The Class of '97 alumni are a year and a half from the commencement of their undergraduate studies. They have remained in touch and report here how their education at Friends School Mullica Hill has led them to their recent endeavors in Africa and Asia.
Lexie Sheller '97: The education I received from Friends provided me with something that no text could; it gave me the desire, ambition, and motivation to understand and explore how the world works. At our Fifth-Grade End-of-Year Assembly, Teachers Gail Luterman and Beth Seymour presented me with the "Jeopardy Award" for all the questions I always asked. The atmosphere created at Friends provided the comfort and confidence for inquiry and to this day I am still quizzical about the world around me. Mullica Hill Friends awakened an educational journey in me that began at four-years-old and still hasn't ended at the age of 23. I am currently teaching Year 6 (fifth grade) in Uganda, East Africa, trying to instill the same characteristics in my students.
After listening to different lectures at university about effective teaching, experiencing my current job in education, and much thought, I understand why Friends was such a special place for me. The simple practice of calling teachers by their first names is a characteristic of Mullica Hill Friends for which I have great respect. It promotes an atmosphere of equality, where both teachers and students have valuable information to share. Friends was never a place where a teacher stood at the front of the room, dictating information that students simply copied word for word. In the classroom, there was an expected level of respect demonstrated in peer-to-peer, student-to-teacher and teacher-to-student interactions. This climate allowed us as students to know our teachers on a more personal level. Hearing about Teacher Peter Manzelman's adventures in Central America was stimulating. Teacher Drew shared his sister's experience with the Peace Corps in Rwanda, showing us passion and desire. Teacher Hanshi told us stories from India, illustrating the role of tradition in a community. Each time teachers shared a story, they invited you into a part of their life. When such bonds were formed, I not only wanted to achieve for myself, but also for my teachers. These relationships have been fundamental to my academic achievement.
Teachers were consistently promoting awareness of others, whether it was through community service, guest speakers, stories, different fundraisers, pen pals, or curriculum. The school's programs develop more than just academic ability; they develop a child's mental, social, physical, emotional, and spiritual health and well being. They value students for more than just a test score. At Friends there is a type of thought process that the teachers instill, a curiosity about the world and an appreciation for a wide range of abilities. It is evident that this belief was passed on to me and my peers. I don't believe the core curriculum at Friends differs greatly from other institutions, but the difference lies in the attitude of the teachers and students. When you look at the professions and goals of FSMH graduates the distinction is evident.
As a result of my satisfaction and enjoyment at Mullica Hill, there was no question about continuing my Quaker education. I did so at Wilmington Friends School, where I participated in a semester-long cultural exchange in Palmerston North, New Zealand. The continued inspiration, guidance, and drive my teachers instilled in me resulted in my choice of a university with an education program so I could offer the same to others. I selected Vanderbilt University, where I majored in elementary education and child development. In my junior year I spent a semester in Ghana, West Africa and absolutely loved it. No one could understand why I would choose Africa over the more common choices, but I wanted to disprove the stereotypes that we seem to so easily make about the unfamiliar. Following the norm was never something Friends encouraged. At that point I was still in close contact with my Middle School advisor, Teacher Drew Smith. He put me in contact with his sister, Anne Smith, who was working with the Catholic Relief Services in Baltimore and had lived in Rwanda and Burkina Faso. She was a great resource for information on places to visit, things to be cautious about and culture sensitivities. Friends Mullica Hill continues to be a second home to me, ten years after I graduated.
If you had asked me a year ago where I would be today, I would most likely have said, in the Peace Corps in West Africa, pursuing my lifetime dream since 8th grade. Not getting into the Peace Corps was one of the hardest realities I had to face. I was devastated! Despite this disappointment, I was still passionate about living in a foreign country and making a difference in other's lives; I just had to find a new route to that goal. With my degree in teaching, I am able to teach and live anywhere in the world. On June 3, 2005, after getting the call from the Peace Corps, I joined an association that helps place teachers at International Schools. This is how I came to be living in Kampala, Uganda with a two-year contract teaching at Kabira International School. Working at an International School with children of privileged backgrounds is quite different from what I would have experienced in the Peace Corps. At first I was ashamed of accepting this opportunity, but I have since realized that I am still able to have an impact on people's lives. Coming from a wealthy background does not necessarily mean that these children are given love, support, or have an interest shown in them at home, and that is something I try my hardest to provide for them everyday. I have tried to learn about and help the local community by volunteering with different organizations; the most rewarding is a social support group for HIV-positive children that I assist on Saturday mornings. The Peace Corps is still a dream of mine and one day I hope to pursue it; however, I am currently engaged in some of the challenges made a standard by my Friends School teachers.
Two of the main reasons I am where I am today is because of my family and my experience at Friends School. I hope to instill in my students the same desire, ambition, and curiosity that my teachers afforded me. I am so thankful my parents made the decision and the commitment to allow me to attend Friends. Friends has been a fundamental part of my life.
Melissa Donnelly '97: I graduated from Mullica Hill Friends School in 1997. It really doesn't seem like that long ago, especially now, that I have been substituting at the school as needed the past few weeks. This brings back vivid memories of my time as a student: mapping the world, which I would one day travel, with T. Peter; learning how to write with T. Hanshi and understanding our political system with T. Drew, the foundation on which my pursuit in life to be a writer and reporter of international affairs was built; and beginning my study with the Spanish language, a base which I would value greatly during my semester in Sevilla, Spain during my undergraduate studies. Mullica Hill Friends School molded me into the person I am today and continues to affect my educational, moral, and now career choices.
After graduating from Friends, I chose to continue my education at another private Quaker school, Wilmington Friends School. I knew I wanted the small classes, more personal student-to-teacher relationships, Quaker values, and vigorous learning environment from my FSMH experience to continue through my high school education as well. Considering these preferences in my educational endeavors, I chose a smaller liberal arts college in Virginia, Lynchburg College, for my undergraduate studies. I graduated Cum Laude in May 2005 with a major in International Relations and a minor in Journalism. Upon graduation, I made the decision to see more of the world that I was hoping to one day make a career of writing about.
Friends alum, Heidi Hasbrouck '97, her friend from college, Paige, and I recently returned from a 6-month venture through Asia. Heidi and I have been best friends since 4th grade when she invited me to her birthday party, claiming still that I was so shy, she felt obligated to do so. We remained close friends through high school and college. A few months after graduation, we left for Asia in pursuit of a broader perspective of the world and our place in it, an idea certainly instilled in us by our teachers at Friends, where we were constantly encouraged to think about others' places in life.
Heidi had traveled to India during her junior year at Skidmore College through the New York Consortium Study Abroad Program. It was a country that once there, she knew she needed to revisit. We planned our trip around India, where we lived for 4 months, but we also were able to travel in Europe for two weeks, Thailand for one month, and Hong Kong for one week. We lived in the foothills of the Himalayas in a town called Mussoorie in India for two months, where we took classes in Hindi through one of the oldest and most renowned language schools in the country, The Landour Language School. For the next two months, we traveled in India mostly by train, down the east coast and back up the west coast of the country, ending in Delhi. Along the way, we stayed with T. Hanshi's family in both Varanasi and Calcutta. We were very fortunate to have the opportunity to experience the culture through her family and also enjoyed spending time with them, considering we had been so far from our own families for such an extended period of time.
During our travels, we met people from all over the world and of all ages. A constant theme in our conversations was Quakerism and how it has shaped our lives. Heidi and I both remain very close to our Quaker values, introduced to us at such an early age at Friends. The people we met were always most interested to learn about our background and what brought us to Asia. The explanation for both always came down to our being childhood friends, our education in Quaker schools, and our continuous passion to further understand perspectives outside our own. We were beginning to feel like the first Quaker missionaries in history considering the many conversations we found ourselves in where we explained the basis of the Quaker religion, its values, and how it has affected our decisions in life. We related how it was ultimately one reason we decided to travel extensively through a country such as India, considering the Quaker values of tolerance, understanding, and simplicity, which we practiced throughout our trip, save for a few splurges.
In my travels through Asia, and especially in India, I not only studied and came to understand another culture and the region in which it exists, I became a part of it. It is an experience that I will value for the rest of my life and one from which I will continue to grow.
I am now living in New Jersey, excited and anxious to move to Washington, D.C. to pursue a career in international affairs and journalism. I hope to one day to work for an international organization, reporting, writing and traveling. It wouldn't suffice just to say that Mullica Hill Friends School has been an integral of who I am and the decisions I have made, because Friends has meant something to me which I find difficult to put into words. It is something that can really only be felt from within and is best shared with others.
