• Home
  • About
    • Our Mission and Vision
    • Head of School
    • History
    • Quaker Education
    • Diversity
    • Land Acknowledgement
    • Faculty and Staff
    • Board of Trustees
    • Press Releases
    • Head of School Search
  • Admissions
    • Why FSMH?
    • Request a Tour
    • Applying
    • Tuition
    • Tuition Assistance and Scholarships
    • Evergreen Contracts
    • Early Room/Extended Day
    • Food Allergy Policy
    • Beyond FSMH
  • Academics
    • Early Childhood
    • Lower School
    • Middle School
    • Essentials
    • Curriculum
    • Hands-On Learning
    • Service Learning
    • Teaching with Technology
  • Activities
    • Calendar
    • Media Gallery
    • Music School
    • Athletics
    • Drama
    • After-School Clubs
    • Summer Camp
  • Support FSMH
    • Annual Fund
    • Online Giving
    • Auction
    • Friendship Quilt
    • Award Winners
  • Parents
    • Parents’ Association
    • Medical Forms
    • What is Quaker Meeting for Worship?
    • Notes to Friends
    • 2024-2025 Important Dates
    • Lower School Summer Reading
  • Blog
  • Alumni
    • Stay Connected
    • Alumni Newsletter
    • 50th Anniversary
  • Contact
  • CONTACT US 856-478-2908

Friends School Mullica Hill

  • Request a Tour
  • Apply Now
  • Parent Access to RENWEB
  • Calendar of Events

August 17, 2020

50th Timeline: 2002 – The Opening of the Hanshi Deshbandhu Building

After many years of planning, much fundraising, and several construction issues, the first new academic building at Friends School Mullica Hill opened for the start of the 2002-2003 school year.  As the building neared completion, Drew Smith wrote of the experience of “wonder” that students and staff felt watching the building take shape and noted that the “building represents the collective labor of the Board of Trustees, the faculty and staff, parents, and students, both past and present.”  Naming the building after Hanshi Deshbandhu, Drew continued, “truly captures the spirit of Friends School” and would become an embodiment of Hanshi’s “admonitions to be kind, her advocacy of non-violence, and her demand that each and every one of her students seek within themselves their very best.”  Chris Brown, clerk of the Parent’s Association in the 1990s and a Board member, recalled years later the importance of the new building.  “So, with the building of the Hanshi Deshbandhu Building,” Brown recalled, “the school felt like it had transitioned from being a little mom-and-pop organization to a real cohesive school. And it allowed education to happen in a different way…. a little bit more professional, a little bit more welcoming, without losing the things that we had before that. It was still a wonderful place and there was a lot less having to move around between buildings because we had this one central place that a lot of things just happened in.”

Article by Erica Salmon / blog

Follow/Contact Us

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on InstagramFollow Us on LinkedInemail
Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons

Facebook Posts

Tomorrow night, May 22, 2025, our Middle School is presenting “The SpongeBob Musical: Youth Edition” at Rowan University’s Tohill Theater at 7pm. All are welcome to attend and tickets are available at the door for $5. Come out and support our talented students! ... See MoreSee Less

17 hours ago
Tomorrow night, May 22, 2025, our Middle School is presenting “The SpongeBob Musical: Youth Edition” at Rowan University’s Tohill Theater at 7pm.  All are welcome to attend and tickets are available at the door for $5. Come out and support our talented students!
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • likes love 11
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Our Middle School traveled last week to Baltimore, MD where they visited the National
Aquarium and enjoyed an Orioles baseball game.
... See MoreSee Less

2 days ago
Our Middle School traveled last week to Baltimore, MD where they visited the National
Aquarium and enjoyed an Orioles baseball game.Image attachmentImage attachment+6Image attachment
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • likes love 13
  • Shares: 0
  • Comments: 0

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

This morning we hosted our final Grandfriends Day of the year for First through Eighth Grades. The Grandfriends visited classrooms, attended meeting for worship and ended the visit with a special sneak peek performance of “The SpongeBob Musical- Youth Edition” by our Middle School Students. ... See MoreSee Less

6 days ago
This morning we hosted our final Grandfriends Day of the year for First through Eighth Grades.  The Grandfriends visited classrooms, attended meeting for worship and ended the visit with a special sneak peek performance of “The SpongeBob Musical- Youth Edition” by our Middle School Students.Image attachmentImage attachment+7Image attachment
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • likes love 11
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 0

0 CommentsComment on Facebook

Calendar

Follow and Contact Us

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on InstagramFollow Us on LinkedInFollow Us on E-mail

Quick Links

Calendar
Why Friends School Mullica Hill?
Applying
Quaker Education

Contact FSMH

For additional information or to schedule an appointment please contact us at admissions@friendsmh.org or (856) 478-2908.

Location

15 High Street
Mullica Hill, NJ 08062

info@friendsmh.org

Our campus is situated on the Indigenous territory known as Lenapehoking, the traditional homeland of the Lenni-Lenape.

© Copyright 2024 Friends School Mullica Hill