Garrison Forest School was founded in 1910 by Mary Moncrieffe Livingston. Montcrieffe adopted the motto Esse Quam Videri—To Be Rather Than To Seem for her then-fledgling school. Nearly 100 years later, those words encourage students to be who they are, not who they think others want them to be. G. Peter O'Neill, Jr. has been the Head of Garrison Forest School since 1994, and has been serving as a head of independent schools for 24 years. A nationally respected educational leader and advocate for girls’ education, Mr. O’Neill was recognized as one of the country's most outstanding school heads in 2006 by the Klingenstein Center at Columbia University.
Located on 116 acres (0.47 km) outside of Baltimore, the school’s park-like campus offers collegiate-quality academic, athletic, arts, residential, and student facilities. Garrison Forest School is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and the Association of Independent Maryland Schools.
 
 In the past three years, Garrison Forest teams across an array of sports have won a collective 19 championships. The 2008–2009 achievements include:
Varsity equestrian team: 2008 IEA Champions
Varsity eventing team: Champion, Mid-Atlantic Interschool Event, and Champion, Elkridge-Harford Interschool Event
Varsity field hockey: IAAM A-Conference Regular Season Division Champions for 2008 and 2009; IAAM A-Conference 2008 and 2010 Tournament Champions
Varsity polo: U.S. Polo Association National Women’s Interscholastic Polo Champions, the 12th national title for a GFS Polo team since 1990. Beginning in 1995, six Garrison Forest Varsity Polo Team players have won the prestigious Polo Training Foundation Interscholastic Player of the Year Award
Varsity winter soccer: IAAM B-Conference Regular Season Division Champions and IAAM B-Conference Tournament Champions
Varsity lacrosse: 2008 Regular Season Division Champions and 2008 IAAM B-Conference Tournament Champions
The school’s riding facilities include the D. & J. Smith Equestrian Center and the Sheridan Indoor Polo Ring. Garrison Forest has a long tradition of excellence in equestrian sports including Equitation, Showjumping, Eventing, and Polo. The school is one of only two girls' schools in the nation to offer Polo.
In 1910, Mary Moncrieffe Livingston, a teacher from New York, moved to Maryland with a mission and a vision: to found a much-needed primary through twelfth grade school for the local community. The educational model she espoused remains a nationally recognized program nearly a century later. Garrison Forest then was an all-girls’ day school, Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade, with a residential program for older girls and a coed primary program. Today, the model remains nearly identical with the addition of a vibrant regional, national, and international residential program and two-year-olds as the youngest Garrison Forest students. The motto Miss Livingston chose for her burgeoning school, Esse Quam Videri—To Be Rather Than To Seem, perfectly captured her vision for a school steeped in academic rigor while infused with exceptional character building.
Since its founding, Garrison Forest has redefined itself in response to the challenges of the day. Miss Livingston grew her school in size and reputation, and in 1929, she passed the mantle to Co-headmistresses Jean G. Marshall and Nancy J. Offutt. Under their spirited and firmly grounded leadership, the school not only survived the Great Depression, it thrived, adding new students and attracting a top-caliber faculty. For 30 years, Miss Marshall and Miss Offutt guided Garrison Forest, building a national boarding reputation, excellent academic programs, and a highly competitive riding program.
In 1960, the School hired its first male headmaster, Archibald “Tad” Montgomery IV, who expanded the residential program, campus, and enduring tradition of community outreach. Lawrence “Larry” L. Hlavacek served as Headmaster from 1968 to 1978, shepherding the school through a difficult financial time, played out against the challenging cultural backdrop of the 1970s. As boarding school enrollments dipped nationwide and many girls’ schools shut their doors or merged with other institutions, Garrison Forest held steady by returning to its founding model of educating boys and girls at the preschool level by merging in 1975 with the nearby Valley School, a local, coed independent preschool and elementary school.
From 1978 to 1989, Agnes “Aggie” C. Underwood served as headmistress, leading the school to a higher level of academic excellence. Garrison Forest’s reputation and enrollment grew through achievements such as the increased number of Advanced Placement courses and faculty members with advanced degrees, enhanced student diversity, a depth of arts programming, and Mrs. Underwood’s leadership among national independent school organizations.
After interim head Alexander A. Uhle’s year-long appointment, Elsa “Midge” M. Bowman was named Headmistress. She continued Garrison Forest’s commitment to intellectual achievement and ushered the school onto the global stage with the advent of a formal international boarding program in the early 1990s. Today, 20 percent of the Upper School students hail from countries beyond the United States.
After joining GFS in 1994, current Head of School, G. Peter O’Neill, Jr. is enjoying the third-longest tenure as head of Garrison Forest School in its nearly 100-year history. A strong national advocate for single-sex education for girls, he has led the School’s largest campus expansion and the establishment of one of the nation’s leading experiential learning programs for girls: the Women In Science and Engineering (WISE) program, a one-of-a-kind academic partnership with Johns Hopkins University.
Garrison Forest has numerous traditions that speak to and underscore the school’s spirit.
The school flower is the blue cornflower or bachelor’s button, Centaurea cyanus, was chosen by Miss Livingston. Graduating seniors during her era wore white dresses and carried arm bouquets of the simple blossoms. The tradition has continued with each graduating senior carrying a bouquet of the blue flowers wrapped in flowing blue ribbons, which the school called “Ragged Robins.” Actually, the Ragged Robin, Lychnis flos-cuculi, is not a cornflower at all, though like the cornflower, is naturalized as a wildflower in the Northeast. Regardless of any understandable confusion between common names for plants, Garrison Forest’s Ragged Robin is much beloved. At Garrison Forest, the term “Ragged Robins” applies to three longstanding traditions—the school flower, the yearbook, and the student a cappella group.
The Garrison Forest Alma Mater has lyrics written by founding headmistress Mary Moncrieffe Livingston, which are sung to the tune of her favorite Episcopal hymn, God, the Omnipotent by Alexis Lvov (1798–1870):
"Hail, Gladdening Light, Our lamp of wisdom, Hail! Shine with a radiance, Which can never fail. Illumined by thy rays., May thus our motto gleam, And show our desire, 'To be and not to seem.'
Polished and fitted true, May each to each stand fast, Firm as the stones, In Temple corners cast. Strong and enduring be, Our love and loyalty, For School and for Comrades, And for Victory!"
Adopted in 1929, the original Garrison Forest School crest depicts a tree upholding a lamp, the symbol of education, with Garrison Forest’s motto emblazoned beneath: Esse Quam Videri. The large tree in the seal resembles a White Oak, Quercus alba. Known for its majestic stature, wide branches, and longevity, the White Oak is the state tree of Maryland.
The school colors of light blue and dark blue inspired the at least 90-year-old tradition of sorting the students and faculty into spirit teams of Light Blue and Dark Blue. In a friendly competition, these teams compete for points during the academic year through service and leadership participation and during Spirit Days. At the end of the school year, awards are given in each division (Lower School through Upper School) for the winning team and the most spirited class.
Garrison Forest School’s Service League, a comprehensive community service umbrella organization with local, national, and international outreach, was founded by students in 1942 as a response to helping on the home front. Decades earlier, students helped in the local fields while farmers were fighting in World War I. While community service is not required of Garrison Forest students, more than 75 percent of students participate in numerous activities each year. Since 2004, the GFS faculty, staff, and administrators have sponsored a Habitat for Humanity house in Baltimore, an annual project that grew out of the school’s initial reaction to Hurricane Hugo. The first GFS Habitat house was given to a family who relocated from New Orleans to Baltimore post-hurricane.