When Gabrielle Auchincloss ‘18 first visited the William S. Baer School on an eighth grade field trip, she could not imagine the journey on which she was about to embark. Before this trip, she did not have much experience helping people with disabilities and was worried that she would do or say the wrong thing. But after spending a little time with the students, Auchincloss says she learned that they were no different from her friends at Bryn Mawr and felt right at home. “The students have the ability to immediately put a smile on your face and make you laugh...I left the school that day with a sense of happiness and knew right away I wanted to go back,” Auchincloss said.

Over the next three years, she spent a lot of time at the Baer School volunteering during the summer and at special events. Working so closely with the teachers and students, Auchincloss started to observe that they did not have all the tools and supplies they needed. She also learned that more than 95 percent of students that attend the Baer School live below the federal poverty line. She was saddened and frustrated by the fact that the students she’d grown so close to did not have the resources they needed, and she was determined to do something about it.

Auchincloss talked to her parents and tried to raise money for the Baer School in a variety of ways, but after what she describes as an “epic failure” at a popcorn booth during a Johns Hopkins University event, she felt discouraged and feared she would never raise enough money to help. Shortly after that, she heard about The Elizabeth H. Broadus Community Service Project Award at Bryn Mawr. The award, created in 2003 by Thomas H. Broadus III in loving memory of his mother, is given annually to a 9-12 grade student who has shown a passion for community service in Baltimore. The recipient of the Broadus Project award receives a stipend so that she may be afforded the opportunity to volunteer, and she will be able to direct a grant to an approved organization in Baltimore City.

Auchincloss was ecstatic when she learned that she was one of two recipients of the award, and she knew that it would make all the difference for the students at the Baer School. After meeting with the school’s teachers, technical liaison and leadership, Auchincloss created a plan to implement iPads and other assistive technology in the classroom. This process involved figuring out which technology and apps would work best and coming up with a learning plan for each individual student based on their abilities. It also involved providing training for teachers and getting the technology approved by the Baltimore City Public School System.

On December 12, 2017, Auchincloss launched her project at the Baer School, and demonstrated the new technology to visitors, including Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh. In her remarks, Mayor Pugh thanked Gabby for her service project and said, “If young people around our city took initiative like this, imagine how great our schools would be...how great our city would be...and how great the future for young people would be.”

The new technology that Auchincloss and the team at Baer implemented is helping teachers and their students communicate in ways that were not possible before, such as allowing those who cannot speak to communicate and interact during class through technology on their iPads.

Auchincloss described the joy she felt watching one of the students, who speaks Spanish at home and is learning English, use the new technology to learn phrases and communicate with others in the classroom. “I’ll never forget the smile she had on her face,” said Auchincloss.

Her project was designed to help the students at the Baer school, but Auchincloss says it also taught her a lot about herself. “The greatest lesson I have learned is that if you truly commit to something, no matter how small, you can make a meaningful impact in others’ lives,” Auchincloss said.