THE IMPACT OF YOUR GIFT
2020-2021
The Fund for Friends, our annual fund, provides the foundation for philanthropy at Friends. Gifts provide essential support during the current school year for the School's operating budget, contributing about 7% on an annual basis. Gifts to the Fund help provide for financial aid, respectful faculty salaries, athletics, performing arts, technology and more, which bolster our mission.
We are grateful to the donors, volunteers and advocates of the School who recognize the importance of their support in creating an unparalleled learning environment.
LINGUISTIC PROWESS
Visiting Scholar Enriched the Academic and Artistic Experiences of Our Students
Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, our community had the privilege of learning from Dr. Joshua Bennett—an author, professor and artist whose work focuses on African American literature, black poetics, and the intersection of theory and performance in the literary arts—as part of Friends’ Visiting Scholar Program. Dr. Bennett currently serves as the Mellon Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth. His writing has been published in Best American Poetry, The New York Times, The Paris Review, Poetry and elsewhere.
Despite the complexities of remote learning, Friends students got to know Dr. Bennett and his work in a variety of ways, and he enriched their knowledge of the history of Black literature in America. From January through spring, Dr. Bennett visited humanities classes, gave assembly presentations to each division, and held faculty workshops. On Thursday, April 22, Dr. Bennett introduced the community to his robust collaborative project of poetry and music which addresses race, poetics, accountability, and the sound of freedom as well as possible futures of radical belonging.
Dr. Bennett began the evening by taking his audience on a journey through his creative process, citing the guidance of his mother and older sister as major influences. The linguistic prowess that his family fostered in him as a young person and the “music of everyday people” that surrounded him as he grew up in the Bronx were vital tools he used to find his voice. Dr. Bennett’s passion for words, combined with the rhythms that moved him through life allowed him to share his gift in the most meaningful way, all while lovingly taking on the task of conceptualizing his place in the world as a Black man.
The Visiting Scholar Program at Friends Seminary was created in 2009 to bring to campus outstanding practitioners in their field to enrich the academic and artistic experiences of our students. The program augments the curriculum by exposing students to scholars and artists who would not normally be accessible to pre-collegiate students. The impact of this experience will further inspire and motivate students to go out and “bring about a world that ought to be.”
MENTORSHIP ACROSS DIVISIONS
Model Congress ‘Veterans’ Help Friends Remain Best in City
Last fall, Middle School students in Model Congress were busy polishing their debate skills and drafting their bills ahead of the virtual Model Congress, organized by Packer Collegiate on Saturday, May 15. Last year, more than 150 students from nearly a dozen schools participated in the virtual event, and Friends Seminary has been one of the most active members of Model Congress.
Students in Grades 6, 7 and 8 first came together as a debate group and progressed to Model Congress last January. History teacher Rachel Barany spearheaded the program along with Sami ’22 and Plum ’22 who have served as long-standing leaders and mentors to Middle School Model Congress students. Sami and Plum have been active members of Model Congress since Grade 6 and took on leadership of the club once they entered Upper School, working hand-in-hand with teachers to coach Middle School students on how to make persuasive and compelling arguments.
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CREATIVE CAPSTONES
Grade 4 Studies American Migrations
Traditionally Friends Seminary Grade 4 students have worked on a capstone project that showcases skills they have learned during their Lower School experience. In reimagining the capstone project, formerly known as Prairie Day, Lower School teachers worked together to find consensus on the goals for the project, increase equity, further opportunities for peer collaboration and expand the subject matter from solely westward American expansion.
Now known as American Migrations: People, Power & Perspectives, the updated capstone focuses on many migrations that have taken place in North America. Students conducted their research around one of five historical American migrations that were either influenced by a government action or had an effect on immigration to this country.
The final iteration of this revised capstone experience had eight components: research and note-taking, expository writing, primary source analysis, timeline, digital art and technology, verbal presentation, creative writing, and historical fiction artifact making. Students presented their artifacts outdoors to their peers and other faculty and staff in spring 2021. Post-project, the faculty surveyed students and visitors and are working to continue to make improvements to American Migrations for years to come.
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