Philadelphia television and print reporters converged on Friends Select in January to report on how the school marked the presidential inauguration.
Two network crews and The Philadelphia Inquirer covered the fifth and sixth graders' "inaugural ball," held on January 16. The formal party was modeled on the dozens of balls held in Washington in January around the presidential inauguration. Students and faculty arrived in dressy attire at the evening event, which featured music, dancing and refreshments in a specially-decorated “ballroom.” Cameras flashed as students posed with a life-size cutout of Barack Obama.
The ball was the culmination of an extended "teachable moment” that began with the caucus/primary season, and lasted until January 2009. This fall, enthusiastic fifth graders organized their own school-based campaign season, replete with campaign teams, political platforms, posters, ballots and campaign speeches. “Ten and 11-year-olds are at the perfect age to appreciate this uniquely historic moment – the swearing-in of the first African-American leader of a Western democracy,” said fifth grade teacher Karen Cohen. She and colleague Richard Stobaugh (who teaches the other fifth grade section) were glad to plan the inaugural ball, a festive and appropriate way to conclude their unit of study.
Yet another news crew arrived on inauguration day itself to cover how students experienced the historic transition. Middle and upper school students and their teachers watched the ceremony on a large screen in the auditorium, while lower school students viewed video monitors which were set up in classrooms, the Matthew Huffman '91 Dining Hall and Bailey Circle.