NEW ORLEANS (press release) – Good Shepherd School (GSS) announced today their annual gala with a theme of “Night at the Oscars” on Thursday, December 1, at The Cannery in Mid-City with the event’s patron party beginning at 6:30 p.m. and the main event starting at 7:30 p.m.
This year’s celebratory soiree will feature entertainment from renowned international party band “After Party.” Food and exotic drinks for the event will be prepared by Toulouse Gourmet Catering.
The “Night at the Oscars” gala is a new and picturesque twist on GSS’s annual “Dancing with the Stars” gala and will have special honorees and awards handed out over the course of the night. Some GSS graduates will be spotlighted in video vignettes during the gala.
“This year’s ‘Night at the Oscars’ gala will be a spectacular event and bring a little bit of Hollywood to New Orleans,” said GSS President and CEO Thomas Moran. “It’s the perfect event to celebrate our supporters and the hard work our team at GSS provides helping families break the cycle of generational poverty through quality, faith-based education – all funded by the generosity of others.”
The event will continue the legacy of the school’s founder, Father Harry Tompson. Since opening its doors in 2001, the Gentilly-based Good Shepherd Pre-K and Elementary School has carried out Fr. Tompson’s lifelong mission of helping and educating children in need. The Catholic school opened its doors just four months after Fr. Tompson’s death with the mission of educating children no matter their family’s financial situation. So far, GSS has graduated 219 students and currently serves 264 students.
GSS is opening a second campus in the Desire-Florida Community currently serving Kindergarten students with plans to expand to additional grades in the coming years. The new campus is being constructed in partnership with The Giving Hope Foundation and will be located at 3601 Desire Parkway.
GSS has 74 college-age graduates, more than 20 have already earned their college degrees and will be featured on the school’s ever growing GSS College Graduate Wall. Additionally, more than 40 GSS alumni are nearing their college graduations in the next few years. GSS graduates have attended 25 different colleges and universities throughout the United States, including nine Historically Black Colleges and Universities. GSS Graduates have majored in just about every available academic program including Aviation, Art, Biology, Communications, Computer Science, Criminal Justice, Education, English, Kinesiology, Law, Math, Mechanical Engineering, Medicine, Nursing, Political Science, and Physical Therapy.
Currently, 145 GSS graduates are thriving academically in local area Catholic, private, public, and charter high schools. GSS graduates have attended 16 local Catholic schools with the most significant numbers at St. Augustine, Jesuit, Brother Martin, Archbishop Rummel, St. Katharine Drexel, Cabrini, St. Mary’s Academy, Mount Carmel Academy, and De La Salle. GSS now has two graduates attending Holy Cross High School and two others enrolled at St. Stanislaus College in Bay St. Louis.
Tickets for the event start at $125 and include an open bar and unlimited food. A limited number of sponsorships are available. For more information on the event, tickets and sponsorships, visit https://us.givergy.com/GSSGala. Officials say the renowned GSS “Dancing with the Stars” event will return in Fall 2023.
