Here at Friends Select, we have a talented, diverse group of students who perform on stage, create music, construct art and compete in sports. And, in many ways throughout the academic year, these students are acknowledged and applauded. Another opportunity that acknowledges excellence in academic subjects is induction into the Cum Laude Society.

Based on three Greek ideals: Areté (Excellence), Diké (Justice) and Timé (Honor), our school’s Society holds an induction ceremony every May. Each year we invite an alumnus or alumna to speak, and students ask a faculty member or fellow student of their choice to introduce them—making for a very personalized experience.

This year’s induction ceremony was an enjoyable occasion energized by the introductions of eight new members. The keynote speaker was alumnus Gabriel Kuriloff ’96, CEO of Arise Academy Charter High School, whose life and career have embodied the ideals of our community.

I so enjoy the traditions that mark the end of our school year, and the Cum Laude ceremony is one reoccurring event that I’m most fond of. It is indeed a moving experience for those inducted and those who attend. Equally gratifying is that inducted individuals come back years later and pass on the best of what they’ve learned to new generations of Friends Select students.

 

2011 Cum Laude Inductees
The 2011 senior class Cum Laude inductees are Dylan Woloszczuk, Drew Colman, Mariah Burke, Yvonne Hyde-Carter and Emily Johnson. The eleventh grade inductees are Michael Gomella, Lauren Lamb and Alina Drufovka.

These students joined a fellowship of faculty scholars at Friends Select: Head of School Rose Hagan; Ralph Reinwald, upper school math teacher; Jim Brubaker, upper school physics, astronomy, electronics and computer science teacher; Brian Warburton, upper school chemistry teacher; Wendy Buckingham, upper school English teacher; Abbi Smith, upper school math teacher; and Steve Rawls, upper school history teacher.

About Cum Laude
The Cum Laude Society was founded in 1906 at a private school in Maryland. It was to be only in "schools of superior academic quality" and only in boys schools at first. Now there are 338 chapters in the United States, most of which are in independent schools.

The Friends Select School chapter was established in 1962. 

To read Gabriel Kuriloff's keynote speaker remarks, click here to his blog.

It’s been a busy, vibrant year at Friends Select. Many of my conversations and efforts have focused on our school’s mission and strategic plan, and balancing the needs of the individual with the needs of the community.

Change: Change is good and sometimes hard, but always necessary as we look to grow and build our program and create better experiences for our students. We have examined systems and approaches and ways of doing things, and asked ourselves to articulate the historical reasoning behind decisions and then imagine new possibilities.

Alignment: We’ve had a lot of discussions around alignment in various curricular areas this year. Some examples include, aligning research skills in grades 3-5 including our newly invigorated Spanish program; aligning our balanced literacy program in grades K-2 and incorporating the Wilson-based Fundations program at each of these grade levels; aligning student support services across all three divisions to make sure students and families understand the progression and level of support we can offer students; and aligning our intentional curriculum around Quakerism and reminding ourselves of the explicit instruction provided around our core testimonies.

Diversity: Looking ahead, we have reinvigorated our conversations around diversity through a new steering committee this year, and created goals for next year’s committee to use as they consider ways to support these discussions and experiences.

Technology: We have had great dialogue around technology use and there is excitement amongst the faculty around ways to incorporate various forms of technology in meaningful ways for students. In fact, we are happy to welcome Jaime Weingart as lower school technology specialist for next year. In addition to her teaching duty in kindergarten, Jaime will support the lower school faculty as they further incorporate technology into the classroom.

Professional Development: Throughout the school year, I have engaged faculty in conversations around their professional growth. There are many examples of professional development opportunities happening for faculty this summer from conferences on reading and writing instruction to a conference on building community and reducing bullying. (See the sidebar for a more detailed account.) I have attended some conferences this year as well and one area that I would like to continue to explore is the idea of stereotype threat – the apprehension and resulting behaviors and outcomes arising from an awareness of a negative stereotype.

In a profession that gives so much to others, it’s important to make room for the self in school, and summer is a great time for experiences that feed the self. When we do so, we are able to feed others. I plan to nourish myself with family time in Maine and on Cape Cod again this summer. We’ll head to the usual places and probably do the usual activities or something similar. We are fortunate to have this kind of stability in our lives. I may even finish Malcolm Gladwell’s What the Dog Saw in between icy dips in the ocean and grilling salmon.

 

I’m looking forward to another wonderful year at Friends Select with much room for growth and change. We’ll continue examining and revamping, while allowing for traditions and experiences that ground us each year and help us keep our selves in school.

 

 

by Terry Kessel, Director of Middle School

The first public music performance that I can remember at Friends Select was The Pink Panther played at an evening concert and then at the eighth grade closing ceremony some years ago. Alec Bien, middle school director at the time and formerly a music teacher, had the vision and led the charge to take middle school student musicians and shape them into an ensemble. Under his leadership, Friends Select launched a middle school "orchestra," which was a chorus that prepared performances during music classes.

When it came time to hire a new music teacher five years ago, we knew we wanted a professional musician who could bring real versatility and continue building momentum with the music program. We got just that when we found Heather Fortune, a freelance flutist and teaching artist.

Under her leadership, the middle school music program now consists of general music classes and leading ensembles. Rather than take a trimester of music, students meet all year long, three times during a six-day cycle. Two of the periods are devoted to electives where students participate and perform in orchestra, chorus, dance or percussion ensembles.

As fifth grade music teacher as well as middle- and upper school ensemble and upper school chorus director, Heather enjoys the creative challenge of orchestrating, from a traditional string section to the accordion, and creating a satisfying whole for both performers and audiences. In addition to raising the level of playing at Friends Select, Heather works to cultivate a culture of music-making among students.

When Dan Capecchi joined the faculty full time seven years ago, the two teachers began working with amazing synergy and the vision started becoming a reality. In one another, they found music teaching "soul-mates"- active, working musicians who lean toward the modern and find listening to be the highest musical action. Dan, sixth through eighth grade music teacher, indicates what the middle school music program sets out to achieve:

Middle School Music from Friends Select School on Vimeo.

 

"Middle school music focuses on the student’s development as a composer, which in turn increases the depth to which one listens to the music and world around them. Our approach is to break music down to its bare frame (rhythm, tone, melody, harmony, form) and look at how cultures around the world have made sense of these elements and then, informed and guided by what we have found, create our own music.

It is our hope that even if students never compose anything after these classes, they leave with a heightened sense of what it means to listen deeply and open up to learn from the variety of elements around them. Middle school students not only will make the music we all will listen to, they ARE making the music we are listening to, and they are listening, too.”

I hope you can hear the passion in Dan’s voice. It is that passion and vision that he and Heather bring, and their professional sensibility of the music "landscape" that make our program so exciting and turn our students into composers.

You may have heard one such composition played by the middle school music ensemble at the MS/US Spring concert: seventh grader Andrew K.'s “Fly Away.” We encourage you to attend this year’s eighth grade closing ceremony on June 10, where you will hear another piece composed by eighth grader Andrew C.

Please take a moment to sample the links below to pieces created in this year’s middle school music class. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by Jesse Dougherty, Director of Upper School

 

As I reflect on the 2010-2011 school year, I am impressed with the level of engagement both faculty and students consistently exhibited. Faculty worked hard to engage students to expand their thinking and see all the possibilities found within a particular discipline and, in return, students learned to ask thoughtful questions. These qualities, found everyday in the classroom, helped us pull off a successful InterSession immersion program in January.

InterSession is part of a larger focus around international studies at Friends Select where students can better appreciate the richness of the world by having a clearer understanding of non-western regions viewed through multiple lenses. (Next year we will look at Central and South America.) With this exposure, there is a better appreciation of individuals who have different views of the world.  I envision our students continuing to be engaged with new course offerings connected to our international studies program that will further their understanding of specific subject areas.

The English department will offer an elective in the literature of Central and South America. The course will look at important authors such as Isabel Allende and Gabrielle Garcia Marquez to give a full picture of this region. It will be an academic course with a focus on self-discovery.

“It’s important for the curriculum to extend beyond just the classroom walls as we aim to make literature tie in with broader studies and an understanding of the world,” said Jim Miller, upper school English teacher.

The art department will offer a course on the art of Central and South America and, like the English department, the focus of the course will change year to year to mirror InterSession. While the course will study specific inspiring artists, it will also give a clear sense of the design styles that are predominant in this specific region. By looking at the art and architecture of Central and South America as well as the textiles being used, students will be able to articulate their own sense of style.

To get a jump start on this year’s international studies theme, the summer reading program will also focus on the Central and South America region. Upper school students will read Odes to Common Things by Chilean-author and poet Pablo Neruda and explore his work, which focuses on the importance of knowing oneself in order to love others. Come fall, students will meet in InterSession groups to discuss and read aloud an ode of their own creation in order to have a better understanding of themselves and others. (See "Summer Reading" article for more details about US and MS assignments.)

Students at Friends Select connect with different parts of the world in various ways. Faculty allow for this by offering learning experiences to help shape students' thinking and perspectives about places outside of our community. With a focus on Central and South America next year, the English and art electives, summer reading program and InterSession are advanced educational opportunities for students that I’m looking forward to exploring together. 

The school year is winding down and for seniors after graduation on Monday, June 13, it means embarking on the next chapter- post-graduate plans.

Friends Select prides itself on its personalized education, its personalized college application process, and its record of achievement matching its graduates with their colleges and universities of choice. This year’s college list reflects the many interests, talents and abilities of its diverse senior student population.

 

This summer’s reading program will be a tad different from years past: instead of middle- and upper school reading the same common reader, each division will read its own book organized around a common theme. Upper school students will read the work of Chilean-born author and poet Pablo Neruda; middle school students will read a biography of his life. Both books anticipate next year’s InterSession 2012: Central and South America.

Upper school students will read Neruda’s Odes to Common Things. Neruda is as highly regarded among Spanish speakers as William Shakespeare is among English speakers, and this book of short poems is one of his most accessible and enjoyable.

Each ode in the book looks at an everyday object, whether a pair of socks, a table, or a dog, and takes an interesting and often unexpected perspective on it. Students are expected to read the odes, choose their favorite one to present to their discussion group in the fall, and write their own Neruda-style ode based on a common thing in their life. These odes will be collected and counted as the first homework assignment in each student’s English class, and they will be compiled into a collection of Friends Select odes.

In the middle school, the common reader is The Dreamer by Munoz Ryan and Peter Sis. An inspiring and visually beautiful fictional biography, this book gives an account of the childhood of Neruda. The reader follows the young Neruda as he comes to terms with his own poetic nature and comes to understand the world around him. Students are expected to write their own poem about a dreamer.

        

Greyson               Hannah                 Isaac                   Noah

 

The spring/summer issue of Select News, the magazine of Friends Select School published by the marketing department twice a year, should be in your mailbox. The news-packed issue is all about “Becoming an Expert,” featuring stories on graduates of Friends Select who have gone on to become celebrated experts in their chosen fields. The line-up includes: