Directions 08-09

Fr iends ’ Cent r al Directions

Fall/Winter ’08/’09

From the Headmaster :

Dear Fr iends,

I have just finished prev iew ing the feature ar ticles for this edition of Directions, and if you can set aside the time, I believe you w ill be as fascinated as I have been by the collecting passions of William Fordyce ’52, Joanna Schoff ’51, Rich Ulmer ’60, Rachel New mann Schwar tz ’89, and current student Blake Bor tnick ’13 In her introduction, our editor, Rebecca Anderson, sheds some light on possible motives for collecting and prov ides additional examples of collectors currently devoting time and effor t to a favorite pastime in the School’s midst and for our communit y ’ s benefit. The interest a collector displays in sharing a collection is par ticularly gratify ing to a School that both encourages and suppor ts indiv idual interests and values connections among members of the communit y.

By all accounts, William Fordyce was a ver y private man, and after his graduation he was mainly absent from our communit y In the end, though, through his thoughtful and generous gift he returned to the School and revealed an impor tant par t of himself. We are moved by his example and deeply grateful.

Sincerely,

Dav id M Felsen Headmaster

CORRECTION

Our apologies to Alber t Car ter Pottash ’65 who was left off of his class list in the 2007–2008 Repor t of Gifts

2008-2009 Board of Trustees

Ann V. Satterthwaite, Clerk

Peter P. Arfaa

James B. Bradbeer, Jr.

Adrian Castelli

Kenneth Dunn

Kaye Edwards

George Elser

Jean Farquhar ’70

Victor Freeman ’80

Christine Gaspar ’70

Robert Gassel ’69

Edward Grinspan

Walter Harris ’75

Sally Harrison

Karen Horikawa ’77

Deborah Hull

Michael C. Kelly

Matthew S. Levitties ’85

Craig Lord

Hillard Madway

Ed Marshall ’68

Carol Mongeluzzi

Suzanne Morrison

Jeffrey Purdy

Lawrence S Reichlin

Marsha Rothman

Jonathan Sprogell

James Wright

Barbara M Cohen, Emerita Joanna Haab Schoff ’51, Emerita

2008-2009 Alumni/ae Board

Mallory Floyd '96, Co-President

Aaron Selkow '88, Co-President

Rachel Newman Schwartz '89, Vice President

Bess Collier '96, Secretary

Jeffrey Brody '98

Gail Carter Zuagar '97

Anne Dufour Clouser '50

Alice Hess Crowell '46

Andrea Deutsch '85

David Ellis '51

Melanie McCarthy Frick '94

Bill Georges '88

Ruba Habtemicael '96

Susan Kelsay '59

Peter Klein '87

Patrick Lord '90

Jane Cubberley Luce '68

Clio Mallin '96

Latifah McMullin '99

Donald Reimenschneider '52

Alexander Schall '86

Barbara Weinberg '79

Jessica Zeldin '88

Immediate Past President

Andrew Newcomb '87

Editor’s Note:

My interest in Fr iends’ Central collectors began w ith William Fordyce’s gift in the fall of 2007 As Dav id Felsen notes, William Fordyce was not an active alumnus, and the depth of his loyalt y to the School caught us all by surprise. Of course I was fascinated by his extraordinar y generosit y, but even more by the intense passion that he had invested in collecting As I star ted talking to other alumni/ae, faculty, and students interested in collecting, however, I realized that there is something ver y familiar at least to our community about William Fordyce’s stor y. William Fordyce amassed one of the largest and most significant collections of American musical theater sheet music because he was inspired by the genre its sound, its connection to an historical moment, its v isual interpretation. Walter Annenberg once said, “If it moves me, that [is] enough Being moved is what collecting is all about ” Much like William Fordyce, each and ever y one of the collectors featured in this issue has rigorously

pursued a passion. Their collections are varied ever y thing from rare Japanese prints to plastic Pez candy dispensers and the reasons they give for what motivates them are diverse the thrill of a chase, a need for order, a love of beaut y and a foreign culture. But all of their collections prov ide w indows into other worlds and times because these collectors were moved, not just to acquire indiv idual pieces, but to reach for more knowledge.

The spirit of inquir y shared by these five indiv iduals is not unique to them as collectors. It defines ever y member of our exceptional communit y Friends’ Central School encourages its students and facult y to embark on a spirited quest for knowledge and to develop a passionate attachment to ideas. Our alumni/ae sustain that spirit in the way they live their lives and in their enduring loyalt y to the School We hope you enjoy this issue of Directions and that we’ll hear from you soon. Your stories, your passions, keep Friends’ Central v ibrant.

Rebecca H. Anderson

Head of School

David M Felsen

Editor

Rebecca H Anderson Director of Communications

Art Director, Designer Suzanne DeMott Gaadt Gaadt Perspectives, LLC

Development Office Staff

Lydia A Martin Director of Development

Linda Waxman Wasserman ’75 Director of Alumni/ae Affairs

James P Brennan Director of Annual Giving

Joel F. W. Price Webmaster/Data Specialist

Leigh Browning

Assistant Director of Communications

M Brom Snyder Development Office Associate

Jody Mayer

Alumni/ae Relations and Annual Giving Assistant

Denise Koehler Morris Development Office Secretary

Monica Peterson

Development Office Secretary Printer Garrison Printing Company

Photography: Hilary Takiff Weiss ‘96, Michael Tolbert, Leigh Browning, Rebecca Anderson

We welcome any comments, letters, photographs, and suggestions for future issues. Please send all communications to:

Editor, Directions

Friends’ Central School 1101 City Avenue Wynnewood, PA 19096 randerson@friendscentral.org

Visit Friends’ Central on the web at www.friendscentral.org

Pixies, Posters, and Pez: The Passionate Pursuits of Fr iends’ Central Alumni/ae.

• Grace, Wit and Lines: Joanna Haab Schoff ’51

• A Passionate Chase: Rich Ulmer ’60

• A World of One’s Ow n: Rachel New mann Schwar tz ’89

• Pop Culture All In a Row : Blake Bor tnick ’13

• A Lasting Legacy : William Fordyce ’52

From Philadelphia to Birmingham: The Fall Film and Lecture Series

For nearly five years, the Film and Lecture Ser ies has introduced w ide-ranging topics to the Friends’ Central communit y. Draw ing largely on the School’s richly intellectual communit y of parents, alumni/ae, and facult y, the Series hosts evenings of music, film, politics, and histor y four times a year

At this year ’ s first Film and Lecture evening, Everett Gillison (P ’10, ’13), Deput y Mayor of Public Safet y in Philadelphia, addressed a full audience of FCS parents, faculty, and alumni/ae First, though, he reminisced “I remember cooking at the Pumpkin Fair That was the job for us dads!” Gillison said. “Show ing your kids that you care is the most impor tant thing you can do in your child’s life This communit y honors that and it has touched me and my family ” Gillison’s compassion extends well beyond his children and Friends’ Central On this evening in October, he spoke w ith conv iction about solv ing the most pressing security issues facing the cit y today by extending healing “You can’t overlook anybody Even on your worst day, all you have to do is at least listen to their stor y. ” For the skeptic, Gillison outlined the Mayor’s ver y concrete plans that include collaboration w ith the police depar tment, a reordering of the prison system, and significant attention focused on re-entr y The plans are ambitious and enthralling, and Gillison’s talk was a perfect launch for this year ’ s season.

On September 8th Fr iends’ Central welcomed 1001 students and 251 facult y and staff for the star t of its 164th academic year. There were 12 new teachers, administrators, and staff members, and 158 new students from pre-kindergar ten through 12th grade. Director of Admissions, Barbara Behar, noted at an opening facult y meeting that interest in Friends’ Central continues to be ver y strong, w ith at least 5 applicants for ever y spot

Back row, from left: James McKeogh ’00 (Middle School math teacher), Brom Snyder (Development Associate), Sheila Rohrer (Middle School math teacher), Daniel Kennedy (Middle and Upper School music teacher), Joel Windsor (Grade 5 language arts teacher). Front row, from left: Margaret Perry (Science Department intern), Alice McBee (Grade 1 assistant teacher) Mary Fran Torpey (Middle and Upper School librarian), Nina Morton (Upper School science teacher), Danielle Kurliand (Pre-Kindergarten assistant teacher) Not pictured: Latonya Nesmith (Cafeteria Staff) and Kristen O’Dore (Athletic trainer and physical education and health teacher)

In the last two years, the Film and Lecture series has par tnered w ith the Friends’ Central School Distinguished Scientist Program, to bring renow ned scholars to campus for a public lecture followed by a day v isiting courses and working w ith the students. So far, Friends’ Central has enjoyed the National Geographic Explorer in Residence, Wade Dav is, and Columbia Universit y geologist, Peter deMenocal These lectures reinforce in Friends’ Central students the understanding that learning is a lifelong process and that they w ill carr y their education w ith them for the rest of their lives.

This fall, alumnus Jon Rieder ’65, came to campus to inaugurate a Distinguished Humanities Program that w ill follow the same structure as the Distinguished Scientist Program. On October 16th, Rieder gave a lecture that

addressed the topics in his new book, The Word of the Lord is Upon Me: The Rig hteous Per formance of Martin Luther King, Jr , as well as connections to the 2008 presidential election The follow ing day, he v isited classrooms for discussion and a close reading of King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Rieder connected w ith the students in a unique way that enabled them to achieve an impressive level of engagement w ith the material Rieder himself says w ith emotion, “ To put it selfishly, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was ver y nice to be back in the special communit y of which I have so many fond memories of good friends and good times, and wonderful teachers Mainly, though, my enjoy ment was not so selfinvolved or backwards looking I ver y much enjoyed meeting so many interesting, intellectually serious, and caring

teachers, not least of all Jim Rosengar ten. And I ver y much appreciate the care Jim and all the others took in thinking through the logistics of my v isit The pride of place they gave to my meeting w ith FCS students was key. They were the ones who made my day. They were terrific smar t, curious, lively, original, not afraid to venture bold opinions, and challenging

Friends’ Central’s commitment to cultivating intellectual minds means that there w ill always be an abundance of explorers, thinkers, and learners to come to campus and inspire our students. The School is also for tunate to have the resources to attract outside speakers This spring’s Distinguished Visiting Scientist w ill be Jared Diamond, Pulitzer-prize w inning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel.

Sean O’Br ien ’09 spent this past summer at The UVM College of Engineering & Mathematical Sciences and Governor’s Institutes of Vermont, a highly selective program for high school students interested in engineering. As part of the program, he recognized Upper School math teacher Chr is McCann for his influence and inspiration.

Fr iends’ Central was delighted to learn this fall that eighteen seniors were recognized by the 2009 National Merit Scholarship Program almost twent y percent of this year ’ s senior class and one of the largest groups in the area. In addition, two seniors, Natalie Willis and Brandon Laing, were recognized by the National Achievement Program

National Merit Semifinalists

Meg Bow ie

Anthony DeCusatis

Rebecca Horow itz

Jason Kirschner

Michael Rubin

Jake Schutzman

Jennie Simon

Natalie Willis

National Merit Commended

Ben Bersoff

Justin Bor tnick

Amy Corenswet

Max Kaplan

Andrew Kelly

Liz Mitnick

Eric O’Brien

Jenna Paul-Shultz

Imara Roychowdhur y Dav id Simins

National Achievement Semifinalist

Natalie Willis

National Achievement Outstanding Participant

Brandon Laing

Friends’ Central Middle School athletes have another team squash! A coed team will practice on the courts at Haverford College under coach Enamullah Khan, a member of the Khan squash dynasty and in 2007 Boston’s best Squash Instructor and Program Director according to Boston Magazine. Athletic Director Linda McConnell says, “I know that I am personally excited to be in on the ground floor of this, and I look

forward to ’growing squash’ into the Upper School program ”

Upper School English teacher Al Ver nacchio was recently recognized for ten years of service at ActionAIDS, a Philadelphia nonprofit that helps people living with HIV and their loved ones cope with the disease. Al began working with the organization in 1994 as the Coordinator of Training and Volunteers, designing curriculum, training staff and volunteers, and

bringing HIV/AIDS programs to schools, religious organizations, and workplaces During his time at ActionAIDS, Al had his first encounter with Friends’ Central School: a group of FCS students, accompanied by language teacher Jacqueline Gowen-Tolcott, spent their service days volunteering for the organization under Al’s supervision. Congratulations to Al for his dedication to such a valuable organization.

Directions Fall/Winter ’08/’09

ALL STOP: Conflict Resolution at the Lower School

share it. Children need to be guided to understand that they have hur t someone ’ s feelings they need to be made explicitly aware of it ” The process for helping children negotiate a conflict has par ticular impor tance in a Quaker school, where peace, equalit y, and respect are guiding tenets of all interactions in the communit y.

By Toni Shar p

Assistant Lower School Librar ian

On any g iven day, conflicts abound at the Friends’ Central Lower School In the cafeteria, 2nd graders jostle over seats; in the classroom, 4th graders v ie for a turn on the computer ; on the playground, ever yone wants to be first across the monkey bars; and always in the sandbox where there a finite number of coveted digging toys and a seeming ly endless string of children who want to use them Conflict occurs naturally in all human interaction, but especially between younger children who have a fairly egocentric v iew of the world. As an adult, the quickest and easiest way to end a quarrel over a toy is too often the instinctual “stop fighting because I said so ”

Kindergar ten teacher Deb Jones admits that as a young teacher she almost always took this approach. “But I quickly learned that it never changed the child’s behav ior beyond the moment It was the first reaction; not the best one ” Grow ing up involves gaining a broader perspective and learning ways to negotiate disagreements or differences. Deb, like all teachers, developed her ow n method for helping children recognize their role in a conflict and to develop compassion for whoever it was they opposed

“Par ticularly in younger grades, the students often don’t realize that their behav ior has any effect on a peer they don’t understand that a sandbox toy doesn’t belong to them just because they used it yesterday, or that they might hur t their friend’s feelings by not wanting to

At the hear t of Deb and each teacher’s approach has always been the impor tance of honoring that of God in each person and the need to give each child a chance to be heard. But ever yone followed a different script, and from year to year teachers felt as if they had to reinvent the wheel as the composition of the classrooms changed from grade to grade The need for unit y came to a head during the summer of 2004 when a group of teachers from Friends’ Central’s Lower School attended a Friends Council workshop devoted to conflict resolution There they heard what ever yone knew to be true: that if we are to empower children to be peacemakers in their lives and leaders in the world, it is impor tant, even at this age, to give them the training to speak about their feelings and confront aggressors w ith calm, non-v iolent language But empathy and the language of non-v iolent conflict resolution do not come naturally to a kindergar tener, so a committee was formed and charged w ith developing a program that could be used throughout the Lower School, regardless of the children’s ages or stage of development

Paula Burkhardt ’12 was chosen from among eighty other violinists for the second chair in the Interlochen summer orchestra Interlochen is the country’s premier music camp.

Two former Friends’ Central athletes have taken Head Coach positions at the college level Kiesha King ’01 was named Head Women’s Basketball Coach at Chestnut Hill College, and Ryan Tozer ’01 is now Head Men’s

Basketball Coach at Rosemont College Kiesha graduated from Philadelphia University in 2005 and completed her MBA from the same University in 2006. She was a four-year varsity basketball player at Friends’ Central. Tozer graduated as one of Friends’ Central’s all-time leading scorers, tallying 1000-career points He went on to play intercollegiate basketball at Eastern University, where he was a three-time All-Conference player, and four-time All-Academic selection

This summer, Friends’ Central junior Emily Belkoff ’10 was one of twenty-four high school students to participate in the Drexel University College of Medicine Mini-Med Summer Camp. The highly competitive program provides students with the chance to experience expert lectures, rotations through branches of the hospital, and up-close access to doctors and their patients. Emily reports that the incredible

opportunity has solidified her desire to become a doctor

Eighteen Friends’ Central students and parents participated in this year ’ s Philadelphia AIDS walk, raising over $1000 for the AIDS Fund, which supports HIV/AIDS education, prevention, and services in the Delaware Valley. Team Capitan Madelena Rizzo ’10, who led the FCS group for her third consecutive year, says, “I love organizing this event because

The criteria for the program would be: common language, a set dialogue that included stating the problem, telling how it feels, giv ing a solution, and some form of making amends greater than say ing, “I’m sorr y ” After a good deal of collaborative thinking, the “ALL STOP” acrony m was developed:

Ever yone enthusiastically embraced the program: it was catchy, easy to learn, and it resonated w ith even the youngest kids Pre-kindergar ten teachers introduce the acrony m and w ith it the concepts of empathy and responsibilit y. In succeeding years, these concepts are reinforced and used in the classroom, on the playground, and any time the children need to work out their differences Three years after its introduction, many Lower School chil-

dren have internalized the language and initiate an “ALL STOP” on their ow n or come to a teacher and say that they need an “ALL STOP” The “ALL STOP” method has even migrated beyond the classrooms: recently a Lower School teacher repor ted that she saw an FCS student running through her neighborhood after a friend calling out, “Stop, we need an ALL STOP!”

As Deb Jones says, “ALL STOP takes time, but it is time wor th spending. I’ve seen the children star t to really consider and become more aware of their behav ior It is our hope that each child w ill continue to internalize these tools, and learn the full value of listening, whether to praise, instruction, criticism, or simply another’s feelings ”

Students in Lower, Middle, and Upper School celebrated the Inter national Day of Peace this September for the second year in a row Lower School recognized the day w ith a peace sharing assembly in the morning. In the afternoon, they turned their thoughts inward during a special Meeting for Worship. The entire School gathered outside under a cluster of trees to sit in silence Hanging on the branches above them, peace flags that the children had made in ar t class earlier that week swayed in the cool September breeze. The colorful flags, modeled after Tibetan peace flags, beautifully expressed the children’s dreams of peace as they held silent worship.

I find out how caring our community is AIDS is still going strong, and it is powerful to be surrounded by Philadelphians who haven’t stopped trying.” Madelena also started an AIDS Walk club to ensure that a Friends’ Central team will participate in the fundraiser for years to come

As part of Lankenau Hospital’s campaign for a smoke-free campus, Friends’ Central fifth graders recently created anti-smoking

posters for display in the Hospital’s Annenberg Conference Center In November, the students were invited to Lankenau for the announcement of the “8 in ’08” campaign for eight Montgomery County Hospitals going smoke-free in 2008 Two lucky students had the chance to ceremoniously cut the giant cigarette to symbolize the end of smoking on Lankenau’s campus!

Isabel Fr iedman ’08 and her mother, Marisa Weiss, have published a book, Taking Care of Your “Girls:” A Breast Health Guide for Girls, Teens, and In-Betweens (Random House). Isabel is taking a gap year before attending the University of Pennsylvania, and Marisa is a breast cancer oncologist and the president and founder of breastcancer.org. Their book provides young women with dialogue skills to discuss their changing bodies and allay their fears

about breast development On October 16th, the authors met with Upper School girls and their mothers during a special hourlong assembly. Speaking about what Friends’ Central had meant to her daughter, Dr. Weiss choked up, telling the audience, “the unique environment at Friends’ Central is why you feel so comfortable sharing your concerns…there is a trust that we don’t see at other schools.”

Stream Watch Recognized by the State

At the end of the 2007-2008 school year, Middle School science teacher Doug Ross learned some ver y exciting news He had been awarded a $50,000 “Grow ing Greener” grant from Governor Rendell and the Pennsylvania Env ironmental Protection Agency Ross and his students have been working on restoring Indian Creek for over ten year as par t of a highly developed “Stream Watch” program that had already received significant local attention. But as Doug explains, an award of this size prov ided them w ith the fuel they needed to expand their ser v ices He was thrilled to receive the acknowledge-

On Saturday, October 4th, 2008, twenty-two members of the Friends’ Central School community participated in the Philadelphia Dragon Boat Festival. This was the team’s second year of competition, and in their final race they won their heat in 2:49 The Phoenix Dragon boat team was led by captain and Lower School teacher Mar y-Chilton Van Hees and drummer and Middle School teacher Debbie Fedder ’79.

ment of their ser v ice and excited at the prospect of accomplishing much more.

Indian Creek begins in Wynnewood and splits in two just above the Friends’ Central Cit y Avenue campus The west branch flows through Penn Wynne and the JCC while the east branch runs through the Green Hill Condominiums. Across Cit y Avenue, the stream enters the Morris Park section of Fairmount Park and the branches recombine The creek was once the site of a number of factories and mills In more recent years, it has suffered from a lack of care and misuse.

Doug Ross and Lylee Van Pelt began working in the area many years ago, picking up trash during an isolated ser v ice project One of their students suggested that they do ser v ice there on a weekly

Rachel Fishman ’11 participated in the 2008 Maccabi Games in Detroit from August 17th-22nd as a member of the Philadelphia Dance Team. She and her teammates won two gold medals and one silver medal. Rachel also received a choreographer award for her Jazz solo

basis, and over time the FCS group began to develop par tnerships w ith the Fairmount Park Commission and other local groups Now the Friends’ Central Stream Watch Group v isits Morris Park at 66th and Sher wood during Middle School ser v ice block ever y Wednesday, and their responsibilities have expanded far beyond just picking up trash.

As Friends’ Central eighth graders Allegra Armstrong, Heather Witzel-Lakin, Allie Weiss and Marina Simon explain, their Stream Watch duties are demanding and require them to utilize their knowledge of science and the env ironment as they work to improve the area: “In Friends’ Central School’s Stream Watch program we remove invasive plants, such as Japanese knotweed and w isteria, so

FCS alumna Madeleine Sheldon-Dante’s ’03 photographs were on display at MIT’s Rotch Library in a show called “Journey on Crocodile River.” The photos were taken during her trip to Bamako, Mali in November, 2007, and aim to capture everyday life in the city MIT’s Office of the Arts funded Madeleine’s trip and show as part of their effort to bring Africa to MIT through the arts.

Upper School history teacher

Kelley Graham has published her first book, entitled “Gone to the Shops”: Shopping in Victorian England. The carefully researched book offers detailed observations on the important role of shopkeepers, shops, and shopping in Victorian life Graham completed the book with the help of a Clayton Farraday summer stipend.

that we can allow the stream to become healthier and the native plants and animals to flourish. We test the stream for impor tant factors to the ecosystem, such as dissolved oxygen and pH, to make sure all the plants and animals have what they need to sur v ive and live well. In addition, we do regular w ildlife checks, and collect litter that would be potentially dangerous to the stream ” These tasks are fully integrated w ith Doug’s chemistr y unit that all eighth graders take in the fall

The group ’ s newest project has been to help Friends’ Central’s neighbor, the Jew ish Communit y Center, to improve the proper ty that surrounds them. The Friends’ Central students joined forces w ith middle schoolers from the Perelman School and together they are working to remove the invasive Japanese knotwood and rebuild the area w ith native plants. Much of the money from the state grant w ill go to purchasing native, non-invasive plants So far they have planted $1200 wor th of trees and shrubs along the portion of Indian Creek that runs through the Jew ish Communit y Center.

Heather Witzel-Lakin, who has been working on the Stream Watch project since fifth grade, says that all the challenges the group faces such as cold weather, wet conditions, hard work, and a seeming ly endless mass of weeds and trash, pale in comparison to how ever yone feels when they finally stand back and look at a cleared, healthy, and v ibrant stream bank: “It’s a really rewarding ser vice because you can actually see the difference that you have made ”

Friends’ Central alumnus Aaron Schwar tz ’05 recently finished a fifty-nine minute radio documentary, Chasing the Crescent Moon: The Story of Dr. Frempong and Sickle Cell Disease. The documentary, set in Ghana and Philadelphia, focuses on the life of Dr Kwaku Ohene-Frempong, the child of Ghanaian farmers who became an Olympic athlete, graduate of the Yale University School of Medicine, and head of the Comprehensive Sickle Cell Clinic

Phr iends’ Central Phanatics:

The Middle School caug ht Phillies Phever this October during the World Series. Even Middle School principal Ray DeSabato spor ted his Phillies shir t!

Pictured rooting on the Phils are (front row, from left) Charles Book ’16, Josh Fiebach ’16, Zach Jacobs ’16, Noah Averick ’16, Austin Margulies ’16 Ava Pollack ’16; (back row, from left) Lily Snider ’16, Aidan Plunkett ’16, Middle School Principal Ray DeSabato, Math Teacher Sharon Morsa, and Sam Silver ’13

at CHOP He also established the only city-wide newborn screening for sickle cell in West Africa, where the disease is prevalent in children. To make the documentary, Aaron traveled to Ghana, where he taped interviews with patients, relatives, doctors, and support personnel about their experiences with sickle cell disease Since August, 2008, the documentary has been distributed to public radio stations across the country. FCS alum Cor y Miller ’99, cur-

rently a student at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, has directed a short film entitled Downward Slide. The film is sponsored by UCLA and the organization Divided We Fail, which leads a non-partisan effort to end gridlock on the issues of healthcare and financial concerns for U.S. citizens. One of eight films selected for the Stolen Dreams short film competition, Miller’s movie focuses on a family whose financial security is unex-

pectedly threatened by problems with their medical insurance

An article by Friends’ Central School psychologist Juliet Ster nberg called “Telling Tough Truths: A Middle School Surveys Its Students About Bullying” has been published in the Summer 2008 issue of Independent School. A shorter version of the article was also published in the Fall/Winter 2007-2008 issue of Forum.

The GREENING of the Friends’ Central’s Dining Hall

by Joel Dankoff and Leig h Brow ning

It is star tling but tr ue: each week last year Friends’ Central’s students, facult y, and staff went through 1,000 paper cups, 1,750 paper dishes, 750 plastic salad containers, and 3,000 plastic forks, spoons, and knives. The School regularly sent 4000 gallons of bagged trash per week to landfills or incinerators Even as that trash went out, more unrecyclable plastic products were trucked in from as far away as Texas.

Over the course of the 2007-2008 school year, our communit y ’ s recognition of the need for change steadily grew. On Climate Day, one group created sculptures out of the 3,000 plastic utensils that

Friends’ Central 6th graders recently made their annual trip to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, where Abby Crowley and Alyssa Joines were chosen as winners in the a state-wide poster competition. Kor y Shore was a runner-up

On November 7th, 2008, Friends’ Central held the most successful fall blood drive in School history. Organized by Julia Ellis-

success of this proposal required identifying and working out several logistical and public-policy concerns.

For instance, twelve years ago the cafeteria used washable, china plates, bowls, and cups and washable silver ware The shift to disposable products happened in large par t because of the escalating cost associated w ith replacing the countless items that were throw n away carelessly or removed from the building and never returned A general trend toward grab-and-go convenience made disposable products even more appealing.

normally went to waste, presenting a strong v isual case for the need to go greener

In response, a committee of teachers, students, and administrators developed a plan to replace disposable cups, plates, and utensils w ith reusable ones. Ever yone was thrilled at the prospect of radically reducing our use of disposable products, but the committee understood that the

Kahana ’09 and the Blood Drive Committee, the drive collected 85 pints, enough to save 255 lives

Julia says, “I’m so proud of what the Blood Drive Committee has done this year. Everyone who volunteered and donated at our school made this day possible It was incredible and I am looking forward to the Spring Drive already.”

The committee spent the spring and summer planning how to make the sw itch a success One of its first suggestions was to ask ever yone to refer to the space as the “Dining Hall.” The hope was that the renaming would draw attention to the impor tance of the changes and help shape student behav ior The committee also addressed practical, logistical changes; for example, the dish-return w indow was far from where students exited once lunch was over and too small to handle the increase in washable products The solution? Acquire wheeled dish-return car ts to collect dir t y dishes and place them near the exits.

When School resumed in September, the student body greeted the changes w ith enthusiasm. Says Julia Ellis-Kahana ’09, “ The reusable utensils and plates in the Dining Hall have been working ver y

Alexa Fishback ’96 had a new book published in December 2008 by Rodeale Press, The Daily Fix: Your Guide to Healthy Habits for Good Nutrition.

Liz Robbins ’88, a sportswriter for the New York Times, published a book for runners, A Race Like No Other: 26 2 Miles Through the Streets of New York. Publisher’s Weekly writes, “Robbins’s journalist’s eye is thorough as she inter-

sperses stories of wheelchair athletes, volunteers, spectators and even the city workers who paint the course markers. Using each mile to structure the 26.2 chapters, Robbins allows readers to experience the event without ever putting on a pair of running shoes ”

well. When there are occasional accidents in the cafeteria (like when someone breaks a plate) the student body is ver y suppor tive Instead of getting angr y, ever yone yells “Umpa!” and carries on lunch as if nothing has happened ” Students are even pushing for fur ther greening initiatives for the Dining Hall, such as mov ing to napkin dispensers at ever y table But the largest step is complete: we have dramatically reduced the landfill waste produced by 800 people ever y day by close to 60%!

The Other Side of “Greening”

In addition to mov ing away from a disposable cafeteria culture, Dining Ser v ice Director Chris Rosenbaum and his staff have made a commitment to buy ing local food whenever possible. Par t of this commitment involves designing more seasonal menus. The Dining Hall has even been using fresh vegetables from the ver y local Friends’ Central Upper School garden, run by science teacher Phyllis Gallagher, including Japanese egg plant, cherr y tomatoes, and fresh herbs. Despite the benefits to purchasing local food, one challenge troubles Chris: his customers aren’t as interested in imperfect apples that have been ripened by nature FCS students, like the majorit y of today’s societ y, have grow n accustomed to pristine apples grow n in a controlled env ironment. The dominant force of industrialized agriculture in the food market has created an expectation that good produce is large and unblemished In realit y, a locally grow n fruit or vegetable w ith a few flaws represents a product of equal quality that comes out of a more sustainable system. It also usually tastes better Chris believes that once students realize that the apples and other local fruits appear as they do for an env ironmentally-conscious reason, their opinions w ill change for the better. “We have made great strides,” he says, and w ith the Dining Hall leading the way in local eating, FCS students are sure to make great strides, too

This fall, sophomores and juniors spent a day to “Sizing up Stuff ” The thematic day, devoted to raising consciousness about the negative impact that consumerism and the accumulation of “stuff ” has on the env ironment and communities, featured two special v isitors: Wynn Calder of Sustainable Schools, LLC, and Al Johnson of the Smokey House project The students spent the day mov ing between assemblies, student-led discussions, and facult y-led workshops, discussing various ways to simplify their lives and address the problems associated w ith (over)consumption in our societ y.

are (front

This fall, Friends' Central Upper School students held their annual club fair Club leaders lined up around the oval display ing colorful posters and sign-up sheets for an impressive array of clubs In addition to traditional clubs such as Amnest y International, Black Student Forum, the Blood Drive Committee, and Ser v ice Committee, ten new clubs were added this year, including the Automotive Club, the Jew ish Culture Club, and the Students for Political Diversit y Club.

FIELD HOCKEY

Record: 3-5-2

Coach: Jody Mayer

Assistant Coach: Rachel Busza

Captains: Alex Barron ’09, Nicole Deutschman ’09

MVP: Nicole Deutschman ’09

MIP: Isabel Terres ’12

All Fr iends Schools League

Nicole Deutschman’09, Megan Holt ’10

All Main Line

Nicole Deutschman’09, Megan Holt ’10 (1st Team); Megan Wilson ’09 (H.M.)

GIRLS’ SOCCER

Record: 9-6-2

Coach: Sky DuMont

Assistant Coaches: Diana Bleakley’01, Dennis Hagan

Captains: Erica Bash ’09, Phoebe Harris ’09, Sasha Rescorl ’09

MVP: Erica Bash ’09, Kaitlyn McCaffrey ’10

MIP: Phoebe Harris ’09

All Fr iends Schools League

Kaitlyn McCaffrey’10, Meghan Car tafalsa ’12 (1st Team); Grace Pearlman ’10 (H.M.)

All Main Line

Kaitlyn McCaffrey’10 (1st Team); Meghan Car tafalsa ’12, Grace Pearlman ’10 (2nd Team); Melanie Sachs ’11 (H.M.)

GIRLS’ TENNIS

Record: 15-0

Fr iends Schools League Team Champion (fifth consecutive year)

Friends Schools League Indiv idual Champions: Emily Rosenblum ’09 (1st Sing les); Sarah Weingar ten ’10 (2nd Sing les); Julia Ellis-Kahana ’09 (3rd Sing les); Hallie Greitzer ’10/Ariel Several ’09 (1st Doubles); Leah Perloff ’11/Alexi Several ’11 (2nd Doubles)

Coach: Jason Henderson

Assistant Coach: Kein Wilson

Captains: Julia Ellis-Kahana ’09, Emily Rosenblum ’09, Ariel Several ’09

MVP: Emily Rosenblum ’09, Ariel Several ’09

MIP: Alexi Several ’11

All Fr iends Schools League

Emily Rosenblum ’09, Sarah Weingar ten ’10, Julia Ellis-Kahana ’09, Ariel Several’09, Hallie Greitzer ’10, Alexi Several ’11 (1st Team); Leah Perloff ’11 (H.M.)

All Main Line

Emily Rosenblum ’09, Sarah Weingar ten ’10, Julia Ellis-Kahana ’09 (1st Team); Ariel Several ’09, Alexi Several ’11, Hallie Greitzer ’10 (2nd Team); Leah Perloff ’11 (H.M.)

GIRLS’ CROSS COUNTRY

Record: 2-7 (dual meets)

Friends Schools League Indiv idual Champion: Jillian Glen ’09 (6th Place)

Coach: Jernell Mapp

Assistant Coach: Venetia Ricketts

Captains: Jillian Glen ’09, Liz Mitnick ’09

MVP: Jillian Glen ’09 (four th consecutive in XC)

MIP: Ariel Parker ’11

All Fr iends Schools League

Jillian Glen ’09

All Main Line

Jillian Glen ’09 (1st Team); Ariel Parker ’11, Liz Mitnick ’09 (H.M.)

BOYS’ CROSS COUNTRY

Record: 6-1 (dual meets)

Friends Schools League Champions:

Patrick DeSabato ’09 (1st Place); Ivo Milic-Strkalj ’09 (3rd Place)

Coach: Ed Soto

Assistant Coach: READ DeSabato ’02

Captains: Patrick DeSabato ’09, Jacob Snider ’09, Ivo Milic-Strkalj ’09

MVP: Patrick DeSabato (four th consecutive in XC)

MIP: Joshua Glen ’12

All Fr iends Schools League:

Patrick DeSabato’09, Ivo Milic-Strkalj ’09 (1st Team); Jacob Snider ’09, Daniel Segall ’11, Alex Sheltzer ’11 (H.M.)

All Main Line:

Patrick DeSabato’09, Ivo Milic-Strkalj ’09 (1st Team); Jacob Snider ’09, Alex Sheltzer ’11 (2nd Team)

PA State Independent Championships: 2nd Place

All-State Cross Count r y:

Patrick DeSabato ’09, Ivo Milic-Strkalj ’09 (1st Team)

BOYS’ SOCCER

Record: 3-10-2

Coach: Chris Campbell

Assistant Coaches: Padraig Barr y, Dan Crowley

Captains: Daniel Adelson ’09, Brett Richardson ’09, Jacob Schutzman ’09

MVP: Daniel Adelson ’09, Brett Richardson ’09

MIP: Dav id Thomas ’10

All Fr iends Schools League:

Daniel Adelson ’09 (1st Team); Brett Richarson ’09 (H M )

All Main Line:

Daniel Adelson ’09 (1st Team);

Brett Richardson ’09 (2nd Team); Michael Lowenstein ’11 (H M )

WATER POLO

Record: 1-10

Coach: Iain Anderson

Assistant Coach: Ed Dav is Captain: Max Gilber t ’09

MVP: Max Gilber t ’09

MIP: Dav id deLeon ’11

Most Valuable Players (Above, from left) (Back row) Patrick DeSabato '09, Cross Countr y ; Emily Rosenblum '09, Tennis; Erica Bash '09, Soccer ; Daniel Adelson '09, Soccer ; Brett Richardson '09, Soccer ; Max Gilber t '09, Water Polo (Front row) Kaitlyn McCaffrey '10, Basketball; Ariel Several '09, Tennis; Nikki Deutschman '09, Field Hockey ; Jillian Glen '09, Cross Countr y.

Most Improved Players (Bottom, from left) (Back row) Joshua Glen '12, Cross Countr y ; Phoebe Harris '09, Soccer ; Dav id Thomas '10, Soccer ; Dav id DeLeon '11, Water Polo. (Front row) Ariel Parker '11, Cross Countr y ; Alexi Several '11, Tennis; Isabel Terres '12, Field Hockey

Madwoman of Chail lot

Winter Concer ts

The holiday season brought many festive concer ts and celebrations of music to Friends' Central School. Families, friends, and facult y greatly enjoyed watching these talented students perform

This fall, FCS students and teachers put on a spirited performance of Madwoman of Chaillot for two full audiences. Facult y members and Lower School children also par ticipated in the play to help set a Parisian scene filled w ith beggars, peddlers, jugg lers and mimes The comic show featured Lizzy Marmon ’09 as “the

Madwoman,” a countess who thwar ts a plan to destroy her beloved cit y, her three friends, played by Ariana Mundy ’09, Julia Romano ’09 and Jenna Paul Shultz ’09, and a philosophical Rag picker played by Jason Kirschner ’09

Friends’ Central is par ticipating in Philadelphia’s Cappies program, which allows students from local high schools to attend each other’s performances and w rite rev iews that are published in area newspapers The Cappies rev iews of Madwoman enthusiastically praised the

Friends’ Central students’ poise and talent on stage even when a fire alarm interrupted Saturday’s show! One rev iewer w rote for the Philadelphia Inquirer, “A timely choice, Chaillot urges us to consid-

er our ow n world, teaching that joie de v iv re is a powerful healing force Friends’ Central School demonstrated a mature understanding of these themes in a masterful and enter taining performance.”

[Rebecca Saionz, Barrack Hebrew Academy]

pixies, posters, and Pe z dispensers:

the passionate pursuits of

friends’ central collectors

Ever ybody collects something. We collect dust under the bed, newspapers and magazines on the coffee table, sing le mittens in the closet; we collect greeting cards, matchbooks, letters from our grandmothers; we collect baseball cards, dolls, toy soldiers, insects, stamps and coins; we collect French w ine, first edition books, American landscape photography, and Blue Note jazz recordings from the 1950s Some of our collections are accidental, others are sentimental, and still others are deliberate and researched They end up displayed at home, at antique shows, at local and international museums, traded on Ebay, and hidden in attics. Humans share an “instinctive urge to collect w ith the birds and the bees w ith ants and rats and even several species of crustaceans” (Discover y Media 2007). But it is easier to

understand the motivation behind collecting in the animal world. Squirrels collect seeds for the w inter and birds collect string for their nests. Why do humans collect? Are we motivated by a desire to preser ve the past? To achieve distinction? Or, as Freud and other psychoanalysts have suggested, to satisfy an obsessive compulsive drive for order? Is collecting inherently democratic or is it a pastime of the economically priv ileged? Why are some people called hoarders or packrats and others collectors? Last but not least, what determines the value of our collections?

Many Friends’ Central alumni/ae are collectors, and recently the School has benefitted from the generosit y and loyalt y of some of them On campus, we have collectors as well: John Gruber has built a curriculum around collecting moths and butterfly specimens, Hilar y Takif Weiss and Caroline Maw-Deis teach Upper and Middle School students how to collect and transform leaves, tw igs, and discarded scraps into ar t, and Peter Grove collects old Christmas trees for a Lower School bird blind. One thing they all have in common is a deep spirit of inquir y and a passionate attachment to learning more about a subject Whether they are four or ninet y-four Friends’ Central collectors all appreciate that the “collecting, like most passions, has the capacit y to let us live in another world for awhile” (Herzinger 2006). Who knows to what lengths our current kindergar teners w ill take their love of buttons, spiders, or sticks Or whether their pocketfuls w ill become valuable collections

–Rebecca H. Anderson

Grace , wit, and lines

Joanna Haab Schoff ’51 loves to talk about her collection of Surimono prints from Japan, but she does so ver y modestly. In large par t this modest y is because Joanna's passion for the prints is equaled only by her passion for sharing them w ith others “I do not consider myself a collector, but someone who has a lot of prints to share” she says.

One of the reasons Joanna loves to share her collection is that doing so gives her the oppor tunity to talk about both the prints and Japanese culture “ The more you show, the more you talk about your pieces and the more exciting it all gets,” she explains. “I enjoy talking about the prints because when I do, I am really talking about the histor y of Japan and its culture I fell in love w ith the Japanese people a long time ago, and my prints keep me connected to the culture ”

Joanna began collecting Surimono for t y years ago. When Jim was stationed in Japan in the 1950s, the Schoffs lived in the home of a Japanese gentleman who loved ar t and shared his scrolls and prints w ith them When they returned to the States and began looking for ar t to fill their ow n home, Joanna and her husband grav itated to Toulouse-Lautrec’s use of line and humor. When Joanna learned that he was heav ily influenced by Japanese woodblock prints, she began to seek out prints ver y similar to the ones Mr. Nakagami had shared w ith them back in Japan. She bought her first print from a renow ned collector and curator, Joan Merivs, who helped Joanna understand the provenance of the prints and how to care for them

Surimono are limited-edition prints that, for the most par t, were commissioned by poetr y groups in Japan during the later par t of the eighteenth and first

decades of the nineteenth centuries They are elaborate interpretations of poems and each print overflows w ith literar y references and represents the collaborative effor t of ar tists, poets, calligraphers, car vers, and printers Although they were enormously popular when they were made, Surimonos did not attract the notice of Japanese collectors or ar t dealers until well after they began to be collected by Europeans and Americans, in large par t because the prints are full of allusions and jokes all conveyed in an obsolete calligraphy According to Joanna, there are only about five people in the world who can still read the older sy m-

bols ( Japanese calligraphy changed in 1933) Western collectors, who never xpected to understand the calligraphy, esponded quickly to the exquisite technique and imager y of the prints.

Learning about the multiple layers in Surimono prints has preoccupied Joanna for at least the past twent y-five years, but her interest in ar t began here at Friends’ Central. “A memorable 12th grade ar t histor y course at Friends’ Central School…was my first introduction to the fascinating world of v isual ar t,” she w rites in the catalog to a recent exhibit “ The course was given by a ver y special teacher (Hobson Pittman) who had the abilit y to make his subject alive and personal.”

While Joanna attributes her love of the v isual ar ts to Hobson Pittman and the latitude Friends’ Central gave her to pursue her indiv idual passion, she credits her father-in-law for her interest in collecting In 1933, James S. Schoff was in charge of

Bamberger’s Depar tment Store, which had just been bought by Macy’s It was his responsibility to inform many of his employees that the transition meant they were out of their jobs, and he soon became ill from the task When he went to the doctor, all of his tests came back negative The doctor said to him: “ There is nothing w rong w ith you, Jim. You need a hobby.”

Jim spent small amounts here and there to purchase whatever old photographs, diaries, letters, and books on the American Civ il War he could As the doctor had ordered, his hobby became a passion that helped to heal his hear t and spirit. In 1974 he bequeathed his collection to the Clements Librar y at the Universit y of Michigan where it is now one of the most heav ily used collections and an invaluable source of information for anyone study ing the political, economic, militar y, social and cultural histor y of the United States. As an older man, Jim told this stor y to ever yone and anyone, including the janitors at the librar y “Get a hobby,” he urged “Collect pennies if that is all you can afford What’s important is that you find an interest outside of yourself.”

When Joanna and her husband star ted collecting antique furniture, a wellknow n dealer, Alber t Sachs, gave them another piece of adv ice that Joanna often mentions in conjunction w ith her stor y about her father-in-law : “If you are interested in something,” Sachs said, “buy a piece. You’ll soon learn what you did right and what you did w rong Don’t tr y to do all the research ahead of time Just star t by purchasing something and seeing where it takes you. ”

Joanna’s collection of Surimono grew in just such a peripatetic fashion. When asked which print is her favorite. Joanna is quick to say, “I enjoyed collecting each one for different reasons But I always remember sharing them There are certain prints that always generate interpretation and conversation. Those have

become my favorites.”

Joanna’s commitment to sharing her prints is complicated by the fact that they cannot be exposed to light The fabric and paint are both highly sensitive and w ill fade quickly. Even when they are hung as par t of an exhibit, the prints must be rotated ever y six weeks. Joanna has allowed herself the constant pleasure of one print in her house in Vermont, but it is in a frame, on a table in a dark place where it can be turned to the wall when she leaves.

Yet as Joanna states, “You don't collect unless you are interested in arranging a display ” So what happens w ith a collection over time? Does it need to be kept together in order to retain its integrit y? Does its integrity lie, as some social scientists believe, in its arrangement, in “its selection, composition, and ordering principles?” (Otto and Pederson 1998). Or is each piece valuable on its ow n? Joanna is not sure “I enjoyed the process of collecting and learning so much that it is hard for me to imagine my prints going to a museum where they w ill end up in a

vault,” she explains. “Par t of me wants someone else to have the pleasure of collecting the pieces, and par t of me wants my collection preser ved!”

Whether she keeps her prints together or allows them to be dispersed and the collection reformed, Joanna's intends to keep sharing them. “Conversations about the prints are what make them valuable to me, ” she says She likes to refer to a quote by Manley P Hall, another American collector of Surimono who w rote in the 1960s, “Granted that collecting of this kind w ill not change the course of histor y, or cause the collector to suddenly expand in w isdom; but he may discover that he is becoming a more gracious person, less subject to negative thinking and more capable of enjoy ing intimate contact w ith beaut y. Such experiences are ver y useful in a stress-ridden culture. The surimono inv ites one to relax and gain something of the feeling of shibui ”

A Passionate Chase

“Passion dr ives all collecting,” says Friends’ Central alumnus, Rich Ulmer ’60, who currently has ten considerable collections. He collects spor ts memorabilia, gaming items, mechanical w ind-up toys, old model trains, and w ith his w ife Bev, Beatrix Potter music boxes, Jiminy Cricket memorabilia, 1950s ceramic fish by California ar tists, Royal Bay reuth porcelain from the late 1800s, Stueben cr ystal, and the ar twork of Thomas Kincaid and Peter Ellenshaw Rich’s collections are so extensive that he and Bev moved a mere half mile from the home they had built and lived in for 38 years in order to have more room. “We have a connection to each and ever y piece we have collected, and we wanted to be able to put them out and v isit them Now when Bev can’t find me, she calls out, ‘Are you upstairs?’ And I usually am--up in the room devoted to my spor ts memorabilia collection. As for Bev, I can usually find her in the hallway upstairs that is decorated w ith all of our ceramic fish.”

The Ulmers’ passion for their collections has two sides On the one hand, Rich is quite clear about how much he loves the chase involved in tracking dow n an item. But he is equally clear about how much research, time, and emotion time goes into acquiring each piece His collection of spor ts memorabilia offers a perfect example of how these two sides work together.

“I was born to play baseball,” Rich explains. “I was drafted by the Dodgers right out of Friends’ Central, but I had a scholarship to Brow n My father, who did not ask me for ver y many things at all, asked me to take the scholarship ” Rich graduated from Brow n and went on to have a successful career, not as a baseball player, but as an entrepreneur and

investor He currently manages a company, InVitro International whose mission is to research, develop, and then commercialize non-animal methods of testing cosmetics and creams. But in 1991 Rich’s son gave him a Rich Ashburn card from the 1952 Topps series Ashburn was a childhood hero of Rich’s and later a friend. The card spoke directly to Rich’s abiding, w istful love of baseball and reminded him of his ver y first collection “I used to take my allowance, which was just twent y-five cents, dow n to the store One penny got me a card and a piece of gum w rapped in a foil package. I did not care about the gum, but I treasured the cards ” Baseball cards led to football cards; football cards led to stamps and coins “I always had something I was collecting.”

Many social scientists who study collecting focus on the way collections help an indiv idual construct a life-stor y Items collected “ are v isible proofs of a lived life, of

times gone by ” Collections function as repositories of memories and create a continuum where there might other w ise be disjunction. One problem w ith this v iew is that it assumes that once assembled, a collection remains intact For Rich, this was not the case at all

“Ever y year my mother made me go dow n to Children’s Hospital and give my collection of cards from the prev ious year to a bed-ridden child.” For collectors not to mention young boys--the thought of regularly giv ing away a year ’ s wor th of

cards is frightening But Rich grew to appreciate both the tradition and the impor tant life lesson about attachment to things and his ow n capacit y to help others. This lesson culminated when Rich was seventeen and he sold his stamp collection in order to purchase his first car and pay for the insurance “At the end of the day, I learned that I could get what I wanted but first I might have to give up something else.”

So years later, when his son gave Rich the Rich Ashburn card, he triggered a whole host of memories and emotions in his father “I decided this would be fun again and I set out to collect a set.” Rich picked the 1953 Bow man set of baseball cards, which he knew was the first color set Prior to 1953, the cards had been either black and white or colored in Rich tracked dow n each card, one by one, until he had all 160 “When I finished the set, I had bonded w ith it. I had a great time and I had a beautiful set of ungraded cards. My next step would have been to have it graded or to upgrade, but I knew that was expensive ” The grade of cards corresponds to its condition and rarit y Some cards in a given set w ill be more valuable than others, or have a higher grade, because there are fewer in existence, because of a slight mark in the printing process, because of the personal histor y of the player, and many other factors Card collectors first strive for complete sets and then for cards of higher value. “I knew that to upgrade this collection could take me the rest of my life. I wanted to move on to something else, so I sold that set and went backwards ”

For his next collection, Rich focused on finding all for t y-eight of the original 1933 Spor t King Cards. This eclectic collection includes athletes from a variet y of spor ts ice skaters, w restlers, even a dog sled racer It also includes many famous athletes such as Babe Ruth and Babe Didrickson “I became enamored w ith old cards and the histor y of professional spor ts. I star ted reading all the books I could find on the old figures in baseball.”

Rich's research took him all the way back to the 1800s and Connie Mack, who was a catcher before they had g loves.

As he went through the histor y of baseball, Rich learned an impor tant lesson about collecting in order to sustain the chase, a collector often needs to redefine his or her goal to keep it just out of reach “First, I wanted all the Ty Cobb cards, then I wanted all the Babe Ruth cards. I kept making up things I wanted.” Rich star ted mixing up statistical research in w ith his historical reading “I did population counts how many cards are out there? How many belong to collections already?” Rich v isited online grading sites and dealer websites, he and Bev travel to shows and conventions. More recently, Rich conducts most of his collecting on Ebay

Some collectors bemoan the rise of Ebay, but Rich enjoys the strategic aspect of tracking pieces online and watching an auction unfold. It is a game that, for Rich, adds to the thrill of the chase. “We have developed an unbeatable strateg y, ” he says “For one thing, we never put in round numbers Then, we wait until there are thir ty seconds left in the auction and we inordinately up the maximum bid.” Of course, this strateg y may not hold up when you are bidding against someone who uses the same strateg y and goes higher! “Bev and I were follow ing a Beatrix Potter pig for a long time When it finally came up for auction on Ebay, we were ready. But someone else took our pig away by bidding four times the maxi-

mum bid That was too much for us So for now we are just going to keep track of that pig and see what happens.”

“ The thrill of chasing makes collecting what it is,” Rich says. “It can take months or years to get a piece My mother always said, ‘don’t star t something unless you can complete it ’ I live by her words even now. It is such a thrill to find the last piece in a set. I always remember where and when I found the last piece, but not necessarily all the prev ious ones. ”

Although Rich emphasizes the thrill of the chase when he talks about his collections, it is also ver y clear how attached he is to them. He enjoys his collections and he does not share them publically. Bev takes her Beatrix Potter pieces to the local librar y once a year, but that is as far as any piece travels “Christ y ’ s has a Beatrix Potter auction that someday we might add our collection to,” explains Rich. “But we haven't bonded w ith it enough.” Collecting for oneself is tricky, though, and creates the need for compromise Consider, for instance, the way Rich treats one of his most valuable pieces the original Philadelphia application to the National League for a baseball team signed by Alber t Reach. In order to protect this letter, Rich keeps it stored in a Tupper ware box inside a fire-proof safe. Someday he hopes to donate it to the Baseball Hall of Fame In order to enjoy it, he had a copy made and framed that he hangs on the wall in his spor ts memorabilia room.

“ The enjoy ment I get from each and ever y one of my pieces is something I would not trade ” The research, the chase, and the strateg y involved all prov ide a thrill. But the pleasure of seeing his pieces assembled in a group prov ides Rich w ith a sense of completeness he other w ise would not have. “ They remind me of good times, adventures, and other people,” he explains Including, perhaps, the young boy w ith a penny to spend and all of life before him.

A World of One ’s O wn

A single white shelf runs along two walls in Rachel New man Schwar tz’s ’89 kitchen, up above the doors to her dining room and liv ing room. Most v isitors probably walk right into the large, warm space and w ithout noticing the small, whimsical, ceramic condiment jars, olive trays, and salt and pepper shakers that line these shelves. It would be hard to leave the kitchen, though, w ithout looking up. Each piece is brightly painted and topped w ith a highly expressive, elf-like heads that catches the eye and draws a smile The Holt-Howard Company of Stanford Connecticut produced the jars and small dishes for only two or three years in the late 1950s and sold them through the Sears and B. Altman’s catalogs In the past couple of decades, they have become highly desirable collectibles Rachel began collecting the Pixieware

g

a jam and jelly jar “She saw it and thought it was cute so she gave it to me, ” says Rachel. Any other 18-year-old might have enjoyed the impish little jar for awhile, maybe even kept it on her dresser. But Rachel comes from a family of collectors and so when she unw rapped the jar, she was instantly inspired to find more “When I was grow ing up, my parents were always dragging me to flea markets and antique shows, and I saw their excitement.” The charm of the smiling, pink jam and jelly jar, sparked a similar excitement in Rachel She began scouring the pier shows in New York where she lived, she went to antique shows, she poured over online catalogs, and she learned to bid effectively at auctions. The “Jam ’ n Jelly” jar was one of the first three pixies that Hold-Howard produced, and was sold in a 1958 Christmas catalog as par t of a set that included ketchup and mustard bowls. Fift y years ago the pieces sold for less than five dollars each. Today they go for upwards of four hundred dollars each

Rachel has thir t y of the Holt-Howard pixies, ten shy of a full set and as close as anyone to completion. “I have a couple of pieces that are really valuable, in par ticular a honey jar and an instant coffee container. The instant coffee pixie has a coffee-colored face and is considered a crossover collectible People who collect the Holt-Howard Pixieware want her but so do people who collect African-American pieces.” As for the pieces that she doesn’t have, Rachel worries some of them might

not exist any more The pixies all have ver y thin necks and are highly breakable Rachel would love to reach her goal and complete her collection, but for now, w ith two small children and a tight economy, Rachel enjoys her collection as it is, arranged ver y carefully up on a high shelf

Rachel has other collections, too. She collects richly shining Luster ware pitchers and colorful, raw outsider ar t, par ticularly pieces about Adam and Eve. She once colected Hot-Howard Cozy Cats, and she has a grow ing interest in black and white photographs of musicians Each of her collections is displayed ar tfully and w ith clear restraint around her house. “Once I get something, I like to enjoy it. But I also pay a lot of attention to how I make a display It is impor tant to know where to put something and when to stop Just because I collect something, doesn’t mean it should all be set out around my house.” Her sense of restraint is, in fact, par t of how Rachel defines herself as a collector. “I consider myself a collector,” she says, “because I limit my focus I am not excessive, and I am not a hoarder I pick something ver y par ticular and I pursue it.”

Although hav ing a defined goal makes collecting fun for Rachel, she shares the love of the chase w ith her peers At one point, Rachel even kept a diar y of “the chase ” She had a notebook in which each page detailed a different potential source for an item and a record of each call or letter she sent in an attempt to acquire the piece. When Rachel talks about her process, she has a striking perspective on the thrill of collecting “It is a game I play w ith myself,” she says. “I identify my goal, I find out if the piece exists, and then I get to say, okay the piece is there. Can I afford it? Is it in the right condition? Can I get it? There is a hint of discomfor t involved because you basically say to yourself, ‘What I want is there for the taking ’ To know what you want and have it w ithin reach raises its ow n counter-challenge. You have to ask yourself, ‘Is it right for

me now?’”

Rachel’s honest y about the uncomfor table, psychological side of collecting is not only perceptive but also emotional. “My collections are ver y personal and I can look at each piece and tell you exactly where and when I got it ” When she talks about her collection of black and white photographs, for instance, this singular, personal connection is clear. The first photograph Rachel purchased was a William Wegman photo called “Looking Back ” Although she had always disliked Wegman’s photos of dressed-up dogs, she had just met her husband, Eric, and found herself w ith a crush on his dog, Solomon, as well. “‘Looking Back’ reminded me of Solomon. It was my first crush on a photograph,” she says w ith a smile The other few photographs Rachel and Eric have bought are similarly personal When they were liv ing in New York Cit y and Rachel was working for the recording industr y, she and Eric spent their weekends in Woodstock. They once saw a show by the photographer originally hired to shoot the epony mous concer t and fell in love w ith a photo he took of Jimi Hendrix on his first trip back to the United States after becoming a star in Europe. The photo, its focus on the horde of cameras aimed at Hendrix, the music connection, and the centralit y of Woodstock, all spoke personally to the Schwar tzs

One of the things Rachel likes about the black and white photographs she has collected is the way they stand alongside her collection of Outsider Ar t The photographs are contemporar y and clean Most of them are also ver y large and command your attention. The Outsider Ar t, in contrast, is gritt y, rough, and much less over tly sophisticated. Rachel has focused on pieces that retell the biblical stor y of Adam and Eve and is aware that many people w ill find the subject matter, as well as the unschooled technique, discomfor ting. But Rachel is unabashed by the potential for discomfor t or for any perceived dissonance

between her collections As a result, her house, filled as it is w ith respectful arrangements of her ver y diverse collections, is a remarkably personal g limpse into Rachel herself. The extent to which Rachel enjoys her collections and what they remind her about herself underscores one of the reasons why she has pulled back a bit from looking for more. It is not just the fullness of her life w ith two young children, or the tight economy, that act as restraints. It is also the dominance of Ebay

As almost ever y collector w ill tell you, Ebay streamlined the entire process of collecting. It dramatically and irrevocable altered the way the game is played. Suddenly it is easy to sit at home and keep track of what is in circulation, what may be lost for good, who ow ns what, and how much is it wor th But this efficiency comes at a cost. Collectors rarely exchange photos and letters in the mail, and the need for travel and conversation has greatly diminished As Rachel explains, “the communit y aspect of collecting is gone Ebay is anti-collecting It is all about acquiring now and that is not fun.” Kitschy ceramic, lustrous pitches, dramatic photographs, and edg y paint-

ings all have their place in Rachel’s home and offer a remarkably intimate reflection of her ver y eclectic taste and life. They exemplify the belief that collections are personal narratives that allow indiv iduals to pull the past into the present, forge a continuum, and “make the world one ’ s ow n ” (Clifford 1988) For now that is enough.

One collection’s L asting Legacy

William De Lorme Trow Fordyce graduated from Friends’ Central in 1952, a Cum Laude Societ y member, class treasurer, secretar y of the Ser v ice Club, and a member of the yearbook staff and cast of Pygmalion After Friends’ Central, he went to Har vard Universit y where he earned both an A B and a Ph D in Eng lish, and for the next fift y odd years, he taught Eng lish at the Universit y of Nor th Carolina and then West Chester Universit y Despite the fact that he lived only a few miles from Friends’ Central, Bill never returned to campus and maintained little contact w ith his alma mater Just before their 55th Reunion in May of 2007, Bill w rote to Donald Reminschnieder : Dear Don:

So it’s fallen to you to smoke me out of my badger hole Well, this note w ill allow you a measure of

sidered myself a reunion person; so much time has elapsed that it’s quite futile to tr y to pick up the loose ends of the past, even in the name of good fellowship. My memories of FCS are happy ones, but they are so remote as to be beyond meaningful contact w ith the elusive entit y we foolishly call the present. That is the fairly mundane rationale for my absences, unsatisfactor y even to me My best w ishes to you and all our classmates

Bill

In spite of his absence from the communit y, Bill had always maintained that he would “remember Friends’ Central.” Still it came as quite a surprise when Bill died last October, to learn that Friends’ Central was the primar y beneficiar y of

his estate It came as even more of a surprise to learn that one of the most valuable por tions of that estate was packed away in over 100 cardboard boxes. Bill Fordyce was quite a collector, and he had left the School 45,700 sheets of music, many of them ver y rare and valuable

Alongside his public devotion to Tennessee Williams and Shakespeare, Bill nur tured a deep passion for musical theater and old mov ies. The Friends’ Central yearbook of 1941 identifies Bill as a thespian and the “class accompanist on the ivories,” and shor tly after he earned his Ph.D., Bill fed this passion by buy ing sheet music from American mov ies and musical theater. Although his collection was never displayed, cataloged, or made available to the public, at the time of his death, Bill Fordyce was internationally know n as one of the preeminent collectors of rare sheet music from theater and film as well as songs w ritten by many of the most impor tant composers of the 20th centur y “ The scope and depth of Mr Fordyce’s collection,” w rites Sandy Marrone, an exper t on sheet music, “underscores its impor tance from [both]

spare time study ing, listening to, and learning about music from the stage and screen He bought hundreds of books on mov ies, actors, and plays; he held onto playbills and newspaper rev iews; and he amassed a considerable librar y of CDs. He had “ a vast knowledge of the subject [and] a special eye for compiling a unique collection,” says Sandy Bill’s collection represents over 100 years of musical histor y and “includes nearly all of the well-know n tunes of the times.” But as Sandy notes, it was his interest in the less well-know n songs that sets The William Fordyce Collection apar t

“[Bill] focused on the rarely-heard and unusual songs from America’s musical past…and the composers that [he] collected w rote songs that reflect our countr y ’ s histor y ” The collection contains music from nearly 200 different composers, including Ir v ing Berlin, Cole Por ter, Jerome Kern, George Gershw in, Stephen Sondheim, Kur t Weill, Hoag y Carmichael, and Noel Coward. There is sheet music as well from as far back as John Philip Sousa and Stephen Foster and includes songs from ever y mov ie or show that ever became popular as well as an abundance of rarely seen or heard songs and pieces from silent mov ies and late 19th centur y stage shows.

The William Fordyce Collection is distinguished by its qualit y, too Some collectors focus on quantity in order to ensure scope and thoroughness Hav ing a complete set of something increases a collection’s value. But for others, Bill Fordyce among them, qualit y is more impor tant than quantit y According to Sandy, “Bill regularly purchased high qualit y music for his collection from the countr y ’ s most prominent sheet music dealers. Those dealers specialize in the scarcest music, and their customers pay high amounts to acquire it. It was his w illingness to pay substantial sums for select sheet music that allowed him to obtain ver y choice editions which are what make this collection so impor tant.”

A few of the highlights in the Fordyce Collection are: Bill by Jerome Kern and P G Wodehouse, a song that was w ritten for but cut from an early show, called Oh Lady, Lady Many years later it was used and popularized in Show boat. This sing le piece of sheet music once sold for as much as $6500. The Jitterbug a song that was cut from The Wizard of Oz; You’re A Grand Old Rag, the original version of You’re a Grand Old Flag by George Cohen which was banned by Theodore Roosevelt and ordered to be destroyed; Hooray for Hollywood, such a well-know n song that

is impossible to find music for in now ; The Baseball Rag, Noel Coward’s first song; and “Away We Go” Songs from the show that eventually became Oklahoma.

The thoroughness w ith which Bill fed his passion for American musical theater is unique, perhaps unrivaled, and his collection has enormous value for anyone interested in music or American histor y The generosit y of spirit and the remarkable loyalt y he displayed in remembering his formative years at Friends’ Central have a value that is far more difficult to describe In concrete terms, Bill’s gift w ill fund three to four full scholarships in perpetuit y While those scholarships are tied to tuition and thus definable, there truly is no accurate way to measure the impact of the educational experience Bill has bequeathed to Friends’ Central and its students Perhaps one Fordyce student w ill have an interest sparked while here at Friends’ Central. Perhaps, fueled by the intellectual and spiritual curiosit y that are the hallmarks of a Friends’ Central education, the graduate w ill pursue that interest and it w ill grow into a lifelong passion Perhaps that passion w ill sustain the Friends’ Central graduate, enriching his or her life emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. This is the true potential value of Bill Fordyce’s gift.

pop culture in a row

The world’s largest Pez dispenser, located at the Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia in San Francisco, stands 7 feet, 10 inches tall over twent y times the size of a normal Pez dispenser and about two feet taller than the average Nor th American male The functional dispenser offers a whopping 6,480 Pez candies to anyone lucky enough to tip back its jolly snow man head. Alternately, the snow man w ill y ield one standard size Pez dispenser somewhat eerily, a miniature clone of itself accompanied by one stamped cer tificate of authenticit y Without a doubt, some may be surprised at the mere existence of a 7 foot 10 Pez dispenser, let alone a museum devoted entirely to Pez memorabilia (although we are all citizens of a countr y that has several contenders for the title of “Largest

Ball of Tw ine”) But to at least one Friends’ Central student, Blake Bor tnick ’13, Burlingame is less a cultural oddit y than a kind of Mecca, and its towering Pez snow man a beacon.

Well, perhaps he wouldn’t put it that way Blake has been collecting Pez dispensers since the age of three, but his enthusiasm can at times seem muted. For example, he speaks w ith a rather cool practicalit y (especially for an eighth grader) about the dangers of going out of his way to purchase a collector’s item “in this economy ” (Once the market star ts looking up, it’ll be back to Ebay) But w ith hundreds of dispensers, his impressive collection speaks for itself.

The majorit y of Blake’s collection was on display this fall in the Friends’ Central Blackburn Librar y for students

and facult y to admire and enjoy In the display case, colorful Muppet dispensers stood next to Pokemon characters; Micky and Minnie posed unconcerned behind Garfield and Hello Kitt y ; and various Santas smiled blithely beside Star Wars Storm Troopers Blake’s many years of collecting have created a miniature universe, inhabited by brightly-colored and charming representations of pop culture over the past several decades.

It is this world, his mother Janet Bor tnick suggests, that draws people into the collection The Pez company responds so quickly to fads that people from many different generations and walks of life can g limpse a par t of their childhood in the face of a Pez dispenser. The emotional pull of these plastic forms is close to magnetic for both students and adults how to resist the colors, the memories, and maybe even the allure of something sweet? For that reason, Blake’s collection, which went on display for the first time when he was in fifth grade, has consistently been among the most popular exhibits of any in Blackburn Librar y

Blake’s affection for Pez, however, appeared long before he possibly could have developed any nostalgic associations w ith the candy. As a young child, he received one as a gift, and, as his mother tells it, dispenser and toddler formed an instant bond. From that moment on, if the rest of the family was hav ing desser t, Blake wanted Pez, and nothing would persuade him other w ise Janet laughs, “We star ted stashing them in the house because it was the only thing that would make him happy!”

A small boy’s whim has now grow n to a collection of over 500 Pez dispensers, and Blake says he intends to maintain an interest in Pez for his entire life. He insists he doesn’t have a favorite Pez, that the collection trumps any indiv idual character While his friends might look at his collection

and pick out something “cool,” Blake sees the ever-expanding whole. If he keeps up his current pace, the collection could increase by the hundreds by the time he graduates Though it is tempting to seek out a favorite Pez among the masses, Blake’s v ision is appealing, too: lined up together, the collection transcends the indiv idual objects and becomes meaningful in its ow n right

It’s easy to think of collections as deeply personal to the collector and alienating to the outsider a product of exper tise, taste, erudition, or maybe just packrat tendencies Blake’s Pez collection stands out as both unusual and extraordinar y in size, yet deeply recognizable and comfor table, even to the uninitiated. It is engaging and inclusive, a perfect fit for the Friends’ Central communit y

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Got Golf?

Thanks to you, the 19th Annual Golf Outing Got $50,000 for Financial Aid

On June 17th, Fr iends’ Central hosted its 19th Annual Golf Classic at the ACE Club in Lafayette Hills Alumni/ae, parents, facult y, and friends gathered to play the challenging course, test their touch at a putting contest, and enjoy lunch, dinner, and a silent auction. The money raised at the event suppor ts the School’s financial aid program This year, the Golf

Classic raised $50,000 to help Friends’ Central open its doors to children w ith limited financial means Save the date for this year ’ s Golf Outing on Monday June 22nd at the White Manor Countr y Club in Malvern. New this year, we w ill be adding tennis to the day’s events! For more information, contact in Linda Wasserman at (610) 645-5042

Headmaster, David M. Felsen, and his grandchildren, Isabella and Ian, hold a check for the amount raised at this year ’ s successful golf outing.

Dave Ebby (Samuel '16), Jim Sheward (Amanda '21), Brad Bradbeer (James '14, John '21, Peter '16), Eric Guenther (Liesl '16 and Phebe '19)

Sharon Morsa, Linda McConnell, Christina Fryman (Samuel '10)

Kyle Beatty, Tom MacFarlane (Isabel '20, Lorna '17, and Sophie '15), Padraig Barry, Dan Crowly (Abby '15, Morgan '18)

Richard V Pepino, Richard Pepino, Howard Ratinoff, Allan Papsin

We lc ome!

Welcome Back to Lower School!

On Sunday, September 8th, the Home & School Association hosted a reception to welcome Lower School families back to school. Children and their parents enjoyed water ice, soft pretzels, and lemonade Ever yone reconnected w ith old friends, met new friends, and shared their excitement for the star t of the new school year.

Left, clockwise from top:

Tori Lane '19, Nayah Moore '19, Emma Velinsky '19, Julia Nierenberg '19

Justin Badt '21 and Kieran McDonnell '21

Laura and Leonard Rossio (Hannah '20)

Howard Smith (Noah '18 and Amanda '21) and Michael Balitsaris (Peter '22, Quinn '20, Riley '17)

Opposite page, clockwise from top:

Isaiah Rice '19 and Tori Lane '19

Michael Murray '09

Jeremy Stursberg '09 (left), Doris Whitely (Dennis '12) and David Felsen enjoy food and conversation at the picnic.

PSOC Kicks Off New School Year

Each September, the Parents of Students of Color (PSOC) committee hosts a reception to welcome families back to school. Throughout the year, the PSCO committee suppor ts effor ts to develop greater sensitiv it y and open communication in the Friends’ Central community, such as the Annual Bowl-a-Thon scheduled for Sunday, Januar y 25th.

Friends’ Central Welcomes New Parents

September is filled w ith receptions, including one on September 9th for all parents new to the Friends’ Central communit y Each year, the Welcoming Committee of the Home & School Association arranges a warm, informative evening when new parents can hear from the Headmaster and principals, meet each other and many veteran parents, and learn about some of the many “extras” we have at Friends’ Central, such as instrumental music lessons, sw im lessons, aftercare, private transpor tation

Pumpkins, Jugglers, Games, and Food at the Lower School Pumpkin Fair

On Sunday, October 26th, the Home & School Association hosted its annual Pumpkin Fair. The Lower School g y m and parking lot were filled w ith families enjoy ing the carnival games, jugg lers, Upper School Jazz Band, corn chowder, cotton candy, and many, many crafts Four th graders decorated the basement of the g y m and led the fearless through a ghoulish haunted house. The money raised at the Pumpkin Fair benefits the Principal’s Discretionar y Fund for Students’ Extra Needs The Principals may use the money in this fund to help offset the cost of tutoring, music lessons, and books for eligible students.

Headmaster's Reception

Annual Giv ing is the School’s first fundraising pr ior ity. Each year, our parents, alumni/ae, friends, and facult y recognize that tuition alone does not sustain the exceptional programs, facilities, and facult y that set Friends’ Central apar t. Your gifts to the Annual Giv ing Campaign ensure that Friends’ Central can maintain its obligation to its students and its tradition of excellence. The men and women in The Headmaster’s Club have made leadership gifts. Their loyalt y and commitment inspire us all. As a token of our gratitude for their generosit y and dedication to Friends’ Central, we host the Headmaster’s Reception each October This year ’ s dinner was hosted by Cathy and Jon Fiebach ’82.

from top left:

Cathy and John Fiebah '82 (Joshua '16 and Matthew '18)

Bill Weiner '76 and Jean Fitzgerald

Steven and Laurie Katznelson (Jacob '11)

Jo and John Zaccaria (GP Dylan '12)

Victor Freeman '80 and Deborah Johns

On Saturday November 8th, Friends’ Central hit the road! A char ter bus full of facult y, alumni/ae, administrators, and friends drove up to New York Cit y where more alumni/ae, friends, and their families spent the afternoon at Chelsea Piers. Ever yone enjoyed the iceskating, food, conv iv ialit y, and the spirit wear we brought! As always, connecting w ith alumni/ae we don’t get to see on a regular basis made all of us in the Alumnie/ae and Development Office eager for more! Come v isit us and hopefully we’ll come v isit you, too.

Clockwise from top left: Rimi Chakraborty ’99, Amy Dunn ’99, Sarah Wasserman ’99, and Brooke Gassel ’99

Peter Chawaga ’09, Mary Chawaga ’13 and Laurie Novo

Jim Schoff, David Felsen, and Joanna Haab Schoff ’51

Erica “Doc” Harnett and Amy Dunn ’99

The Tradition of Racers' Day Continues

For thir ty-four years, local alumni/e who have already celebrated their 50th Reunion, have been returning to Friends' Central ever y fall for the annual Racers' Day Luncheon. The Alumni/ae Office began this much-loved tradition in 1975 as a way to celebrate the loyalty of these alumni/ae and their enduring dedication to the School The alumni/ae are greeted by current Friends' Central School students and enter tained by Upper School musicians and choral groups.

Young Alumni/ae Return to School

On the Wednesday before Thanksg iv ing, over 100 young alumni/ae from the classes of 2008-2006 returned to Friends’ Central for hoagies and Tw inkies! Facult y, current students, and the Alumni/ae Office greeted them enthusiastically This annual tradition is a wonderful way to star t the holiday

Baby Day

Ever y other fall, the Friends’ Central Alumni/ae Office welcomes alumni/ae and their young children to the Lower School for a reception in the librar y. Many of the graduates who return spent their ow n Lower School years on the Cit y Avenue campus and they are delighted to see the “ new ” Lower School After wards, they can enjoy the Pumpkin Fair and all the energ y of the School.

Alumni/ae

1925

Helen May Talley ’25 celebrated her 100th Bir thday on June 1st, 2008

1928

Just before Anna Janney DeAr mond’s ’28 passed away on March 26, 2008, her niece, Marger y DeArmond Macconachy ’62 w rote that Ann was in the health center of Methodist Countr y House in Wilmington hav ing taught 41 years at the Universit y of Delaware Ann ended her career in 2000 at the age of 90, after two decades of teaching at the Academy of Lifelong Learning. When Marger y sent out Ann’s Christmas cards last season, she heard from Patricia Murray Rosenthal, whose mother taught Anna at Friends’ Central about 82 years ago! “Our Friends’ Central connections run long and deep ”

1934

Sarah Wallis Stevens ’34 “I am still a ’ snow bird’ w ith summers in Old Saybrook, CT and w inters in Jensen Beach, FL. My six children are doing fine and keep me busy w ith nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.”

1938

Ir ma Freidr ich Lyday ’38 was sorr y that she was unable to attend reunion. “As Senior Girls President, I’m sorr y to have missed our 70th reunion, but I was thinking of all of you I am looking for ward to seeing the pictures!”

1939

Lillian G. Cannon ’39 is a resident of a continuing care facilit y in Car y, NC

Peter C. Ivy ’39 remembers ser v ing on the basketball squad (mostly as bench warmer) that won 21 and lost 0 in the 1938-1939 season

1940

Louise Goetzenberger Howard ’40 w rites from New Hampshire: “Old age for me is not yet bad - still a bit of ’old lady’ tennis Nine families of children and grandchildren are scattered. I now have five ’greatgrandies.’ I w ish a few other in the class of ’Eight y-Four For ties’ would w rite class notes remember the title of our Record Book?”

Bar bara Anderson Mor r is ’40 w rites: “I loved my experience at Friends’ Central years ago and my grandkids, Katie ’04 and Sam Morris ’08 feel the same about theirs, a great beginning! Friends’ Central continues to be a wonderful place for learning and warm and friendly interaction.”

1941

Pat Okie Alexander ’41 in CT has recently been corresponding w ith Jane Stiefel Ber tolett ’43, who resides in Sarasota, FL. Pat w rites: “As pre-teens we lived across the road from each other in Penfield, (now Haver tow n) and got into all sor ts of mischief I’d not even know n she went to FCS till browsing the Director y!”

1942

Bar bara Beketel Leonards ’42: “My four children, Tom, Sherr y, Jeff and Jim, continue to make me ver y proud and happy –eight grandchildren and now three great grands, 5, 3, and 1 year. I give thanks for each day.”

Gayle Waldhauser Mar tin ’42 w rites: “On November 20th, 2008, Bob and I w ill celebrate 60 years of a spirited and lov ing marriage. Our two children both have successful careers, Todd in robots and Robin in computers. Three great-grandchildren currently live in Australia ”

1943

Jane Stiefel Ber tolett ’43 has four children and seven grandchildren In her note to Pat she w rites that while raising her children, she taught special education to developmentally disabled children in the public school system. “Now however, I’m free to play and w rite to old friends!”

Joyce Orem Brandle ’43 w rites: “So sorr y I w ill be unable to attend our 65th reunion. I have many fond memories of the shor t time we (the Mar y Lyon girls) spent at your beautiful school during World War II.”

1944

1945

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Dorothy Dunne Kittrell ’45 w rites from Florida: “I have moved into a retirement community in Naples I miss liv ing on the beach but I am enjoy ing my new lifest yle.”

1946

Beverly Buck Brunker ’46: “Our daughter Leslie seems to have inherited some of my wanderlust genes; she just returned from Thailand, where she was working to help the children all the way from Bang kok to the nor thern border She is a good world citizen and I’m a proud mother ”

1947

Julie Miller Edger ton ’47

Members of the Class of 1947 met in Februar y 2008 at the home of Florence Hinkle Frommer ’47 and Walter Frommer ’47 near Coral Springs, FL.

Pictured from left to r ig ht are: Julie Miller Edgerton, John (Ditty) Jones, Mar ie Eliott Thompson and Florence and Walter Frommer. “A fun time together.”

E. Florence Hinkle Frommer ’47

Julie Miller Edger ton ’47, John R. (Ditty) Jones ’47, Mar ie Elliott Thompson ’47,

Florence Hinkle Frommer ’47 and Walter Frommer ’47 met in Februar y 2008 at Walter and Flossie’s home in Florida. Julie & John had not seen Marie, Flossie or Walt for sixt y-one years After graduating from Friends’ Central, Marie and Flossie went on to Russell Sage College in Troy, NY and graduated in 1951. Four Russel Sage College classmates were v isiting Flossie at the time and attended the reunion as well They had not see Marie in fift y-seven years Needless to say, ever yone had a wonderful time catching up to date about each other, sharing memories and show ing and taking numerous pictures. Walter and Flossie reside at their Florida home from November through May and spend June through October at their v illa on Sugar Mountain in Banner Elk, NC In June, 2008 they w ill celebrate fift y-seven years of marriage. They have three children: son Ken and his w ife Maggie Frommer, Vestal, NY, son Dave Frommer, Boca Raton, FL and daughter Cheri Frommer DeLucia and husband Richard DeLucia of Dav ie and Travener, FL They also have two grandchildren Daniella DeLucia and Monica Frommer.

1948

Virg inia Keim Cole ’48 was sorr y that she was unable to make it to Reunion 2008. She sends greetings to all of her classmates.

1949

Madge Littlefield Bird ’49 fondly remembers Mar tha “and so would all ’49’ers!”

Ivan H. Gabel ’49 repor ts that he has 16 grandchildren!

Ruth Harvey Mavronikolas ’49 “We moved to Greensboro, NC to be near our children and grandchildren, brother Cy ril Har vey, II ’51, and his w ife, Judith Weller Har vey ”

Emily Jones Sander ’49 w r ites: “ The first money I ever earned was $75.00 from the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks based on an essay on democracy that I w rote for Mr Emerson People like Cy ril Har vey (7th grade), Mrs Munroe (Latin), Anne Whitcraft (Eng lish), Clay ton Farraday, and Dick McFeeley (headmaster) continue to illuminate one ’ s life.”

1952

Bar bara Stein Sickles ’52 “I have loved selling real estate in Pennsylvania and New Jersey since 1971 still full time and loving ever y minute. My two girls are married and each w ith children. Perhaps one will send her children to Friends’ Central!”

1954

Bar bara Pausser McLean ’54 sings w ith the Colorado Sy mphony Orchestra Chorus and w ill be touring in Europe next summer - Budapest, Vienna, Brno, and Prague

1955

Ted Clisby ’55 enjoyed his summer on Cape Cod

Middy Minster Larson ’55 w rites from Florida: “I continue to indulge in my love of opera at Opera Tampa and Sarasota Opera and teach classes in the Tampa Bay on getting to know opera in schools and senior centers ”

1956

Ca

“Al

1957

Carole Cowell Motter ’57 “Enjoy ing the summer w ith my three daughters and their families and joyous that Laurie, my eldest, came through chemo and surger y and is on her way to being well again. No sign of cancer now (breast).”

Richard Klein ’57 w ith son Geoffrey ’90, daughter-in-law Nita, and identical tw in granddaughters Jemma and Lucy v isiting from Eng land.

1958

Carolyn McNeill Manwar ing ’58 w rites: “Hav ing attended Greene Street Friends’ School and Friends’ Central School, the Quaker beliefs have always influenced my thinking. The wonderful teachers!”

Ann Dothard Walters ’58 w rites: “George’s daughter was married at Br yn Maw r Presby terian Church on Oct 11th We were there w ith from the 8th to 15th! What gorgeous weather we had the whole time! Both of my kids came w ith their kids. Saturday morning we went to a deli in Bala Cynwyd for brunch then hit the FCS campus to show my kids where we

had gone to school. The place was abuzz w ith students from the Japanese School students. George and I had a fun time show ing them around George and I went to the shore on the Monday after, first Long Beach Island where I went as a kid, then on to Ocean Cit y where George spent a lot of time. We stayed overnight there, walked the boardwalk, watched the Phillies, and had a wonderful time We were SO happy about the Phillies, especially George! Just wanted you to know!”

1959

Susan Kelsay ’59 “When I entered FCS in the fall of my junior year, I was surprised what a friendly atmosphere welcomed me. It was quite a ’fun’ env ironment, especially after what I had prev iously experienced.”

Tim Patterson’s ’59 company, Pressure Products Industries Inc , received the 2008 Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Manufacturing Company of the Year award. PPI prov ides engineered equipment for gases and liquids under pressure to the chemical, gas, pharmaceutical and related industries

1960

Elinor Whitelaw Hunt ’60: “I am presently involved in a literacy program called Cops-N-Kids in the greater Reading, PA area We collect, sor t and distribute books to children in the area. We also go into schools and read to the children. Also my husband and I and six others are about to leave on a sailing adventure in the British Virgin Islands ”

Judith Deemer Roseland ’60 writes: “After 30 years at ’306’ we are tr y ing to sell our house (we’d like to move to Ocean Cit y, New Jersey). We have six ’Grands’ (w ith another on the way); we are enjoy ing them immensely and I am still working for the U S Depar tment of Labor ”

1961

Ann Ginsburgh Hofkin ’61 w rites of her “Memorable trip to Mississippi and Louisiana, where I joined Rabbinic Pastoral Counselor Rabbi My rna Matsa who offers ser v ices that include “’Caregiv ing for Caregivers.’”

1962

Marger y DeAr mond Maconachy ’62 w rites: “Jamie and I spend weeks in the West Chester area caring for our three ’oldsters’, on of whom is 97, one is 94 and Anna Janney DeAr mond ’28, my aunt, who is 98 The weeks we are home, we tr y to do catch up weeding and enjoy cruising and crew ing on friends’ boats. In May we’ll be on the ’Around Whidbey Race.’”

1963

Gwendolyn Luff Pr ice ’63 had the chance to see their son, Nick, play w ith the Universit y of San Diego Basketball team against Connecticut.

1964

Suzanne Bohrer Ashley ’64 w rites from Ne w Yor k : “ I ’ l l n e ver for g e t An n e Whitcraft’s reading of “Evangeline” in the 8th grade! Best times on the fields playing hockey & lacrosse ”

Mar tin G. Crabtree ’64: “I had received ver y good preparator y training for higher education and for life. Good teachers; Meeting for Worship was and still is impor tant to me ”

1965

Esther Leiper Estabrooks ’65 repor ts that she has begun her twent y-fifth year as Columnist and Poetr y Editor for Writers’ Journal Her pen and ink art has appeared in this magazine since 2000, and her latest illustrated book, in full color, is An Odd Fable w ritten by Norma Sundberg and released by CyPress Publications in the fall of 2007 She and her husband Peter

are proud of daughter Hannah, earning a helicopter pilot license in Hawaii, while son Tom and w ife Randi had their first child, James Danner Estabrooks, on Februar y 15, 2008 This is Esther’s and Peter’s first grandchild

Lar r y Lev in ’65 appeared on the Februar y 14, 2008 Oprah show w ith his family and dog Oog y, who was rescued from a dogfighting ring He says, “I think that ever y day my family tries to atone for what happened to Oog y. He’s been through the worst imaginable horrors, and we feel ver y lucky because of what he gives back to us-an immeasurable amount of devotion and love ”

1966

1967

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Anita Grumbling War ner ’67 w rites: “It’s been almost four teen years since I retired from a twent y-year career in finance Thinking for ward to my husband’s retirement in the next five to ten years, we have bought a second home on the French Riv iera. We’ve been able to spend three to four months there a year and are enjoy ing learning about a new culture and learning a new language I also continue my involvement w ith transcendental meditation and helping to promote a peaceful world through that organization.”

1968

1969

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1970

Car r y Cooper ’70 w rites: “While v isiting the U S last year, I saw Sherr y McVickar ’70, her mother Alice Legge Penza ’36, and Bill Young ’70. Bill and I grew up in Br yn Maw r. Now he and my parents have all moved to Washington. They live just a few blocks from each other, so, in a way, we are still neighbors! I correspond (too infrequently!) w ith Stephanie Koenig ’70, Christine Young Gaspar ’70, Chuck Gregor y ’70 - and would be delighted to hear from others. My email: carr ycooper@hotmail.com.”

Chuck Gregor y ’70 wants the FCS communit y to know about two books recently published by his company CWG Press. He w rites, “Corbin Fowler’s Searching for Truth, Justice, and the American Way is a book of philosophy, politics, moralit y, and activ ism. It addresses war, religion, capital punishment, and other highly topical issues (www.createspace.com/3347303).

Mickey Z’s book No Innocent Bystanders is ’ a manifesto in fractals ’ It’s a thoughtprovoking look at life in America, and the world, today. It’s a call for action. When I was at FCS a popular slogan was, “If you ’ re not par t of the solution, you ’ re par t of the problem.” Mickey Z is par t of the solution He challenges you to think He challenges you to do something The several lists of extinct animals, each list titled “Wish You Were Here,” are an eloquent and evocative way to bring the message home (www.createspace.com/3354868). If you have a book that needs publishing, be sure to contact me! I don’t accept ever ything for CWG Press, but I’ll help you get it in print one way or another ”

Stephanie Helen Koenig ’70 w rites: “I am teaching par t time for the Red Clay School District in Wilmngton, DE and am training my Dutch Warmblood, ’Korduroy Odyssey’ in classical dressage I also earned my lifetime cer tification from A.R.I.A. as a Dressage Instructor (National Cer tification).”

1971, 1972, 1973

1974

Send us your news We want to hear from you, too!

Philip Schalow ’74: “Dr. Philip” is in his sixth year of practicing upper cer v ical chiropractic (NUCCA procedure) and has retired from the professional music scene. Instead, he is able to now to develop harmony w ithin his patients and facilitate the performance of other music.

1975

Sher i Gardner-Von Urff ’75 has her Master’s Degree in Ar t Therapy from Hahnemann Medical College (’81). She

w rites: “Just star ted a non-profit called Wool Power, Inc. Our present mission is creating a knitting resource room in Wote, Kenya for 150 knitters Please v isit my website at www woolpower org Email me at sbvonurff@comcast net Have a peaceful day.”

1976

Emilie Richardson Temeles ’76 w rites from Virginia that she is still teaching middle school and that she and Dan ’75 are doing well. “Both kids are out of college. All is great!”

After 23 years in Austin, TX, Susan Whitman ’76 and her husband Mark Gergen are mov ing to Berkeley, CA this summer, where Mark w ill be a senior professor at Boalt Hall (Berkeley’s law school) and Susan w ill be an Assistant Dean Their son Jonathan (9th grade) w ill go w ith them, while their son Ben w ill stay in Austin to attend UT Law School and Danny w ill be a freshman at Johns Hopkins (where he’ll play basketball). Susan would love to hear from any of her classmates in the Bay Area (sr whitman@ear thlink net)

1978

Sarah Jackson Leonard ’78 w rites from New Jersey : “I have lived in Millburn for the past 16 years My husband, Jeffrey, is originally from Long Island, and we have two children Michael, 16, and Rebecca, 13.”

soldiers w restling w ith their conscience in the aftermath of war embody valor on all three counts. There are few people in our increasing ly corrupt societ y whom we can point to as such models of fierce moral courage The Good Soldier uses a longitudinal lens, mov ing from 1944 to today, to present the emotional histor y of these veterans.”

1979

Carol Rubin Fishman ’79 w rites: “Charlie and I are excited to have Rae at FCS! She is so happy there! Recently Rae par ticipated in the 2008 Maccabi Games in Detroit as a member of the Philadelphia Dance Team She and her teammates won two gold medals and one silver medal. Rae was also received a student choreography award for her Jazz solo! It’s fun to catch up w ith other alums Debby Peltz Fedder ’79 and Doug Hy man ’79 also have kids in the class of 2011 I’m looking for ward to Reunion in 2009 ”

A mini reunion was held at Noel Trask’s (’78) house in June to greet Cathy Cutler (’79) upon her return v isit to the east coast

Lexi Lovell ’78 is working on her latest documentar y, The Good Soldier. She w rites: “ The problem is war. The issue is: What is courage? There are some who put their ver y lives at risk, others who sacrifice their ow n material well-being for the greater good, and others who risk censure and face ostracism in their communities. Combat

Pictured are, leftright: Carol Rubin Fishman ’79, Amanda Trask ’80, Cathy Cutler ’79, Debby Peltz Fedder ’79, and Joy Edelman Boonin ’79. Noel Trask ’78 is the photographer and host. Some of our children: (L-R) Josh Fishman (future FCS ’15) Liz Mintz (Cathy’s daug hter), Rae Fishman (FCS ’11), Hannah Trask ( Westtow n School, ’11), Le v Boonin

1981

Julia Fineman Sauter ’81, Ed and Lainie are on the move to Grand Forks, ND, where Ed has taken a position at the Universit y of Nor th Dakota School of Medicine and Heath Sciences. Julia can be reached at jsauter@gra.midco.net.

1983

Allison C. Smith ’83 writes: “I continue to work in the strategic planning department of Saatchi & Saatchi Healthcare in New York City, but the good news is I live in Bay Head on the Jersey shore and I am marr y ing James B. Kane in August of 2008.”

1984

Amy and Andrew Hamilton ’84 welcomed daughter Katherine Jane in October. She j oi n s s i s ter S a r a h , s i x , a n d bro t h er Matthew, three.

1987

Stephanie Denenberg Humphrey ’87: “My husband Ted and I and son Danny welcomed our second son/brother into the world on March 12, 2007 August (Auggie) Charles Humphrey Danny just turned 4 and Auggie is now 1 ”

Kimberly Kur tz Lent ’87 w rites: “We are thrilled to welcome Braden Michael Lent (Brady) to our family Braden was born on Monday, April 21 at 9:55 am He weighed 9 lbs, 6 ounces and was 22 inches long Ever yone is finally home and doing well.”

Paul Paz y Mino ’87 w rites: “Susan and I welcomed our son, Gabriel, on Februar y 14, 2008 Since September 2007 I have been Managing Director at the San Francisco based non-profit Amazon Watch ”

Daw n Swersky Schakett ’87 and Dav id Schakett welcomed Alexander Benjamin Schakett on Januar y 4, 2008.

1988

Daniel Ber nstein Bar nz ’88 recently had his film Phoebe in Wonderland show at the Philadelphia Film Festival and received the Archie Award, a juried kudo presented in honor of the late Philadelphia cineaste and scholar Archie Perlmutter Bill Weinstein ’94 is Dav id Barnz’s agent!

Sonya Sklaroff ’s ’88 solo exhibition New York, Here and Now, was on v iew at the Jenkins Johnson Galler y, San Francisco in May, 2008

1989 1990

Michael C. Brow n ’90 w rites that he has been liv ing in New York Cit y since 1997 After 6 years designing for the theater, Michael is now designing env ironments, events and installations for a w ider array of industries. You can v iew his work online at www lot71 com

Jonathan Ginsberg ’90 has worked for Robbins Gioia for almost 8 years. He is now working in Washington, DC suppor ting the Depar tment of Veterans Affairs Office of Information and Technolog y. His son Zachar y is now 4 years old Jon and Michelle live in Burke, VA

Amanda Welsh Greenwald ’90, husband Jason, Caleb, 6, and Remmie, 3 1/2, welcomed Harlow Sadie on October 26, 2007.

Ber yl and Patr ick Lord ’90 welcomed Marcus Francis Lord (below) on June 2, 2008.

1991

Joy Clair mont ’91 and Max Kaufman ’91 welcomed Jonah Paul Kaufman (below) on Januar y 15, 2008

Laura J. For man ’91 and Jason Dy mbor t welcomed Casey Scott Dy mbor t (below) on September 19, 2008

1992

Per r i Shaw Bor ish ’92 and her husband Car y Borish have a 2 year old son named Elijah and welcomed daughter Sonia Borish (below) on April 9, 2008

Lisa and Zach Glaser ’92 welcomed Emma Rose Glaser on August 21, 2008.

Wynn S. Sanders ’92 recently spent time in Spain and Morocco, where he enjoyed ar t and adventure

1993

Lauren H. Alber t ’93 organized a kick-off event for the arrival of the company “Ladies Who Launch” in Philadelphia “Ladies Who Launch” connects entrepreneurial woman online and in person to foster creativ ity, communit y, and suppor t.

Brad E. Fur man ’93 recently completed his first feature film, “ The Take,” starring John Leguizamo, Ty rese Gibson, Bobby Cannavale and Rosie Perez. The independent film is an Official Selection of the Toronto International Film Festival and has been acquired by Sony Pictures It’s set for release in 2008

1994

Anne Ross ’94 and Nathan Brockman welcomed Tessa Ross Brockman in April 2008

1995

Far id Moore Sanders ’95 married this summer (see below), on August 8, 2008, to Tina Theler, a Sw iss native, near Lucerne, Sw itzerland Farid has been living in Sw itzerland for the past four years, where he has had a managerial position w ith Johnson and Johnson He also is

about to receive a dual MBA from The London Business School and Columbia Universit y Farid and Tina live in Zurich and are the proud “parents” of two fluffy Persian kitties

Andrew Scharff ’95 is “still clow ning and doing things w ith circus ar ts all over the East coast as well as a couple trips abroad ever y year ”

1996

Clio Mallin ’96 made the trip to NYC from Philly to the skating event She really enjoyed the time w ith facult y, for mer classmates, and the oppor tunit y to meet FCS alums from other classes. She’s happy to repor t no skating injuries or day-after aches.

Meredith and Todd Messinger ’96 welcomed Cori Messinger (below) on July 21, 2008.

Bobroff Mur phy ’96 appeared on 6ABC’s Action News Healthcheck on November 18th, 2008, discussing the benefits of acupuncture in association w ith fer tilit y treatments 6ABC’s website also quotes Murphy : “Acupuncturist Meredith Murphy says more women are using acupuncture alone, or w ith fer tilit y treatments, to up their chances of pregnancy....Murphy says acupuncture taps into the powerful mind-body connection, to change the body’s chemistr y ’What they’re going through in their life doesn’t change their job, their fer tilit y treatment, their life, their stressors but how it affects them changes.’”

1997

Andrew Barson ’97 writes: “I am currently liv ing in Winter Park, Florida (right outside of Orlando). At the present time I am working for a nonprofit organization called the Center for Drug Free Liv ing as an Intern Counselor, facilitating screening groups as well as engagement session and group counseling for new clients. For about four years I was working as the Head Chef at Bella Luna and Stella Blu

restaurants. Since I moved to Florida I got back into school and I am polishing off my B.A. in Psycholog y at Rollins College and looking at graduate programs for either my Masters in Counseling/Social Work or my Doctor of Clinical Psycholog y Degree (PsyD).”

Jessica Foster ’97 w rites: “I just got back from my honey moon in Turkey w ith Emil Steiner (also a 1997 FCS grad) We were married on May 25, 2008 14 of our friends from FCS attended the wedding. I have completed one year at The Whar ton School (Penn’s MBA program) and Emil is a blogger at the Washington Post.”

Michal Hertz and Benjamin Lee Shargel ’97 were m a r r i e d ( s e e b e l ow ) S e p tem b e r 2 7 , 2 0 0 8 i n Brooklyn. Michal is a radiolog y resident in California and Ben is a doctoral candidate in math at UCLA. Ben and Michal w ill use the surname Her tzShargel

Zachar y Leibow itz ’97 is working as a talent producer at Fox Business in New York. He is also working to get this master’s in Spor ts Management from Drexel. This year Zach attended lots of weddings of classmates including Emil Steiner and Jess Foster, Matt Hagar t y, Geoff Stevens and Ben Shargel Zach attended the recent Alumni/ae Event in New York and w ill now star in a production of Jews on Ice!

Janine Lew is McFadden ’97 w rites that she is a Mental Health Therapist at an Employee Assistance Program located in Ply mouth Meeting, PA and a Mar y Kay consultant (www.mar ykay.com/Ljani9). “I was recently married on August 31, 2008 to my college sweethear t Dante McFadden (Lower Merion HS Grad) ”

Sondra Rosenberg ’97 is the director of art therapy at the Renfrew Center of Philadelphia, a residential treatment facility for girls and women with eating disorders She has published and lectured on the use of creativ it y in the healing process for women struggling with poor body image, post-traumatic stress and self-destructive behaviors.

AnnMarie Polsenberg Thomas ’97 and her husband, Chris, welcomed daughter Sage Claire to the world on Januar y 17, 2008. AnnMarie is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, MN. In her spare time she is study ing aerial ar ts, including fly ing trapeze, and is looking for ward to teaching a special engineering course next year on the “Dynamics of Circus.”

Rachael Landis Weatherly ’97 and Mitchel Weatherly welcomed Nola Rae Weatherly on July 4, 2008

1998

Ilyse Ber man ’98 w rites: “Currently, I am working as a pre-kindergarten teacher at a preschool in Devon, PA and have been doing so for 6 years I will be completing my Masters in Early Childhood in spring 2009.” Elizabeth Shinn Hulford ’98: “Currently I ser ve as staff chaplain at Hinsdale Hospital of the Adventist Health System It is the four th largest nonprofit, religious-based healthcare system in the countr y. Our base of operation is out of Orlando but Chicago is considered the hub of the Midwest Region. Our system includes 4 hospitals in the Chicago area. We ser ve people of all ethnic, cultural, socio-economic and religious backgrounds I ser ve primarily out of Hinsdale Hospital where I work on the units of oncolog y, maternit y, labor & deliver y, neo-natal intensive care unit, medical, detox, and emergency room Each week I lead a devotional ser v ice where we sing, read Scripture, have devotional messages, and pray for hospital and personal concerns. I recently went on our annual mission trip, this year to Hondorus, where I was interpreter for the medical staff and suppor t to our team and those who came to our clinics I love my job, the staff that I work w ith, and seeing God work w ith patients and families through some of the darkest moments of their lives. Aside from hospital work, I fill in at pulpits throughout the region when pastors are away or unable to work Worship is essential to my ministr y so I enjoy preaching at all locations ”

Andrew Kim ’98 is working in L.A. as a teacher.

Dav id Lev in ’98 is currently liv ing in Boston, MA, working as an Associate Producer for NOVA online, the companion Web site to the PBS science program. In addition to creating Web interactives and audio features, he produces and voices NOVA’s podcasts (pbs org/nova)

Jim McCor mick ’98 co-founded, published, and edited a quar terly football magazine called Blitz that “ was created to both inform and enter tain the underser ved football fan” (from the Publisher’s letter, vol 1 issue 1)

Dan Silver ’98 currently lives on Long Island and is working as the Marketing Communications Manager for The New York Racing Association This company operates Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, NY, Belmont Park in Elmont, NY, and Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, NY. He has always had a passion for horse racing and loves working at the track.

Ni ck Yu l m a n ’ 9 8 i s m a n a ger of t h e Fa c i l i t i e s a n d Arch ive D e p a r t m en t a t Stor yCorps in NY (www.stor ycorps.net). Before joining the NY team he spent four months on the Stor yCorps Mobile Tour, traveling between Chicago and Gulfpor t, Mississippi Visit Nick’s website to experience his interest in sound involving musical automata at: http://www nysoundworks net/

1999

Rimi Chakrabor ty ’99 just star ted her MBA and MIT ’ s Sloan school of Management, focusing on green building development and alternative energ y. She also star ted teaching yoga as a cer tified Forrest Yoga teacher. She is still dedicated to making time to see old friends and be a par t of Friends’ Central

Brooke Gassel ’99 is now living and teaching in New York City and loves it. Her little brother Bruno is in 5th grade at FCS

Latifah McMullin ’99 is Capital Program Assessment and Database Coordinator for the School District of Philadelphia

Cor y Miller ’99 is in graduate school at the UCLA School of Film, Theater and Telev ision He received a grant from the AARP to produce a film on the US healthcare system. It is featured online at div idedwefail.org

Robyn Polykoff ’99 married Paul Ryan Mudd in October 2008

2000

Mwazhuwa Kuretu ’00 is working w ith the drama program at Friends Select Teresa Ryan ’00 is currently finishing her final year of graduate school She is looking for ward to entering the “real world” after graduation. She and her family are both doing well.

2001

Elizabeth Spector ’01 is teaching 4th grade in the Bronx and apply ing to Law School. She ice skated for the first time in 15 years at the Friends’ Central event in New York Cit y and lived to tell about it!

Gina Zorzi ’00 and her par tner, Tracy Taylor, were married in 2006. Gina is currently working w riting curricula for school children.

Phyllis Barsky ’01 is working on her masters in Education Policy from the Universit y of Pennsylvania.

Joshua Pasek ’01 w rites: “I’m getting a PhD in Political Communication here enjoy ing it, but really an east coaster at hear t. Does mean that I get to consider Facebook use research on some occasions.”

2002

Jesse Soslow ’02 is leav ing for China in August 2008 to teach Eng lish for a year.

Peter Viola ’02 w rites: “It was great to be featured in Directions and also hear about FCS’ green effor ts Wouldn’t expect any less. I’ve kept up my env ironmental work, though recently I’ve transitioned from activ ism to government - I’m working as a Legislative Correspondent for Congressman Sestak here in D C , learning the ropes on Capitol Hill It can be hard work, but I’ve got a lot of neat responsibilit y - I cover his energ y, env ironment, foreign affairs, and some other issues, so it’s giving me a good foundation.”

2003

Mar y Crauder ueff ’03 w rites: “I am in my second semester of graduate school I am working on getting my Master’s in Librar y Science with a specialty in Archives and Records Management Unfor tunately my semester is ver y long and I was unable to come to FCS for Reunion because of my last classes and finals.”

Benjamin Daniels ’03 made a documentar y, This is My Cheesesteak, that played in the Philadelphia Film Festival

Jonathan Wegener ’03 w rites: “I graduated from Columbia last year and continue to live in New York -- I’m residing happily in a brow nstone on a beautiful tranquil tree-lined street in Brooklyn My street even has a bike lane!”

2004

Kev in P. Block ’04 w ill be in Maputo, Mozambique for a year, working for the Lurdes Mutola Foundation

Diane Y. Chen ’04 is going back to CT after graduation and apply ing to dental school.

Jenna E. Cooper ’04 is attending Columbia Universit y to pursue her Masters in Social Work beginning fall of 2008

Benjamin Hy Friedman ’04 graduated from Princeton in June and has plans to work in a Lab in New York Cit y in the future.

Rebecca Kantor ’04 is working at Architectural Achieves at the Universit y of Pennsylvania and has a grant to travel to Estonia in September.

Andrea B. Kor b ’04 has plans to take a year off next year and move out west to work as a ski instructor She is considering law school in the fall of 2009

Joshua E. Meltz ’04 is returning to Miami after graduation to start work in a sales job.

Richard Pompetti ’04 is mov ing out to California after graduation to star t work for Apple.

Jason M. Sheltzer ’04 w rites: “I’m a molecular biolog y major, and next year I ’ l l b e a t ten d i n g M I T to p u rsu e a P h D i n biolog y ”

Joseph Silver ’04 was travelled through Europe in June and July of 2008.

Hillar y Tur ner ’04 is a new executive for Target and I star ted June 9, 2008

Rana Wardlaw ’04 is planning to move to Manhattan after graduation from Penn.

2005

Andrea DeSabato ’05 was named Temple University’s Student Athlete of the Month Temple repor ts: “Andrea DeSabato is a Senior on the Women’s Lacrosse team. With a major in journalism and minor in Eng lish, she has demonstrated continued academic improvement and is consistently earning semester GPAs above 3 0 She is ver y hardworking, ev idenced by earning a 3.7 semester GPA last fall while managing 18 credits. This summer she completed and internship w ith NBC10, and has indicated a desire to work in spor ts journalism ”

2006

Ryan B. Bash ’06 w ill be working in Oceanographic Studies in the Pacific in the Spring Semester 2009

Dw ight Dunston ’06 was par t of a relay team for Dickinson College that placed sixth in its heat at the Penn Relays w ith a clocked time of 1:31:08 Dw ight’s relay team also combined for a time of 3:26 48 in the 4x400 relay, placing sixth in that heat as well.

2007

Andrew Roth ’07 and his roommate entered a screenplay into the Ivy Film Festival (the largest student film festival in the world), and they won the prize for Excellence in Comedy

Alumni/ae, we want to hear from you!

Have you published a book recently? Run a marathon? Had a baby? FCS encourages friends to share their news with Directions Email your notes and photos to alumni@friendscentral org (preferrable method) or mail information to the Development Office, 1101 City Avenue, Wynnewood, PA 19096 Please mark the back of prints with your name and class year Digital images must be of high quality (28” x 21” at 72 dpi, or 4” x 6” at 300 dpi). We accept photos up to 2MB.

Annie Sprogell ’08 (above) is working at Pilkington College, a high school in a small v illage 30 minutes outside of Uganda’s second largest cit y in connection w ith Africa & Asia Venture. She is teaching Math, Biolog y and Eng lish to what she believes is the equivalent of seventh graders The classes have about 70 students, which was a bit daunting at first but she is getting used to it and handling it well. At the end of each lesson the students teach her Lusoga, the local language. Annie lives in a house on the school’s campus w ith three British girls all taking a gap year They have a pet pig named Maggie, who is quite cute but can get angr y ver y easily when you don’t feed her enough. Some days they have quite the collection of livestock in their backyard. The headmaster has a cow that always chills out near Maggie and there are chickens and goats ever ywhere It all sor t of makes Annie want to become a farmer. She hopes all is well back in the US.

2008

Ar iela R. Weinberger ’08 is taking a gap year to study and live in Israel this year. In the fall of 2009 she w ill star t classes at Muhlenberg College.

Mar r iages

Jessica Foster ’97 and Emil Steiner ’97 on May 25th, 2008

Elizabeth Strauss and Matthew Hagarty ’97 on October 18th, 2008

Michal Hertz and Benjamin Shargel on September 28th, 2008

Janine Lewis ’97 amd Dante McFadden on August 31st, 2008

Tina Theler and Farid Moore Sanders ’95 on August 8th, 2008

Gina Zorzi and Tracy Taylor on July 29th, 2006

Ar r ivals

Jonah Paul Kaufman to Joy Clairmont ’91 and Max Kaufman ’91on January 15th, 2008.

Casey Scott Dymbort to Laura J Forman ’91 and Jason Dymbort on September 19th, 2008

Emma Rose Glaser to Lisa and Zach Glaser ’92 on August 21st, 2008

Marcus Francis Lord (Beryl and Patrick Lord ’90) on June 2nd, 2008.

Cori Messinger to Meredith and Todd Messinger ’96 on July 21st, 2008.

Gabriel Paz y Mino to Susan and Paul Paz y Mino ’87 on February 14th, 2008

Tessa Ross Brockman to Anne Ross ’94 and Nathan Brockman on April, 2008.

Alexander Benjamin Schakett to Dawn Swersky Schakett ’87 and David Schakett on January 4th, 2008

Nola Rae Weatherly to Rachael Landis Weatherly ’97 and Mitchel Weatherly on July 4th, 2008

Sonia Borish to Perri Shaw Borish ’92 and Cary Borish on April 9th, 2008.

Katherine Jane Hamilton to Amy and A n d re w H a m i l t o

.

Salvatore Anicito was the Athletic Director and a teacher of physical education at Friends’ Central School from 1973 to 1978 He was the head coach of varsity football, w restling, and track, and one year, his teams held league championships in all three spor ts! Sal is best remembered as the man who rev italized the Friends’ Central football program in the 1970s His “Herd” won two PennJersey championships He knew the spor t and was an excellent teacher of the game After Friends’ Central, Sal continued to coach high school football and was honored as Coach of the Year in three states Texas, South Carolina, and Florida Sal w ill always be remembered by his Friends’ Central students and colleagues as a Coach who cared about his players and who taught them to succeed at the spor t he loved.

In Memoriam

Former Faculty

Dorothy K Linnehan

Tom W Riley

Anne Whitcraft *

Alumni/ae

Helen Lane Stout ’18

Edward S. Johnson ’31

Helen Chapman Pugh ’33

L Paul Saxer ’38

Samuel T Broaddus ’39

Dorothy Corl Armstrong ’41

Adrian W. Smith ’42

John M. R. Bruner ’43

* To be commemorated in Spring ‘09 issue

Alumni/ae

Margaret Cannell Spencer ’43

Diana Richmond ’44

Carlton J Austin, Jr ’45

Douglas W. Crate, Jr. ’45

Elizabeth Snyder Palcho ’54

Frederick H. Halbach-Merz ’55

Helen Ehrich Armbruster ’57

Robert O Drayer ’60

Joanne Shelly Pearson ’60

Frederick W Klaus ’63

Seventy-five years ago, students looked for news and announcements on this bulletin board in the front hall of the Wood Building. Messages were hand-w ritten and thumb-tacked to cork board. Today Upper School students and v isitors are greeted by a 48” highdefinition digital screen w ith a continuous display of recent photos and announcements.