As graduation slowly approaches, it gives an opportunity to highlight amazing work currently being done by Winchendon alumni. Abbie Giles graduated in 2022 and began her journey at Connecticut College majoring in Psychology and Sociology with a minor in Government. Her leadership role as Student Body President at Winch translated to her college experience, as Abbie is a Holleran Center’s Program in Community Action (PICA) Scholar, student advisor coordinator (training and hiring leaders while planning orientation), and a yoga teacher!
Abbie is currently working on research on children’s health, focusing on the impact of internet use and consumer habits of young adults. She recently presented her research at a school conference, and is looking forward to submitting it to other research conferences this year. Along with this, she is “working on research for the PICA program on post-COVID-19 school health and wellness program reforms, which will ultimately culminate in an honors thesis and a capstone project for PICA next year”. If that wasn’t enough to be impressed, Abbie has also been interning with a school social worker at a local school to help supplement her research. Through these experiences, she has grown to love research, and could see herself pursuing it further in the future.
Her start in academic research began in college, but the deep rooted interests stemmed from Abbie’s time at Winch. As an impact learning leader, previously in the Winch community service learning program, she spent three years guiding students, and even helped rewrite the junior curriculum for the program during the summer before her senior year. Abbie explains the trajectory of her passion, highlighting “This experience, and learning about developmental psychology and mental health in AP Psychology, got me interested in the impact that a holistic education can have on academic performance, student success, and the overall wellbeing of children and adolescents. These experiences are the inspiration for the work and research that I’m doing with PICA, and the work that I will hopefully be pursuing in my career. Over my four years at Winch, I went from a shy freshman who was afraid to raise her hand in class to a confident and outspoken senior. I attribute so much of this to the teachers, classes, and opportunities that I found at Winch. I truly can’t say enough about how impactful Winch has been on my life”.
We’re so thrilled to be able to watch Abbie grow and flourish through each of her experiences, and can’t wait to see what the future holds. This is just one of many stories of students finding their passion and gaining the confidence to pursue it through their Winch experience and community support.
Written by Reagan Kelley ’25
Abbie certainly has certainly benefited from attending a
private high school education and also speaks well of her excellence education at Connecticut College
She is an amazing young woman I’m more than proud of my neice . Her semester in London in the fall will
be exciting and a great experience
for her. Love from Aunt Serena and Uncle Bob