50th Timeline: 1973 – The State of New Jersey Approves a New High School

The ups and downs of the 1970s continued with good news in 1973.  One of the early goals for the School was to received proper recognition from the State of New Jersey before the first Upper School students were scheduled to graduate in the Spring of 1973. To that end, administrators and teachers worked hard to contribute to the creation of a robust curriculum in the Upper School.  Head of School Mary Clare Wohlford wrote that “we find ourselves offering high school subjects at or before the junior high level.” The key to this curriculum was what the school called “individualization.” Many of the students from these days recall with mixed emotions the “SRA” reading and math cards that allowed students to move forward at their own pace.  As one student remembered, this “kept me from getting bored.” Another key location for the school was the library. While the school’s library has remained central, it was a very special place in the early days because many local towns did not have their own lending libraries yet. Lest modern readers think that the students spent all their time pushing forward relentlessly on the SRA materials or reading in the library, it should be noted that students also remember with great fondness that recess was a serious part of the day with three periods, one in the morning, one at noon, and one in the afternoon!  In addition to recess, memories of meeting for worship remain powerful for former students, whether those gatherings were periods of quiet contemplation, moments to deal with world events, or times when pent up energy was unleashed in laughter and boisterous energy. For those who lived through these early days, however, all of these individual particulars did not equal the whole. The spirit of creation, of being part of something being formed and molded, was electrifying to many of the early students. As school historian Stanton Langworthy concluded after interviewing several of these first students, “the sheer exhilaration of new beginnings created an atmosphere that far transcended the program of studies.”  The hard work of the teachers and administrators in creating a high school curriculum paid off, as the State of New Jersey gave formal approval to Friends School in the 1972-1973 school year.