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From the Head of School (December 2007)

You may recall that on December 10th, we experienced a very light snowfall, the first of the season. At some point that afternoon, I found myself staring through my office window, watching Teacher Peter lead a group of fifth grade students on a walk. I imagine that Peter was pointing to plants, insects, and birds, describing their characteristics so that students might identify any of these things on their own someday. When I asked Peter about the walk the next day, he told me he didn’t want his students to miss the chance to walk in the snow.

Two former students who also walked with Peter are Princeton University students. One, Danielle P., class of 2007, rowed with the crew team, and I see on the university’s website that she was awarded a fellowship this past summer based on her application entitled (get ready): Saccharomyces cervisiae DNA Mismatch Repair and MSH2 Regulation in Response to DNA Damaging Agents: Identification of Regulatory Promoter Elements and Transcription Factors. I don’t know what it is either; I do know that it has something to do with her major, Molecular Biology.

The other is current Princeton student Jessica K. Jessica is a pole vaulter on the track team and is majoring in a kind of physics with which I am not familiar. She visited school earlier this year and was excited to tell me about the track teams’ trip to China to compete against Chinese athletes from several of that country’s important sports universities. She was accompanied on her visit to Friends School by her boyfriend (nice guy) who was from France.

I am always struck by the impact that a Friends School teacher can have on our students. In part, it’s about what they’ve studied and know. More importantly, it’s about sharing that knowledge person to person with our students. We all share with them the excitement we feel about Shakespeare, or Spanish language, or geology and botany, or yoga, or mathematics. And because Quakers so deeply value the divine spark within all young people, the most important task of every teacher at our school is to develop a deeply respectful relationship with their students’ hearts and minds.

I don’t know if your child will be a Princeton student someday. I do know, however, that they will have a walk, like Jessica and Danielle before them, with Teacher Peter in the snow. They will know what it feels like to develop healthy relationships with their teachers that go beyond the numbers; relationships that will inspire future academic achievement, and instill within them the confidence to know that they can succeed.

From the Principal (February 2008)

A Community of Hope

When the vision committee of board members, administrators, and teachers met to create a new vision statement, the core ingredients of FSMH were expressed. Hope was foremost.

Hope is defined by Wikipedia as “a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one’s life.”

Emily Dickinson writes “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tunes without the words and never stops at all.”

In the Bible, Paul lists hope as one of the three central virtues (faith, hope, and love) of Christianity.

During a Meeting for Worship, fourth grade student Gianna Campanelli spoke about the importance of serving others. She concluded with, “When we help other people, we give them hope.” Although Gianna is of a young age, she recognizes the despair in those less fortunate. She understands the significance of hope in our lives.

Children are a natural expression of hope. They seem to come packaged with a positive outlook on life; filled with anticipation of greater things. Parents also dream of great accomplishments of their offspring - an impressive piano recital, a homerun to win the Little League game, or an exemplary report card with glowing teacher comments. Teachers see potential in their students and guide them as the students discover it in themselves. Inspiring children to believe that everything is possible and to pursue their dreams are central components of a Friends School education.

I conclude with a short, perhaps familiar, story of The Two Wolves--

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two “wolves” inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

 


 

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