools in North Carolina have joined the trend.

Gray Stone Day, having added a camera in Singletary Gym several years ago allowing fans to watch the game while enjoying, concessions in the lunch area, recently kicked off a new basketball broadcast.

As part of the National Federation of High School’s online broadcasting network, Gray Stone students as part of a sports marketing class will get the opportunity to broadcast more games.

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December 9, 2019

Jeff Morris to receive NIAAA Bruce Whitehead Distinguished Service Award in National Harbor

The National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) recently announced the ten individuals who will be honored on December 17th in National Harbor, Maryland for the 2019 Bruce D. Whitehead Distinguished Service Award. These ten individuals have made outstanding contributions to interscholastic athletics and they are being recognized for their length of service, special accomplishments and contributions to interscholastic athletics at the local, state and national levels. Nominations are submitted by state athletic directors associations, screened by the NIAAA Awards Committee and selected by the NIAAA Board of Directors.

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December 5, 2019

Gray Stone Day School holds canned food drive

Gray Stone Day School hosted a canned food drive to collect donations for Rowan Helping Ministries in Salisbury. The drive was organized by the student council.

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December 2, 2019

Gray Stone Presents A Christmas Carol

Gray Stone Day School students will be presenting Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in the form of a radio show on Monday, December 9th at 7:00 p.m. in the commons. Similar to radio shows in the 1940’s and 1950’s, students will perform the radio play written by Philip Grecian for a live audience by voice acting and creating sound effects with everyday objects.

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November 1, 2019

Gray Stone Day School Nominated for National Award

Gray Stone Day School was recently honored at the North Carolina Association of Compensatory Educators Conference in Greensboro for being nominated for the 2019-2020 National ESEA Distinguished School Award for Achievement. This is a National award and each state can send one school from each of two categories.

Ten schools in the state are nominated for the award for high achievement and ten schools are nominated for high performance. Over 1,000 schools qualify if they receive Title I funds as well as other federal grants.

"Less than 1% of the public schools that qualify are nominated," said Dr. Chris Vecchione, Director of Federal Programs for North Carolina. "These schools should be very proud of the work they have done."

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September 27, 2019

Three schools in county outperform state, national SAT averages

Three high schools in the county outperformed state and national averages on the SAT standardized test, according to 2019 data released this week by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

Gray Stone Day School led the county with 103 students taking the test, a 95 percent participation rate. It had the county’s highest average score of 1,177, well above the state average of 1,091 and the national average of 1,039.

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September 19, 2019

Gray Stone, Stanly Early College rank highest on test scores

With the exception of Gray Stone Day School and Stanly Early College High School, schools in the county performed below the state average on 2018-2019 ACT scores.

The ACT is a required standardized test given to 11th grade students. It covers English, math, reading and science, with an optional writing section. The test is used for college admissions. Another well-known standardized test, the SAT, is optional.

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September 6, 2019

Gold’s Gym Player of the Week: Emma Bost

This week’s Gold's Gym Athlete of the Week, Gray Stone's Emma Bost, has been the runner up in the state in the 1A singles tennis tournament for the past two seasons.

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September 4, 2019

Chuck Morehead hosts YVC regular-season cross-country meet

Running cross-country takes a physical toll on the body as athletes basically run at multiple 5K races every week.

In the course of Tuesday's Yadkin Valley Conference meet between Albemarle, Gray Stone, North Stanly and South Stanly, one athlete showed her heart and passion for the sport.

Sara Bruinsma, a senior for Gray Stone, was not the top finisher overall or for her team, but gave the other runners, coaches and fans in attendance at Chuck Morehead an example of her dedication.

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August 12, 2019

Senior trip to Mount Shepherd Retreat Center

Seniors at Gray Stone kicked off the 2019-2020 school year with a trip to the Mount Shepherd Retreat Center in Asheboro, N.C. where they spent two days participating in outdoor and team-building activities.

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August 7, 2019

Gray Stone students head back to class with new schedule, structure

Gray Stone Day School opened on Wednesday for all students in grades 6-12 with a new structure. The school is implementing a new alignment of grades as well as a new daily schedule. The students are regrouped into sub-schools, with grades 6 and 7 being a middle school, grades 8 and 9 being a junior high school and grades 10 through 12 being a high school.

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August 5, 2019

Staff Retreat 2019 - Kinetic Heights, Charlotte, NC

On Friday, August 2nd, Gray Stone staff and administration loaded two buses and headed off for their yearly retreat, kicking off the 2019-2020 school year. The location this year was Kinetic Heights in Charlotte, NC, an indoor obstacle center offering challenges and teambuilding for all ages and levels.

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