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Helping Them GRO
How We Support DCA’s Upper School Students
In any successful school, academics play an obvious and critical role in the education of its students. At DCA, we believe that academics are just one part of what makes a school exceptional. Equally important are the strong relationships between our faculty and students, which we continually work on enhancing.
In many ways, DCA is an extension of the students’ families—and not only to our students who live on campus. Our GRO (Guidance, Responsibility, and Openness) Groups enable upper school students to get to know and trust their teachers, administrators, and support staff. This creates a bond that helps our students flourish in a way that may be missed at other schools.
Why the GRO Groups Were Created
Relationships grounded in discipleship and love are paramount within our learning community, so the idea of creating a group setting that encouraged mentoring and discipleship to take place among faculty and students made sense.
To accomplish this, DCA formed GRO Groups. This program is geared specifically to upper-school students who aren’t in the same classroom all day and need go-to faculty support to help nurture minds, hearts, and lives. Groups of four to five students meet once per week with an assigned staff member. The Director of Student Life assigns students to their groups at the beginning of the school year.
GRO Group meetings take place weekly in a location of the group’s choosing—whether it be at the library, in our campus coffee shop, or outdoors when the weather is nice.
These faculty and staff members have become GRO leaders to offer our students higher-level mentoring to help them succeed in their schooling and their lives beyond the school walls. The purpose of these meetings is to offer spiritual encouragement (guidance), do academic check-ins (responsibility), and offer general feedback (openness).
What Do Gro Leaders Do?
Checking in with students to see how they’re performing academically is important, but it is only one function of what our GRO leaders do:
Spiritual Wellbeing: We desire that our students be believers and disciples of Christ. As fellow believers, our mentors have an opportunity to help edify and strengthen their group members’ faith and guide them on their spiritual path. This is done through weekly meetings, where the group may study a devotional book together, discuss how God has impacted their lives, and pray together.
Academics and Homelife: GRO groups give mentors a chance to check in with their students to see how their classes are going and how they’re doing with their homework. But, it’s also an opportunity to chat about how things are going outside of school as well—whether it be about after-school activities, or a big family trip coming up. We want to show our students that all aspects of their lives matter to us, not just the school work.
Outings and Fun: Part of experiencing a life well-lived is having a little fun in between the hard work. To enjoy a little recreational time, Gro groups may take a quick trip to Dunkin for a snack, or maybe going to a sporting event to cheer on a student in their group. Some groups have even been known to go Christmas shopping together!
The Fruits of Our Labor
Our GRO groups are an investment of time and effort, but the impact that this program has on our students is WELL worth it!
GRO groups enable our faculty and staff to positively impact and holistically enrich our students’ lives. When good relationships are formed, good experiences will follow on the academic, social, and spiritual scales.
The impacts of the GRO groups were so effective, that our own Eric Moody, President and Head of School at DCA, was invited to submit an article on the subject to the Journal for Christian Educators to share the benefits with other Christian educators.
The article was published in the Spring 2020 edition of the magazine, and wraps up with a quote from a DCA student about the experience: “GRO Group is fun! It helped me grow closer to others and to God.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about GRO Groups or any other goings-on at DCA. We are honored to serve and mentor the next generation of future leaders and Jesus’ disciples.
“Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” Proverbs 11:14 (NKJV)
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