Traditions

In mid-August, before the academic year officially kicks off, Gunston opens its doors early for new incoming students. Led by faculty and student leaders, this orientation is packed with campus navigation tours, team-building exercises, and interactive icebreakers. It is carefully structured to remove first-day jitters and ensure a smooth, confident high school transition.

Every September, all new students and faculty arrive at campus by boat, where they are cheered on by the entire Gunston community. Upon stepping ashore, newcomers greet the Head of School and formally sign the school's Honor Code before walking up the hill through a continuous greeting line to receive a personal handshake (or fist bump) from fellow students as well as faculty and staff. Once the bell is rung at the convocation ceremony, the new academic year officially begins!

The GPA Family Tailgate is an annual, potluck-style, back-to-school celebration hosted at the Tennis Pavilion by the Gunston Parents' Association to welcome families. Held annually on a Friday in mid-September after a schedule of home athletic games, the event builds community and provides an opportunity to meet new people.

Green & White Day is a beloved biannual all-school competition in which students and faculty split into lifelong Green and White teams to battle for a year-end silver cup. Held every fall and spring (and always a surprise), the event promotes school spirit and unity through a diverse mix of activities, ensuring every student can contribute. Participants compete not only in traditional athletic events like canoe races, kickball, and tug-of-war, but also in mental and creative challenges like chess, math and art competitions, and writing contests.

Gunston hosts three major student dances each year: the Back to School Bash, Homecoming, and Prom. Gunston’s Prom is open to the entire student body and does not restrict attendance to just juniors and seniors. 

Spirit Week is a week-long celebration organized by the Student Government Association (SGA) to build community and showcase school pride leading up to Homecoming weekend. Throughout the week, students and faculty participate in daily, themed dress-down days—such as Maryland Monday, Twin Tuesday, or costume days—and gather for campus-wide activities.

Civic Learning Day is an annual, day-long experiential program designed to move civic education beyond the classroom and inspire students to become active, responsible citizens. The event engages the entire student body in a combination of hands-on community service, critical discussions on democratic concepts, and professional career exploration. To bring these concepts to life, the school invites parents, alumni, and community members to discuss their careers in public service, while students also take the lead by running sessions about important civic topics.

In Celebration of Books brings guest authors, historians, and poets to campus to engage directly with the student body featuring writers from a wide range of fields and disciplines. In addition to a public reading or presentation, visiting authors go into individual classrooms, offering students the unique opportunity to interact with them, ask questions, and participate in personalized workshops.

As a school focused on environmental education and sustainability, of course we take Earth Day seriously. The entire campus spends the day diving into a full schedule of hands-on workshops, outdoor projects, and environmental programming. From learning from guest experts and planting trees to exploring our 75-acre waterfront, students and faculty swap their textbooks for real-world stewardship to celebrate and protect our campus ecosystem.

The Green & White Awards ceremony is a major year-end tradition that celebrates campus leadership, community, and school spirit. In addition to tallying up the final points from the year's athletic and academic battles to award the coveted silver Green & White Cup, the ceremony hosts several of the school's highest honors. This includes announcing the class valedictorian through the Samuel A. Middleton Award, as well as presenting the prestigious Gunston Award, which is unique in that the recipient is voted on by the entire school community. Additionally, the Head of School reads brief, personalized remarks about every graduating senior.

The Disembarkation & Bricklaying Ceremony is an end-of-year tradition that serves as a full-circle farewell to the graduating class. The day begins with seniors reading the letters they wrote to themselves during ninth-grade orientation before making a final campus march through a tunnel of cheering faculty and underclassmen. Outside Middleton House, each senior receives a personalized brick from their advisor to permanently lay along the walkway, engraving their legacy into the campus grounds. Finally, surrounded by families and classmates, the seniors walk down to the waterfront and depart by boat down the Corsica River, mirroring their original arrival during Embarkation.

This formal outdoor commencement ceremony is held under a tent near the waterfront overlooking the Corsica River. It features the traditional entrance of the faculty and graduating seniors accompanied by the sound of bagpipes. Graduates have the option to wear either a long white dress or pantsuit with a personalized bouquet of flowers, or a blazer and tie with a boutonniere.

This is an annual end-of-the-year event hosted by Gunston's Gender Spectrum Alliance (GSA) club to celebrate the kickoff of Pride Month. All are welcome to attend. 

The NHS Induction Ceremony is a formal fall tradition held in the Field House to recognize 11th and 12th grade students who excel in scholarship, leadership, service, and character. Attended by inductees and their families, the event begins with welcoming remarks and a keynote address from an invited speaker or alumnus. To highlight the society's core pillars, current NHS members light four symbolic candles while the chapter president explains the meaning of each value. Inductees are then called up one by one to receive a certificate, pin, and rose, sign their names into the official NHS registry, and collectively recite the society's pledge.

The sports awards ceremonies celebrate Gunston's student-athletes three times per year following the fall, winter, and spring sports seasons. Additionally, during the spring ceremony, the school honors its athletic history by inducting exceptional alumni or former faculty and staff members into Gunston’s Athletic Hall of Fame

Grand Mondays welcomes grandparents and special friends on two Mondays across February and March. This event provides them with the opportunity to visit campus, experience daily school life, and spend time together alongside faculty and friends.

Each January, school dismisses early on a Wednesday and those who wish to attend hit the slopes for a multi-day ski and winter retreat at Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Pennsylvania.

The Yearbook Editors and their team carefully coordinate the secret arrival. Once the yearbooks land on campus, the student body gathers for an official reveal celebration to see the theme and cover art for the first time.

Two bookend traditions for the senior class on Gunston's waterfront campus. Near the beginning of the school year, seniors gather at dawn to watch the sunrise and kick off their final year together. Near the end of the year, they return to the water's edge to watch the sunset and reflect on their time at Gunston before graduation.

An annual November tradition that brings alumni back to campus just before the Thanksgiving break. Held in the Field House, this festive community event features friendly basketball matchups between returning alumni and Gunston’s current boys' and girls' teams, often refereed by faculty and school leadership.