Groton Women's Network

The Groton Women's Network (GWN) is a committee whose mission is to reach out to the women of the Groton School community, to strengthen their ties to the School, and to stimulate communication and interaction among them.

The committee supports ways in which women can contribute to the ever-evolving School community, both personally and financially, while working in turn to ensure that the School supports its alumnae. To achieve these goals, the committee develops programs to assist Groton women with networking, mentoring, career advising, and fundraising. The committee also strives to sustain the School's call to service by supporting projects that foster involvement of women in the network, both within their local communities and on a national level.

Since they began, the GWN regional chapters have offered alumnae, female spouses, mothers, grandmothers, and female faculty and administrators the opportunity to get together in a variety of environments. Events have included: spending a morning volunteering at a shelter for women who are homeless or in crisis, collecting toys for a holiday toy drive, handing out Thanksgiving food packages to low-income families at one of New York's largest emergency food providers, cooking a delicious meal with instruction from an alumna chef, touring an exhibit at the National Gallery of Art, viewing a screening of the CBS News 60 Minutes segment, "Staying at Home" with Lesley Stahl, and attending an art workshop targeted to mothers and children.

GWN: Self-Defense Endowment

As GWN begins its sixth year, it is taking on a new initiative, the GWN: Self Defense Endowment. In 1991, Groton parents introduced the school to Impact: Model Mugging, a program offered to VI Form women. This program is designed to improve their ability to detect danger, to develop the skills and confidence to defuse a potentially difficult situation, or to defend themselves, as they move beyond the Groton community. Since its introduction on campus, hundreds of VI Form women at Groton have participated in this program each spring.

The Groton Women's Network wants to ensure the continuation of this empowering self-defense program by raising a permanent fund that will pay for its expenses in perpetuity. $400,000 is needed for its endowment.