In late February, as news of the COVID-19 pandemic traveled as quickly as the virus itself, Michael Gary and Friends Select’s administration began discussing how the pandemic could affect Friends Select’s community. Once Philadelphia’s first cases were reported, the school had already established a transition plan to a distance learning model.

It feels as if we’ve experienced two pandemics at once. The sense of isolation and uncertainty from the mandated quarantine during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic paired with the frustration and pain caused by continued racial injustices have been challenging to handle at the same time. Friends Select’s long-standing promise to extend our values beyond the school community fills me with hope that together, we will come out of these experiences stronger than before.

Phoebe Hopkins ’08 is the owner of Play College Field Hockey, a consulting firm specializing in collegiate field hockey recruiting.

With the temporary closure of our building this past spring and the transition to iSelectLearning for the last quarter, the 2019–20 academic year certainly established its place in Friends Select’s history.