Letter From the Headmistress
 Dear Parents,
The year 2010 has brought us many gifts to date. Our New Orleans Saints are Super Bowl champions, we had a fantastic Mardi Gras season and McGehee just completed a very successful self-study and reaccreditation process.
Our visiting reaccreditation team consisted of educators and administrators from a variety of independent schools both large and small. Ably led by Mike Maher, there were 17 members and we all enjoyed getting to know the group during their time here. The visiting team was impressed with the incredible progress we have made since the last reaccreditation in 2000, especially since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and subsequent interruption of school operations. Among other things, they commended us on our unique school spirit, strong sense of community, committed trustees and our happy and talented faculty. All of the above could not have been accomplished without the help of our entire McGehee team of faculty, administrators, staff, students, parents, alumnae, and trustees. I offer my sincere thanks to each and every one of you! And I extend my special thanks to Debby Pigman and her steering committee for leading the self study. It was a tremendous job and one that was very well done. And might I add, I am glad it is behind us.
We have so much happening on campus! Last week the 6th grade wowed us with a powerful performance of Dear Abby, a musical tribute to America's First Ladies; Wednesday brought a beautiful, chilly day and we enjoyed a spectacular Father-Daughter luncheon, a special McGehee tradition; the 8th grade held an outstanding science fair and Rachael Moss '12 was the overall winner of the "golden goggle" award with her project ; Mimi Odem and the Little Gate faculty gave a powerful presentation about the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood that has all of us wanting to return to Little Gate to experience Reggio firsthand; illustrator of over 70 children's books and author Henry Cole visited with Lower School and 5th grade students on Monday morning. He was not only entertaining to both students and faculty, but also gave us a detailed look about how his drawings as a child pulled him in this career direction. Mr. Cole stayed to sign copies of his latest books, A Nest for Celeste and Big Chickens Go to Town.
Next are the 7th/8th grade dance, BEAR night (Be Excited About Reading) for 5th and 6th graders when girls and faculty will enjoy a night of reading, fun and a slumber party in the gym; the Second Grade's Shakespeare presentation; the Alumnae Banquet; Founder's Day; the spring fundraiser; and much, much more.
I am looking forward to spring and our upcoming Spring Fundraiser on April 17. This year's fundraiser chairs Carolyn Fitzpatrick and Tricia Lacoste and other volunteers are working hard to make Chez Paris at McGehee the perfect setting for a spectacular night in Paris. I hope you all will plan on joining us for this fundraiser which will begin with a patron party at the exquisite Garden District home of Shirley and Frank Sinclair. You will be receiving your invitations soon!
Sincerely,
Eileen F. Powers
Headmistress
Little Gate News 
Dear Parents,
Spring is here and we are excited about many activities and events that come with springtime at Little Gate!
As we kickoff many of our classrooms' spring units, the baby farm animals are coming to visit for two days! The children will learn about proper care for the animals and will have the opportunity to hold them and visit with them in our very own "farm yard" in the Little Gate park.
At the end of March we will host one of our favorite events, Little Gate Grandparents Days. We look forward to inviting our grandparents into our classrooms and play yards and enjoying some refreshments together!
We are also busy getting ready for our Little Gate Reggio Day in April! On this morning each little gater invites one adult buddy to come experience our favorite materials that we work and play with here at Little Gate! The Reggio Emilia philosophy is one that the faculty is very inspired by and we are eager to share how we incorporate the common principles of this progressive philosophy into our school each day.
We will also be focusing on how springtime affects nature in our surroundings by paying close attention to our cypress tree "Windy" as we await the arrival of new sprouts on her branches. Our little gaters are learning about patience AND planting as we wait for results from bulbs planted in the Little Gate vegetable garden during the cold winter -- come on sprouts!
Reminder: Our guinea pig, Prince's weekend calendar, is booking up fast these days - but he always welcomes carrots, apples and lettuce any morning from his Little Gate friends.
Thank goodness for the warm spring days in our near future!
Sincerely,
Mimi Odem
Director
Annual Giving Update
Hello all Parents.
Phase II of our campaign is underway and rolling along! Parent Annual Giving participation is now at 83%, with all grades above 50%! This is awesome news. See below for each grade's participation level. Our latest issue of the Gate contains a list of donors through December 31st, 2009 and a complete list can be seen on the McGehee website. Please join your fellow parent donors in the complete year end list in the next Gate, to be published in August.
Grade Captains will be attending a party/meeting at the home of Sarabeth and Phill Gordon on Wednesday, March 17th to celebrate our success and discuss Phase II of the campaign. Only around 65 McGehee families are still to pledge for this year's Annual Giving. We are planning a targeted appeal, followed by a Phonathon. You can click the link below to make a gift online to McGehee and raise your daughters' grades towards 100%!
Make a Gift to McGehee
Grade Percentage
12 63%
11 84%
10 67%
9 63%
8 52%
7 96%
6 63%
5 89%
4 73%
3 88%
2 91%
1 80%
K 98%
Pre-K 95%
Around Campus Slideshow 
Enjoy our latest Around Campus slideshow from the 6th Grade play, 8th Grade Science fair and much more.
Father Daughter Luncheon Slideshow
Enjoy some of our photographs from this year's Father Daughter luncheon.
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News Around Campus
Congratulations to golfers Angelica H. '16 and Pearlissa H. '12 for their first place finish at the Willowdale Country Club golf tournament, sponsored by Cox Communications. Go Team McGehee!
Last fall hundreds of boys and girls auditioned for the 2010 LMEA District Honor Choir and the following McGehee girls were selected to participate: Congratulations to, Caroline Beary '18, Maddy Tillery '18, Kami Thompson '18, Elle McCall '17, Ilaria Simeone '17 Madison Smither '17, Miriam Ellis '17, Amelie Lagarde '16, Claiborne Beary '16, Isabelle Donahue '16, Kaila Crossley '16, Zowie Kemery '15, Jenna Hazlett-Hutton '14, Manya Gaver '14, and Rachel Leithman '14.
During the last weekend of February, District Honor Choir students rehearsed with Joan Gregoryk, conductor of the Children's Chorus of Washington D.C. and performed a concert at Loyola's Roussell Hall on Sunday, February 28, 2010 at 2 PM. A highlight of the Elementary/Junior High Concert was McGehee 5th grader Madison Smither singing the opening solo for the grand finale number.
BEAR Night a Terrific Success!
At BEAR night (Be Excited About Reading), 5th and 6th grade girls enjoy a slumber party in the gym with games, movies, reading and all sorts of fun with faculty members.
BEAR Night 2010 was a huge success. Collectively the 5th and 6th grade read over 128,000 pages from December 18th - March 4th. Each student reached their 500 page minimum and most read over 1,000 pages.
Congratulations to these well read girls!
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