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Oak Leaves ABINGTON FRIENDS SCHOOL IN THIS ISSUE A Scrapbook of Photos A Look Back at the Tenure of Head of School Rich Nourie Annual Report of Donors
“WHO IS HERE TRULY MATTERS.” – Rich Nourie
Learning math requires classroom chemistry. Your gift to The Fund for AFS provides critical resources for both tuition assistance and faculty salaries to bring together the passionate learners — both students and teachers — who can ignite understanding. Make a gift at abingtonfriends.net/giving.
The Spirit Revealed through Learning OA K L E AV E S W I N T E R 2 0 2 4
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Join us on Campus for Exciting Events
“I believe our teachers continually reveal the gifts of the spirit in their work with students and each other, adding an authentic joy and a peaceful presence to the work of learning and growth at the heart of a great school like AFS.” - Rich Nourie
Weekday Admission Open House Tuesday, February 13, 2024 9 – 10:30 a.m.
Weekend Admission Open House Saturday, March 9, 2024 1 – 3 p.m.
Mary Lynn Ellis Poetry Program feat. Airea D. Matthews Thursday, February 15, 2024
AFS Community Trivia Night Friday, April 26, 2024
AFS is in session, see classes in action! Tour our campus, meet our students, faculty and staff, and hear from Head of School Rich Nourie.
The Mary Lynn Ellis Poetry program was created to honor a beloved AFS faculty member who retired in June 2020. This year, acclaimed poet, educator and Philadelphia Poet Laureate Airea D. Matthews will hold an evening poetry reading and book signing open to the public.
Meet our stellar faculty and students and learn more about what a Friends education at Abington Friends School has to offer.
Alumni, parents and community members are invited to join us for the second annual AFS Community Trivia Night. Spend a night out at AFS with food, friends and trivia. Details about registration will be shared closer to the event date. Attendees must be 21 and over.
LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHO OL
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hen I was leaving for college, stepping away from my family home for the first time, my father gave me the gift of a beautiful leather-bound Bible, wanting me to have near the scriptures that had so anchored his life as a person of great faith and spirit. On the inside cover, he inscribed these words from Matthew: “For where your treasure lies, there your heart is also.” I was moved by this gift and indeed have kept this Bible close to me throughout my adult life; it sits on my desk at AFS today. But it has taken a lifetime to fully understand those words from Matthew. At the time I left home, my future was a mystery to me, but at this vantage point, close to retirement from work and a life in education I have deeply loved for 41 years, I can see how the arc of my life, and that of each of us, bends toward the things that we hold to be of highest value. Far more than any master plan or lofty ambition, what we treasure becomes a gravitational pull, gradually filling our lives with what we love. Over decades, my life has become filled with meaningful work, books, music, family, deep friendships, outdoor adventure and the inspiration of spiritual community and amazing colleagues. I believe that at its core, an AFS education is an invitation to students to find those things and interests of highest, lasting value, forming commitments that will shape a lifetime. AFS students learn the power and potential of community, the value of continual search for what is true and best in any circumstance, the skills to build meaningful, generative relationships, and they learn to be guided by a deep sense of knowing at the heart of their beings that Quakers call the inner light. Beyond any college placement or competitive honors, this is the treasure of an AFS education that shapes lives of meaning, purpose and fulfillment. I see this in the lives of my own alumni children and in the countless stories that alumni from all generations tell about the values that have guided their lives that they trace to this community, to their time in our classrooms and in our 327-year-old Meetinghouse. And as I prepare to step into the next chapter of my life beyond AFS, I am more certain than ever of the enduring strength and long-standing commitments of the AFS community. For just as we as individuals are formed by what we treasure, so is the AFS community. Our community treasures the spark of intellectual adventure, the power of language to create meaning and invite exploration, the
invitation of the arts to awaken imagination, new ways of seeing the world and to quicken the conscience. We are committed to the power and potential of a diverse community to enrich and challenge our understanding of the world and become advocates for all in an imperfect and still unjust world. We insist on relationships of authenticity, integrity and care, growing daily in our ability to form effective community. And we invite imagination for and engagement with the transcendent and sacred always in our midst, knowing that growing into our potential for goodness and coming to know the strength of that which is larger than each of us makes all things possible, even in the most challenging circumstances. And so the AFS community exerts its own gravitational pull, attracting profoundly committed faculty and staff, students and families who treasure things of highest value, including our incredible incoming Head of School, Nicole Hood. Dr. Hood’s intellectual spark, spiritual depth, joy in a life of learning and leading, make for a perfect match for this miraculous community. Our collective commitment, that spurs each of us on in creating a community of continual growth, learning and hope for the future, is powerful indeed and one for which I am personally profoundly grateful.
RICH NOURIE HEAD OF SCHOOL
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Jade Sanders ’24 on Leadership Everywhere
The Spirit Revealed through Learning A conversation with Rich Nourie COVER STORY
Richard F. Nourie, Head of School Devin Schlickmann, Assistant Head of School for Institutional Advancement and Enrollment Management Jay Kadash, Director of Marketing and Communications Matthew MacNaughton, Assistant Director of Communications and Editor of Oak Leaves Cara Palladino, Director of Annual Giving Michelle Lofton, Director of Family and Alumni Engagement Leapfrog Group, Publication Design
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O N T H E C OV E R Photography by Maria Young P H OTO G R A P H Y Photography by: Rebecca Barger, David DeBalko, John Flak P’24 P’27, Geanine Jamison, Kathy Leister, Matthew MacNaughton ’11, Nimo Ren ’25, Ruairi Rossi ’24, Ryan Samson ’07
Oak Leaves is a publication of the AFS Communications and Development Offices. Abington Friends School main switchboard: 215.886.4350 For more photos and news, visit us online at abingtonfriends.net
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30 Telling Our Stories Planting “Trees” with Mending Spirit
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LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL
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MILESTONES
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SCRAPBOOK
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REFLECTIONS OF RICH
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ANNUAL REPORT OF DONORS
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IN MEMORIAM
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E N D N O T E by Jordan Burkey 3
O A K L E AV E S M I L E S T O N E S
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WELCOMING NEW MEMBERS OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Our School Committee welcomed three new members (shown left to right) — Rachel Yakobashvili ’16, Bridget Warlea ’15 and Gordon Lewis P’20 P’22. AFS is lucky to have their energy, insight and stewardship.
THE STEWART LOBBY RENOVATED
We’re pleased to unveil some major renovations to the campus completed this past summer. The Stewart Lobby has received a complete facelift with a modern sensibility.
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A NEW STUDENT COMMONS
The Student Commons and the Middle and Upper School main corridors have been fully renovated with new flooring and beautifully designed spaces and furnishings to welcome all visitors and fully support a vibrant student culture of connection and community.
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To find good in ourselves and others With much fanfare, the AFS community joined together in the Berman Athletics Center to celebrate the 326th graduating class from our school. Those in attendance were treated to inspiring words from Mini Racker (’14), now a journalist at TIME Magazine, with an important message about the freedom offered by AFS to find yourself — even getting silly at times. “I was able to take certain career risks because I knew that whatever happened, I had friends who mattered to me more than any job,” she said. Knowing that people would be there for her, to support her, made all the difference — and some of those friends were the same ones she made 15 years ago at AFS.
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To be a force for justice Every year, Arbor Day marks the beginning of commencement season, a time filled with traditions, memory-making and community-building. Students across all divisions spent the afternoon together to lift up our community, our shared commitment to stewardship and the environment, and the passing of seasons, literal and figurative.
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To find joy in the work of learning When a Lower School student approached Director of Libraries Toni Vahlsing with a unique problem — her favorite stuffed animal was falling apart! — Toni knew just what to do. Members of the Upper School Fashion Club and lots of volunteers put together the very first Stuffy Clinic. Kids from Early Childhood through grade four came to the Muller Lobby to have their teddies and tigers triaged and mended by caring Upper School students.
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To build a study sense of self Upper School’s JULIUS CAESAR was a spirited and reflective reimagining of the classic Shakespearean tragedy. The visuals were moody and high-contrast, with quiet intensity marking performances of the cast. “I’m incredibly proud of this production,” says Kittson O’Neill. “We worked to create an artistically rigorous production in our design, direction and dramaturgy for the show. We asked our young actors, designers and assistant director to rise to our expectations, and they soared past them in this powerful, exciting show.”
To seek intellectual adventure AFS Roobotics competed against almost 600 other teams in the FIRST® World Robotics Championship in Texas. This year’s team was the first since 2015 to make it to Worlds — making great strides in their team knowledge and earning plenty of recognition along the way! “Our teammates definitely saw a whole bunch of great ideas over there,” says Cyle. “At Worlds, you get to see everyone else’s robots, how teams build things; how other teams organize themselves. It’s huge. The teams that get to go to Worlds really get a step up the next year.” Every year, the FIRST® World Championship hosts the top robot teams from around the world in an intense three-day competition pitting robot against robot. This year, teams were tasked with designing, building and programming a robot that could be controlled to pick up inflated cubeshaped beach balls and small traffic cones and place them in scoring areas.
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To follow curiosity wherever it leads Students in the Upper School Music Society put on Spring Jam ’23, a music festival showcasing performances by AFS students and faculty. Storms pushed the concert inside, but community members still flocked to the Josephine Muller Auditorium for a jam-packed, four-hour setlist. The Music Society asked for donations at the door, with all proceeds going to Play on Philly, an organization that provides underserved children in Philadelphia a transformative music education experience. Estimates of the total amount raised were just over $1,300. “All the members of the music society came ready to work on Saturday,” said Justin Solonynka, faculty advisor for the Music Society. “Co-clerks of Music Society, Riley Blore ’23 and Shalen Farahi ’23, had a vision for this festival starting back in September, and they were determined to make that a reality. I’m really proud of them!” Earlier in the fall, Shalen and Elias Mirsky ’23 put on a mini concert for the whole school outside the Muller (shown below).
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To recognize the power of diversity Black Excellence Night is an annual night that is put on by a committee of members from our Black Student Union. The theme of the night was Black Wall Street, specifically focusing on Greenwood, which was a Black Wall Street in Tulsa, until a mob of white supremacists burned the neighborhood to the ground in the 1920s. Shout out to the incredible work done by the Black Excellence Night Committee — they put on a night to remember!
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To understand more deeply During the final two weeks of the school year, students are offered an immersive and interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning structured around deep engagement with ideas, material and people. Last year, WissEx made frog friends during hiking; Setting the Table went fully farm-to-table; and Podcasting and the Art of Storytelling ventured to the WHYY office to see where the magic happens.
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To venture farther and wider On Hurricane Island in Maine, students learned about bivalves, gastropods, echinoderms and macroalgae (lots of new vocabulary!). The Civil Rights Legacy Tour journeyed to the birthplace of Martin Luther King, Jr. The Costa Rica adventurers worked with experts to learn more about butterfly conservation in the Veragua Rainforest. Ambitious photographers journeyed to Ricketts Glen and Cape May to hone their outdoor photography skills.
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To embrace ambition with integrity This year, 11 spring season AFS athletes received Friends School League All-League honors including: Bella Washington-Vasquez ’23 (1st Team in Lacrosse); Jared Shanken ’24 (1st Team in Golf); Casey Smothers ’25 (1st Team in Track & Field); Lena White ’25 (1st Team in Track & Field); MJ Kiernan ’23 (1st Team in Track & Field); Jade Sanders ’24 (1st Team in Track & Field); Rihanna Williams ’25 (1st Team in Track & Field); Matthew Greenidge ’23 (1st Team in Track & Field); Amara Turner ’23 (Honorable Mention in Lacrosse); Amira Shakur ’23 (Honorable Mention in Softball). Congratulations, Roos!
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Whistling through Jade Sanders ’24 on Leadership Everywhere
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he first thing you might notice about Jade Sanders ’24 is her impeccable posture. “Her back is straight, shoulders back — her arms fold in front of her or by her side. When she laughs, she laughs with her whole body. You can tell immediately that she is in control of every movement of her arms and legs, every push and pull of her muscles.” So it is no surprise that when Jade, an AFS track athlete, thinks about track practice, her first thoughts go to how the basics apply no matter where you are.
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“Sprinting is all about the mechanics of movement,” explains Jade. “It’s about learning how to end a race with posture and form intact. That’s what makes an athlete amazing. We could practice on the track or in the graveyard — it’s not about where you practice or how fast you can go. It’s easy to get tired; it's hard to feel like you’ve learned something.” Track athletes at Abington Friends School have grown familiar with the silence of the graveyard at Abington Monthly Meeting. They are especially appreciative of the canopy provided by the centuries old trees that protect them from the hot spring sun. There is no track at AFS, so students use the long flat paths between the headstones as a place to center themselves, take a deep breath and push themselves to the finish. It’s an almost spiritual practice, ritual and physicalism bound up in one. It’s no wonder the solemnity of the graveyard fits so perfectly.
Over the last three years, Jade has become a leader on the track team, with broken records to prove it. At the end of last year, Jade raced to a blistering personal and school record of 57.40 to place first overall in the Girls 400 Meters at the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association State Championship Meet. But even though Jade primarily runs the 400-meter, an individual event, she finds that having the team around her is one of the most important parts of keeping her mind in check. Jade competed in the State Indoor Tournament at Penn State as a junior. She was the only athlete from AFS to run, but that didn’t mean she was alone; three of her teammates joined her to cheer her on. “Malea ’28, Rihanna ’25, and Lena ’25 — they came three hours with me to watch me run,” she says. “And if they hadn’t come, I might not have been in the right headspace to win.”
Off the track, Jade does just as much: She loves her English and creative writing classes, is a co-clerk of Black Student Union, and is thinking about studying psychology in college. And when she talks about the track team, she always emphasizes the team. It doesn’t matter where they run, whether it’s form runs in the graveyard or hill runs behind the Farmhouse: What matters is that they’re all there, together. “You’re only at your best when you come together,” explains Jade. “This year, I’m excited to be a senior on the team and really get to set that pace for everyone. Last year, I tried to bring a bunch of my friends out to try. I wanted to step into that leadership role, to show people that it’s not about being fast, it’s not about where you run — you just have to want to run. The rest takes care of itself.”
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The Spirit Revealed through Learning A CONVERSATION WITH RICH NOURIE
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Dick Nourie, Rich’s father (left) with Rich at an AFS Leadership Dinner.
hen Rich Nourie told his father that he wanted to be a teacher, the response was supportive but tinged with concern about his son’s future financial security. A New Englander working in corporate insurance, Rich’s dad pushed his son to try out something slightly different — actuarial jobs. Rich was open to trying: He went on a few interviews, met a few accountants, but he knew in his heart that it wasn’t for him. He belonged in the classroom. “I realized during those interviews that I would be disastrous in those jobs,” Rich says with a laugh. “When I am motivated, I work hard and love the work. The moment you walk into a classroom, there’s an immediacy that’s unavoidable. You have to do a good job.” 21
Motivation has never been an issue for Rich throughout his career in education. Having just entered his nineteenth and final year as Head of School at Abington Friends School, Rich remains utterly fascinated by learning. He never misses an opportunity to slip out of his office to watch a twelfth grader give a presentation, share a guitar lesson with a kindergarten class or casually ask a Middle Schooler in the library what book they are reading. “When he first started here, there was a rumor about him among the faculty,” says Third Grade Teacher Felix Chen. “We would walk down the hallway looking into classrooms — and there he would be in Sandy’s room talking to kids, then Kathy’s room, and then Anne’s room. Didn’t I just see him? He must have had a twin!” Today in his office, Rich sits surrounded by decades of collected books on human development and anthropology, pedagogy and spirituality. And it’s true that books have a real energy for him. In conversation, he is often guided into diversions filled with examples lifted from essays and texts. (“Growing up, there was a reverence for reading in my house. If you weren’t reading, there is work to be done! If you were reading, you were left alone.”) But for all of his love of books, he remains firmly committed to the ideal of human-centered, experience-led learning that goes beyond the assigned text. He takes issue with mechanistic theories of learning. “This idea that we are simply molded by rewards and punishments is a very reductive idea of how we make sense of the world,” says Rich. He reaches back 30 years to sitting in a graduate seminar at Harvard called Teaching and Learning led by Eleanor Duckworth. Her classroom style resisted all jargon, preferring to send her students off into the field for observations instead of receiving information from a textbook.
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“She used to say, ‘If you put something in front of a child and they say, Is this what you want me to do? Am I done? Is this good?, then they’re trying to please you, but they haven’t actually been engaged. You’re looking for them to say, Oh, this is interesting! What would happen if I tried this? What tools can I use on this? That’s what lasting learning looks like. It happens at the level of meaning and authentic interest.” At 63 years old, 30 years after he took Eleanor Duckworth’s class, Rich remains captivated by these moments of learning. In fact, he’s begun to see the remarkable potential of cultivating these very same moments in faculty. “I have a theory of how schools can change,” he says. “Authentic growth in our practice has to itself come from learning.”
The fourth century of Friends education Rich often references William Penn in the 1690s putting out a call to Friends meetings in the Philadelphia region to found schools.
Responding to the needs and problems of his day, Penn espoused a vision of a new kind of society, based on principles of religious freedom, tolerance and peace. This new society would require a new kind of citizenry, taught in a new kind of school — a Friends school, charged with providing a “useful education” with a moral grounding. It is no surprise that today, Friends schools are reflecting on their traditions to determine whether they are up to the challenges of the current moment. A changing technological landscape impacts both the academic and social lives of children. Parents worry about the well-being of their kids and the accessibility of college. For Rich, these questions are not theoretical abstractions. They are real problems prompted by our students, driven by our experience, and deserving of the kind of attention shown to our most severe crises — and he envisions that the Fourth Century Center at Abington Friends School will be able to address them. “Our current strategic plan is in some ways a capstone for me,” he explains. “In many industries, there is a tradition of research and development that we have not had directly in our school communities. Scholarship around learning happens in distant places like universities, but I think it’s the role of practitioners in schools to develop the understanding that’s going to move a school forward. Teachers are the ones who are most keenly aware of the places where the gaps between our aspirations and our reality live. They really want to do their best for students, and that requires giving them space and — I would hope — really extraordinary resources to fund good ideas in the learning lives of kids.” In many ways echoing William Penn, the Fourth Century Center is a call to build on the tradition of Friends education by
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Authentic growth in our practice has to itself come from learning.” – RICH NOURIE
providing faculty with those extraordinary resources, a space to learn, experiment and collaborate. In this project, Rich looked to inspiration from many places. He looked to his alma mater, Brown University, whose former president Ruth Simmons identified at the beginning of her tenure that the faculty had become so accustomed to scarce resources that they had stopped asking. He looked to the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning at Saint Andrews in Maryland, where they see education like architecture, connecting the universe of materials from which you can build learning experiences to the thoughtful work of designer-educators. The Fourth Century Center, as an engine of creativity and growth, would serve to connect the practice of independent school education to the world of research. At the beginning of the 2023-24 school year, the Fourth Century Center debuted Research and Design Fellowships aimed at resourcing faculty initiatives. Following Simmons, Rich wanted to address the problem of faculty
resourcing head on using funds allocated specifically for that purpose. “We’ve been really grateful to a handful of families who have already begun this robust funding. We want faculty to travel, to take courses, to visit other schools, to develop a deep interest in a particular curricular innovation,” explains Rich. “This past summer, our math and science teachers read a book that challenged the traditional environment of the math classroom, inviting questions about the kinds of furniture that create engaging spaces. And we were able to fund a grant proposal to take two classrooms and transform them.”
The messiness is right on time
The timing of the Fourth Century Center is no accident. There is a demonstrated need in education for clarity around best practices in the field. Rich will be the first to tell you that there are a lot of half-truths and misinformation floating around about how children develop, from overreliance on theories of behaviorism to the limited
usefulness of reward and punishment. These theories are only small pieces of a larger puzzle — childhood development is fueled not by what they know, but how they spontaneously construct their experience, a more robust learning that goes beyond simply taking in information or mastering skills. “The way that two- and three-year-olds make sense of the world is very different from how 11- and 12-year-olds do it,” Rich explains. “If you’ve ever met a two-year-old, you know that they have a vision of how things should go, and they’re very determined to make it go that way. If it doesn’t, then the emotional sparks fly. A well-adjusted 12-year-old doesn’t act like that, but we don’t expect two-year-olds to behave like 12-year-olds. And if you think that it’s your job as a parent to fix your two-yearold so that your child is not a lifetime menace to society, you may do more damage in trying to prevent or change that behavior.” Children exist in a constant state of becoming. A child’s sense of how they operate in the world undergoes seismic shifts across
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their development. One of these rhythms of development is differentiation and integration. Differentiation is the messy part — children gain skills and faculties by the dozens, separated into pieces like a LEGO set. Slowly but surely, integration takes these pieces and assembles them together into a cognitive whole. It takes years of wrestling with hundreds of different parts before they are integrated. There are no shortcuts. “Parents can look at Middle School and see nothing but regression,” Rich says. “They’ll say, ‘My kid was making a lot of progress, and now they are an emotional mess and they can’t keep organized.’ Their Lower School teachers will ask, ‘You can’t get them to line up? They could do that a year ago!’ But the messiness of Middle School is right on time. It teaches all sorts of lessons in social dynamics, in empathy development and emotional regulation. What looks from the outside like backsliding is important work. The incredibly well-integrated fourth grader needs to be taken apart, and then a whole bunch of new capabilities have to be added in and reintegrated over the next 10 to 12 years. Middle School is an essential step to becoming a well-integrated, highly capable adult self.”
In some ways, the Fourth Century Center is an attempt to take that developmental model of children and extend it into adults.
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“We as educators strive to really understand the complexities of creating a true learning environment for children,” Rich reflects. “But in our busyness as adults, we sometimes think that our own experiences alone are enough to grow and to learn and to change. But they’re not. Just as learning in childhood is developmental, it’s developmental in adults as well.” The Fourth Century Center, in part, will provide that supportive environment for teachers, serving as an incubator of ideas, a place for creativity, collaboration and brainstorming, and a source of funding for research — in short, a supportive environment that enables us to take ourselves apart — with all of the mess that differentiation brings — and provide the space to try new things, experiment, and be made whole again.
The spirit revealed through learning An important thread running through Quaker theology is that humans are wired for the transcendent. We have available to us a deeper way of knowing, there is that of God that is beyond us, and because of that, we are complete in terms of our search for knowing. Spiritually, we can come to God through our own experience alone. At the same time, that theological foundation underlies a radical openness to the world and the perpetual unfolding of reality: Continuing Revelation. It is the belief that God, or Light, or Spirit, is not done with us — we are learning new ways to be in the presence each and every day. Our experience is at the same time more than enough and always incomplete. “I think in the complexity of the world that we live in today — where knowledge about learning and memory and attention and cognitive processes is necessary, where a sophisticated understanding of racial identity and other aspects of identity development is fundamental to how we navigate social spaces, and how technology fits in and how emergent knowledge in and
Rich and Susan Salesky Rudin '57 at the dedication of the Headwaters Discovery Playground our respective fields is coming about — we require more than our day to day, reflective experience. We require incorporation and reconsideration and reorganization and reintegration,” he explains. “I think one of the things that makes an AFS education so powerful is that it creates the conditions to build that authentic connection to who you really are, and the space to be messy while you find it. For example, I think a big part of adolescence is navigating hurt, asking yourself, Am I okay? How do I respond to this? You need to go through all this stuff ! I do worry sometimes that we culturally confuse all harm as dangerous and to be avoided. It’s really hard, day to day, to advocate for difficult things.” In his final year as Head of School, Rich is embracing his own chapter of messiness. Since Rich made his decision to retire, he has taken a new account of the role of ambiguity, uncertainty and risk in his life. “I don’t really know what I want to do next,” he says. It’ll likely involve music, he muses, a constant
love. He’ll likely take some much needed time to relax: Over the last five years, Rich has steered the school through the COVID-19 pandemic, a national reckoning with racial violence and concerns over student safety. He has also dealt with significant personal news — a cancer diagnosis that has led to numerous changes in his daily routine. But of course, Rich knows that we don’t become who we become easily. If we did, we wouldn’t need teachers. “Our first child was, of course, a miracle — but he was also a colicky baby. It was incredibly stressful, because he cried so much, and there was nothing we could do to comfort him. We felt this emotionally torturous, horrible feeling of inadequacy, suffering through days and weeks of this,” he explains. “Then, my mother-in-law came to stay with us. And he’s crying inconsolably as we hand him to her, and she’s just holding him out, watching him scream, smiling at him. She says, ‘Isn’t he beautiful?’ She didn’t see him as broken. She wasn’t overly distressed by the fact that
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I think one of the things that makes an AFS education so powerful is that it creates the conditions to build that authentic connection to who you really are…” – RICH NOURIE
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a baby is crying. She could see through all of that to the heart of the matter: ‘He’s going to be all right. It’s going to be all right.’” During a meeting for worship in late September, unseasonably warm with the doors to the Meetinghouse propped open, Rich was moved to speak about his cancer diagnosis. This is not a topic that anyone, let alone he, enjoys talking about — he recoils from any focus on his personal life, and the treatment has been mentally and physically intense. But he felt it was important to reflect on and share the experience of pain, the amount of suffering the human body can go through, and the resilience we possess to get past it. “A year ago, if you told me all the stuff I was going to go through, I would have been like, ‘What? That’s impossible.’ But I’ve realized that it’s all doable,” he explains, gesturing to his stomach. “I’ve got a hole in
my abdomen, and I’ve had to learn to live with a temporary ostomy and half a digestive system. That was unimaginable 12 months ago. But you know what? It’s doable.” The message he wanted to send the students was clear: There is no one path that can be followed to get you where you want to go. Being open to the world in all of its complexity — differentiation and reintegration, research and experience, myth and spirit — is the best predictor of success in the modern era that we can hope for. “No mistake or circumstance that we find ourselves in can keep us from who we’re meant to be or our potential,” says Rich. “No matter what that hardship is, no matter what that unexpected turn is. You have everything you need and more to navigate the difficulties that life will inevitably bring to you. There is always a path to wholeness and to reaching the potential of who you are meant to be.”
Rich is acutely aware, as both a scholar of human development and as a leader in Friends education for the last three decades, that being open to experiences is the bedrock of learning and growth. After all, if he hadn’t gone on those accounting interviews that his dad set up, he might not have learned what today is so self-evident — that he simply loves seeing people learn. “One thing that I love about our alumni is that they are comfortable with the idea that their life is going to be an unfolding journey and not simply this preordained, well-executed master plan of success. If you’re not open to being called to something that may at first seem uncertain and unwise, then you’re not open to who you possibly could become,” Rich explains. “I feel like I’ve been Head of School these past 19 years — for better and worse — as well as I can. There are things at AFS that are undone that
need doing. But I feel a spiritual imperative to open myself up to an uncertainty that I haven’t had for a long time. It’s time for me to do what our alumni do so beautifully, which is to present myself where the spirit leads and ask, What now?” Whatever comes next for Rich, he is certain that Abington Friends School will be in good hands. In providing resources for faculty, in making the school more porous, the profession of education can be nurtured by a wider array of experiences and partnerships and collaborations that reach beyond our English department, our theater, our athletics center and our Meetinghouse. When Rich says that our experience isn’t enough, it is said in the same breath of wonder with which he intends to greet the next step in his journey: There’s a world full of experiences out there that are just waiting to make us whole.
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REFLECTIONS OF RICH
AFS asked alumni, staff, parents, friends and students to share special memories about Head of School Rich Nourie. Here’s what they shared.
Serving as the clerk of the Search Committee charged with finding Rich’s successor has led me to reflect about the myriad ways that AFS has changed during Rich’s tenure. The list of his accomplishments is long and reaches every aspect of the School from fundraising to enrollment to growing AFS’s reputation on a national level and so much more. For my family and me, Rich’s commitment to diversity and social justice and the changes the School has undergone because of that commitment are perhaps the most important. I first met Rich in the summer of 2005. In his first days as the new head of school, he had sent an email invitation to the whole AFS community to drop by his office to meet him. So, on a hot July afternoon, dressed in my swimsuit, a coverup and flipflops, I stopped by Rich’s office on the way to the AFS pool with my five- and seven-year old children in tow. He greeted us warmly, and then I told my children to wait with Rich’s administrative assistant so that I could talk to Rich privately. I proceeded to explain to Rich that there was far too little racial diversity among the faculty, and that while I loved the education my children were receiving, representation matters. My children did not see their faces reflected in those of their teachers. Rich did in that moment what I have seen him do so often during his tenure at our school; he listened to my concerns and asked me thoughtful questions. He was not defensive. He did not remind me that he had been the Head of School for exactly 10 days. He did not offer false promises. When I was finished, he asked me for a little more time. And — I’ll never forget this — he asked me to hold him accountable, because he too was committed to seeing a faculty that mirrored the student body. Somehow, that awkward first encounter turned into a long and gratifying partnership. A few years later, I joined the School Committee, eventually serving as clerk for nine years. Working alongside Rich has been like a masterclass in leadership for me. I have countless stories I could share that illustrate his extraordinary skills, but I think what is most memorable for me is watching him play the guitar — solo or with his bandmates, singing original songs and covers, ballads and smooth jazz, frontstage or in a small corner the John Barnes room surrounded by a rapt audience of students and faculty. His voice shifts effortlessly from upbeat to soulful to folksy; one minute he is strumming and the next he is picking. His connection to the audience, especially when The Saturdays perform in the little theater on the third floor of my house, is always wondrous.
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A lifelong student of the instrument, he is always trying new techniques and perfecting his craft, sharing his passion for music with novice guitarists and songwriters and his audiences. And he does all of this with grace. As I reflect on Rich’s time as Head of School at AFS, I can’t help but notice that his skills as a musician map onto his skills as a leader. His deep and attentive listening skills contribute to his success as a leader. His commitment to bringing out the strongest performance from those around him serves him both as a band member and a school leader. Rich’s ability to do many things at once is essential whether he is on stage or at his desk. In both roles, he is nimble. As Head of School, he must respond to unexpected challenges such as a global pandemic; as a musician, he has to attune to his fellow musicians and his audience. Rich is a curious and eager learner. At times, he is keeping up with the latest pedagogical and developmental research. At others, he is practicing new guitar techniques and learning new songs. So much of what makes Rich a talented musician also makes him an exceptional leader. While it is hard for me to imagine AFS without Rich, I am filled with gratitude that he has dedicated so much of his heart and soul to the School. I cannot wait to see — and hear! — what lies ahead for him. – M ARGARET SAYERS P’16 P’18, SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBER, CLERK OF HEAD OF SCHOOL SEARCH COMMITTEE
When Rich would listen with enthusiasm during an Upper School Choral Concert, stepping out of his office to enjoy a Shakespeare sonnet in the Stewart Lobby, stopping to admire an installation of art in the Muller courtyard — these are gestures that an arts teacher needs and appreciates. But those private moments he would take to make art for himself in an empty choral room, alone at the piano or on the guitar — that’s when I felt most grateful for Rich.
As we know, Rich’s words are not just read or heard, they are felt. His missives and messages to the community, delivered over the course of his 19 years at AFS, are just some of the many gifts he has shared with us, but I believe they are perhaps the surest record of his poetry, the fullness of his heart and of his deep care for us all. – K IM MASSARE, EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE HEAD OF SCHOOL
– M EGAN HOLLINGER P’15 P’23, FORMER UPPER SCHOOL THEATRE DIRECTOR
I’ve now been a head of school for 14 years, and I still often call on Rich as a mentor — sometimes literally by picking up the phone, but more often by remembering the way that he inhabited the role, as his authentic self, which gave me the courage to do the same.
I believe that much can be learned about a person from what they choose to make time and space for, particularly when there are competing interests of import. Rich Nourie has always been there, not just as Abington Friends’ Head of School, but as a person. – M IKAEL YISRAEL, DIRECTOR OF EQUITY, JUSTICE AND ENGAGEMENT
– R USSELL SHAW, FORMER MIDDLE SCHOOL DIRECTOR
One afternoon, our youngest found himself jamming with some friends in the lobby of the Berman Athletics Center. He was delighted by the experience and told us all about it, itself an unusual occurrence. “And then guess what happened? Rich was walking by and he just sat down and joined us. He didn’t say anything, just jumped in and played for a while, and then took off and went back to his day!” – S USANNAH WOLF P’21 P’23
Leadership in my view is not about having all the answers — it’s about being open to all the questions. Rich Nourie is the best listener in the business. – D AVE CAMPBELL P’11 P’15 P’21, FORMER SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBER
I know such a spiritual leader in such a position is rare, and I am forever grateful and blessed to have had such a profound personal and professional growth experience with Rich as head of school. – S HEILA PAI, FORMER ENGLISH DEPARTMENT CHAIR
Rich has always been the kind of Head of School that the students see and know. He’s also the kind of person who will hop into a van in the middle of a snowstorm to pick up a group of stranded second graders and bring them home. – S ANDY SCOTT MRAZ, FORMER SECOND GRADE TEACHER
Read their full stories about Rich on our website when they are shared this April. 29
TELLING OUR STORIES Planting “Trees” with Mending Spirit There is a story that goes as follows: “Once there was a great king who went riding in the countryside. By the road, day after day, he saw an old man planting fig trees. When the king’s curiosity became too great, he approached the man demanding he explain why he was planting fig trees. ‘You are old, so you will never see the fruits of your labor; you will never eat the figs from those trees.’ Patiently, the old man responded: ‘I came into this world that was already full of trees bearing fruit for me to eat! I don’t plant trees for me; I plant them for my grandchildren.’”
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D’vorah Horn P’06 P’09 P’16 and Renie Campbell, AFSA had the story of the old man and the Fig Tree in mind when they began to collaborate on a project intended to unite youth and elders to create intergenerational connections. D’vorah runs a nonprofit organization, Mending Spirit: Healing through Art, with a vision to bring art, artists and art experiences to underserved locations for the purpose of helping those individuals heal through art, with a special emphasis on rehabilitation and long-term care facilities. D’vorah and Renie thought that having students interview elderly residents to hear about their life stories would fulfill this mission of helping the two generations to understand one another, learn and grow. “I initially engaged Renie’s help with the concept of bringing Upper School students from her memoir class to one of my home base institutions, Hopkins Center, for the pilot of the program,” says D’vorah. “Renie wrote into the curriculum the specifics that would support her students, and Mending Spirit has been the instrument for the project since it began in 2017.” But when Renie was planning to retire at the end of 2022, she did not want the project to disappear with her. She reached out to fellow Upper School English teacher Haley Hellmann in the hopes that it would continue as part of the Upper School English curriculum at AFS. Haley agreed, and offered to put her own spin on the project. “I thought that this project might be most useful in the ninth-grade classes,” explains Haley. “Ninth graders are working to develop their understanding of the structure and conventions of different types of writing, in the process gaining confidence in moving through the stages of the writing process. Likewise, the curriculum in ninth grade focuses on the idea that stories serve many purposes in our society, and one of those purposes is to amplify perspectives that often go unheard.”
From the moment the students were first introduced to their elder partners at Hillcrest, there was a palpable energy. Noah Schott ’26 radiated excitement when discussing his interviews. “When you’re sitting down with someone one-on-one and hearing their story, your duty to the story is just so different,” explains Noah. “I felt like I had to put all my effort into this project — more energy and time than I put into most projects. Because every single little detail is important to the whole story.” Haley was excited to see the ninth graders like Noah really lean-in during the interviews and embody the humility necessary for something like The Fig Tree Project to really blossom. In conducting interviews with elders at the Hillcrest Center and writing their stories, the ninth-grade students felt that weight twofold — as the wisdom of generations that came before them, and as the importance of telling someone’s story faithfully. “You want to tell their story properly, and not leave out anything that is a very important part of their lives,” agrees Winette Assaye ’26. “I tried to include everything that our elder said to us, down to the last details about what kind of pet she had as a kid, because all those things make up who she is.” After many rounds of careful drafting and revision, the stories were completed and brought back to Hillcrest to share with their elders. Students eagerly recited pieces of their memoirs and presented their partners with bound copies of the work. The elders were enraptured at the care and detail with which the groups handled their lives, offering cheers
and hugs throughout the event. Renie, who was excited to attend the reading, was immensely proud of the ninth grade for their careful stewardship of the shared stories. “It was just as fabulous as I thought it would be,” she says with a laugh. “The kids had such incredible energy and really supported each other. But what I think is especially wonderful is that these students can keep those relationships for the next three years of high school.” In reflecting on the event, Parker Gale ’26 highlighted the impact that their elder had on their own life. “My elder helped me to work through some of my anxieties about college and growing up,” explains Parker. “He told us over and over not to float back and forth between things, but to lean into our passions and really go for them with all of our energy. I’ll be worrying at night while falling asleep, and then I’ll remember what he told us, and I’ll get this burst of energy and the feeling that I can handle anything.” While the program has officially operated as a Mending Spirit project, it is D’vorah’s intention to turn it over to Abington Friends School at the end of 2024. “Working with the ninth graders was amazing,” says D’vorah. “They were enthusiastic, respectful and fascinated. They needed the connections as much as the elders did and the guidance, and the curriculum provided by their teachers made it very successful. I am thrilled to hear that this will continue as part of the ninth-grade curriculum, and I’ve even heard rumblings that it will be shared with other Quaker schools. Mending Spirit is proud to give stewardship of the program over to AFS, where I think it will bear a lot of fruit!”
Mending Spirit, Healing through Art, is currently working with AFS art students and other artists to complete a collection of healing window paintings, i.e., translucent paintings on plexiglass that go on the windows and have the effect of stained glass, for the Hillcrest Center facility. These will be permanently installed. They are looking to donate up to 50 healing window paintings to any qualifying location for permanent installation over the next year.
For more information, visit mendingspirit.com.
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&NOW
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Merci d'être un ami
Thank you for being a friend
A French exchange program in 2003 between students from Abington Friends School and Lycée Louis Liard sparked a decades-long friendship. Aisha and Lucie visited AFS in 2023, where they had met more than 20 years before. A I S H A - E L I Z A B E T H I S A H : A few days ago, I told my mom, “I don’t
remember deciding to go to France.” And she replied, “Yeah, you didn’t. I told you you were going.” And I guess it’s true: All I remember about preparing for this trip was that we had to write a letter about my interests and my hobbies and send a little picture to the other school so they could match us with an exchange family partner. Back then, I guess it got sent in the mail? L U C I E H E B E R T: It was a real, physical letter! Nowadays, when we text on WhatsApp, it’s all so much faster. It’s good practice! You’ll text in French and I text in English. During COVID-19, I lost a lot of my English because I didn’t get to see you at all. So it’s good to be back here in Philly, which helps so much!
A I S H A : After it was over, I remember writing this letter in French saying, “I would like for us to stay in contact.” And we did! I used to go to France, and you used to come here; we’d trade off every two or three years to do something fun, see a different season, meet different people. For example, Christmas is really important for our families, so you had come on Christmas time to be with all of the family. I have a pretty large extended family. L U C I E : And I have a very, very tiny family.
A I S H A : My mom is one of nine siblings, I have 16 cousins, and they all know Lucy! They’ve all been to Paris! We’ve lived in each other’s homes. Our families know each other, even though I’m the only one in my family who speaks French.
A I S H A : I remember you writing about your house. You said
something like, “I live in a very historic 300-year-old home,” and it was so beautiful the way you described it. L U C I E : My high school was in Falaise in Normandy, western France. The teachers matched us into pairs, one from Falaise and one from Abington. I remember receiving your letter, and I was so stunned because you were also a dancer! I and two of my classmates in the exchange were a part of my high school’s dance program — but I was luckiest because I matched with the only dancer at AFS.
A I S H A : When I was in Falaise, I would go to her dance classes, and
when she would come here, she would come to my dance school. L U C I E : When I came to Abington Friends, I was very impressed with the dedicated time in the afternoon for arts and sports, which are really important to develop other skills. It opens your mind and develops your sense of culture, and it also lets you learn more about yourself. It’s important to teach students that yes, you are working hard, but you also need to take care of yourself.
The other day, we went bicycling along the water past the art museum. It reminded me of the photography class I took at AFS. We went along the river to take pictures to develop in the dark room.
L U C I E : I really do feel like I’m part of your family. When I was here on my birthday, your family celebrated it with me. I was so surprised that I cried. Aisha’s mother said to me, “But you know Lucie, you are part of our family now.” And you really did. I didn’t know my grandparents very well, and your grandma really adopted me like one of her own, and she’s really my grandmother in my heart. This past trip, I introduced my daughter to your family.
A I S H A : Her daughter is so friendly! L U C I E : Yes, she is making so many American friends. Yesterday, we were at the Please Touch Museum, and there were so many other kids as part of a school trip. But she would go in and they would fit together, and she would just look like she was a part of the class. There are no borders between kids, no language barriers. That’s what we want.
A I S H A : You never really know how big the world is until you go out and explore it. And the more you learn about the world, the more you learn about yourself. There are certain things you have to just learn through experience. You can go to France, but if you stay in your room and say you’re not going to eat the escargot, not going to eat the fromage, not going to meet new people, you will miss it. But if you have a spirit of curiosity and openness, you might just end up connecting with someone that gets you on a spiritual level — in a culture that means the world to you. And that will unlock all kinds of new joy and excitement for the rest of your life.
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ABINGTON
FRIENDS
SCHOOL
-2023 ANNUAL
REPORT
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Whether you are an alumnus, student, family member or other member of our community, these AFS staff members are here to help you connect and engage with the vibrant AFS community. Get involved — or step up your involvement — today!
MICHELLE LOFTON
CARA PALLADINO
DIRECTOR OF FAMILY AND ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT mlofton@abingtonfriends.net 215.576.3968 Michelle helps match interested alumni and family volunteers with programs and activities going on around campus.
DIRECTOR OF ANNUAL GIVING cpalladino@abingtonfriends.net 215.576.3957 Cara will help you identify the best way to support the school with a gift to AFS.
MEGAN SCHLICKMANN DIRECTOR OF EVENT OPERATIONS mschlickmann@abingtonfriends.net 215.690.7672 Megan organizes creative and engaging event opportunities for the AFS community.
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MAT TURNER DATABASE AND ADVANCEMENT SERVICES MANAGER mturner@abingtonfriends.net 215.576.3967 Mat can help you with keeping all your contact information current at AFS.
Dear Friends, It is with great joy that I introduce this Annual Report of donors to publicly recognize and thank our community members who have joined together to help lift up our school through their philanthropic support. I am deeply grateful to the many generous individuals and families who made a gift to AFS in this past fiscal year (July 1, 2022–June 30, 2023) and pleased to report that philanthropic contributions to AFS totaled more than $1.5 million, including robust programmatic support through The Fund for AFS and scholarship support through The Friends Collaborative. I extend my heartfelt thanks to all who made a gift in the 2022-2023 school year. This year’s Annual Report, while celebratory, is also bittersweet, as it marks the final report to be released under Head of School Rich Nourie’s tenure. I have experienced firsthand Rich’s tremendous impact on AFS through his deeply thoughtful service and effective leadership, grounded in his firm belief in the core Quaker values of community and belongingness. The school that AFS has become with Rich at the helm allowed us to attract Nicole Hood, a highly accomplished leader, as our next Head of School. I am excited and inspired by her vision as we work to build on our strengths and realize more of our extraordinary potential. Last year, Rich, in conjunction with the School Committee and school leadership, launched the Fourth Century Fund in accordance with our Strategic Plan to propel AFS forward, fund faculty and staff research and development, and begin work on a new Campus Master Plan. To inspire and galvanize our community to support the goals that school leadership has identified as essential, an AFS family has committed not only their largest gift ever toward the Fourth Century Fund, but also their largest Fund for AFS gift. Growing the Fourth Century Fund, coupled with a strong year for The Fund for AFS and the Friends Collaborative, will allow us to realize change and growth for the benefit of all students and faculty. Rich’s stewardship has left our school in a strong position to deliver AFS’s leadership role to the next Head of School. I hope that when you consider the inspiring nature of Rich’s accomplishments paired with Nicole Hood’s promise as our new Head of School, you will join us in making a gift this year that reflects the extraordinary power of this moment. Every gift helps prepare our students to make a difference in a world that needs their talents, idealism and imagination. With gratitude for the past and hope for the future,
DEVIN SCHLICKMANN ASSISTANT HEAD OF SCHOOL FOR INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT AND ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT
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THE FUND FOR AFS
is a necessary and essential component that funds the School’s operating budget. Virtually anything that you see or hear on campus is supported in some way by the Fund for AFS, including a wide range of experiential learning opportunities, sets, lighting and sound for our award-winning theater productions, sports equipment and uniforms for our competitive Friends League teams, oil paints and materials for our talented arts students, equipment for our robotics team and everything in between. In addition, the Fund for AFS helps make possible our exceptional tuition assistance program, which makes an AFS education affordable for more than 60% of our students and families. The Fund for AFS runs on the School’s fiscal year calendar, July 1 – June 30. Over the course of the 2022-2023 fiscal year, more than 500 members of the AFS community showed their commitment to keeping our School strong by making a gift to the Fund for AFS or one of our annual giving programs.
HEAD OF SCHOOL SOCIETY
JOHN BARNES CIRCLE ($25,000+) Faulkner Family Foundation Gail Faulkner and John Oyler P’95 P’97 P’98 P’00 Juliet Faulkner Perry ’95 and Grant Perry Jocelyn Faulkner Casey ’97 and James Casey Lucinda Faulkner Friedman ’98 and Scott Friedman Henry Faulkner ’00 and Angela Faulkner Mrs. Edward J. Goodman P’99 G’33 G’35, Hilary Goodman Sperling ’99 and Brian Sperling P’33 P’35 Rodney and Tracey Sandmeyer P’08 P’11 Ross, SC and Lori Shanken P’17 P’20 P’24 OAK TREE CIRCLE ($10,000 - $24,999) Anonymous Donna Bleznak Keller and Stefan Keller P’23 Susan Salesky Rudin ’57, SC Wendy Smith and Michael Posner P’25 P’30 TYSON HOUSE CIRCLE ($5,000 - $9,999) Marc and David Berman P’19 P’20 E. Kevin and Margaret McGlynn P’09 P’11 Sandmeyer Steel Company David Taylor G’26 Diane Vernon, SC P’76 Vertex Pharmaceuticals Jane Frieder Wilf ’84 and Mark Wilf and the Wilf Family Foundation MEETINGHOUSE CIRCLE ($1,698 - $4,999) Robert Bettiker, SC and Robert Grundmeier P’24 Marcia Boraas and Eugene Lugano P’10 P’13 Rebecca Ethridge Bubb ’02, SC and Michael Bubb ’03, P’33 P’35 Robert Cohen and Debby Peikes G’23 G’26 Paula Cohen Corbman^ and Scott Corbman P’03 Christopher D’Angelo ’98 and Katie D’Angelo Kreszentia Duer ’67 Eileen Doherty and Gary Furda P’24
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Elizabeth Taylor Fund The Garrison Family Foundation Mark and Heather Garrison P’05 P’07 P’08 P’12 C. Jeffrey Garrison P’08 Kristen Garrison Susan Garrison and Michael Campbell Lawrence and Pamela Phelan Peter and Kaim Giammanco P’21 P’24 Judith Goodstein G’33 G’36 Albert and Alicia Kent P’26 Peter Kollros and Barbara Konkle P’00 P’03 Mathai and Mary Kurien P’10 Todd and Susan Makler P’92 P’95 Claire McCusker and Jonathan Levy P’19 Mira Rabin and Thomas Whitman P’19 Mary and Mark Rems P’26 Jane Rovins and Jonathan Korein P’07 P’15 G’27 and the Korein Foundation Peter Schorsch ’75 and Bonnie Dawson Schorsch ’75, P’03 P’10 P’13 G’38 Arlen and Marijke Shenkman P’25 Mary Strang ’46 Gabrielle Tubach ’57 1697 CIRCLE ($1,697) Margaret Lockwood ’90 and William Ross FRIENDS CIRCLE ($1,000-$1,696) Anonymous Trustees, Abington Monthly Meeting Thomas Bengtson Jordan and Deanna Berman G’04 G’06 G’08 G’19 G’20 Jeanne Calloway^ and Isaac Saposnik P’32 Sarah Clarke and Kirk Smothers P’25 Marsha Cohen ’82 and Peter Lubowitz Stephen Collins P’07 P’10 Rebecca Drees Coyne ’89 and Daniel Coyne Jeanne DiVincenzo P’07 P’10 Mary Lynn, AFSA and Paul Ellis P’01 P’03 Charles Ellison ’92 Carol Frieder, AFSA P’76 P’80 P’82 P’85 Elizabeth Sears Gadsden ’71
Phyllis and William Gallagher P’98 P’00 P’02 P’05 G’34 Brooke Gould and Jeffrey Gould P’27 Michael Hecht ’89 and Jennifer Hecht Elizabeth and Robert Henske P’06 P’08 Robert and Charlene Hills P’06 P’08 Clifford Hudis ’77 and Jane Hudis Maija Jansson ’56 Jay Kadash^ and Bryan Ulishney Maria Kiernan and Salvatore Rotella, Jr. P’20 William and Susan Lockwood P’90 P’92 Charles and Clarabon Logan P’87 Anne and Phillip Martin P’27 Lynne Koolpe Mass, AFSA, and Burton Mass, G’20 Amy McVeigh and Michael McGraw P’37 Kimberly and Alexander Mills P’22 P’24 Dana O’Brien ’70 and John O’Shea Daniel Odom-Woodlin, SC and Ahashta Johnson P’22 P’30 Mark O’Donnell and James Delaplane P’24 Judith and Craig Outten P’17 Donald Perelman and Elise Singer P’06 Andrea and Jack Platt P’17 Michelle and Michael Quirk P’23 Victory Decker Rosskam ’71, AFSA Thomas Rush and Jennifer Saltmarsh P’23 P’23 P’25 Amy and Mitchell Russell P’11 P’16 Robert Sanchez P’03 P’05 Devin^ and Megan^ Schlickmann Richard Simon ’82 Anne Moch Steinberg and David Steinberg P’17 P’19 Lauren Thompson ’14 Christine Washington P’94 G’23 David and Susan Wolk P’07 GIFTS OF $999 AND BELOW Thea Abu El-Haj and Steve Rosenzweig P’17 Bianca Adams ’14 Sonia Adams P’09 P’14 Kathy Adams-House ’65 and Jeff House Gerry and Richard Adelman P’99
SC=School Committee *=Deceased ^=Faculty & Staff Donor lists reflect gifts made between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023.
LET YOUR LIFE SPEAK Daniel Odom-Woodlin on Giving to AFS Through the Friends Collaborative to Support Student Scholarships Daniel Odom-Woodlin P’22 P’30 remembered a moment years ago when he saw Head of School Rich Nourie moving chairs to set up for a Lower School show. Turns out, it comes naturally to Daniel to jump right in. Pretty soon, a dozen parents were helping. “If you just start,” Daniel said, “then more follow and the work goes faster.” As someone with a flexible schedule managing a portfolio of rental properties, before AFS Daniel had home-schooled his son and taken care of his young daughter while his wife Ahashta Johnson worked as a hospice and palliative care doctor. Then, good friend Angela Shakur, whose daughters were having positive experiences at AFS, suggested they attend a Walk-In Wednesday. Sylvia Devietti, former AFS Admission Assistant Director, immediately brought the family on a tour, where they were “...impressed with the classrooms, the endless opportunities, the campus.” “We decided to send our children (Alivia Bella Woodlin and Daniel Ahashton Woodlin) to AFS because we wanted them to be challenged academically,” Daniel said. “However, we received so much more than just an education. We found a community that embraced our entire family.” Daniel found himself getting involved in deepening ways: first as a Home and School Clerk for his daughter’s Kindergarten class, and now as a School Committee Member and a lead co-clerk of the Home & School Association. “Once I started volunteering, it really helped me feel in community and meet more faculty. Each year, I did my best to carve out more time to volunteer in addition to clerking. If I was ever asked to serve, I said yes. And the more I served the community, the better I could make it for my children and those around me. I realized how much effort goes into providing this experience for our children.” Flash back to those rental properties. Three years ago, Daniel sold a property. He knew he would incur PA taxes on the gain, and his background in finance made him open to exploring whether he could creatively direct some of those taxes to benefit AFS. He had heard about The Friends Collaborative, but he needed to know more. The Friends Collaborative facilitates the process for donors to receive 90% tax credits on donations toward
From left to right: Ahashta Johnson P’22 P’30, Daniel Ahashton Woodlin ’22, Daniel Odom-Woodlin P’22 P’30, Alivia Bella Woodlin ’30
tuition assistance at Abington Friends and other Friends schools in the region, assuming they owe enough in taxes to qualify. It was a “no brainer,” Daniel said. “If you have PA taxes due, the question you have to ask yourself is: where do you want your taxes to go?” Daniel put it succinctly, “At the end of the day, once you receive your refund, you will have made a contribution of $500 which turns into $5,000 for AFS!” Beyond that, he added, “All it takes is planning.” Careful planning has allowed Daniel and Ahashta to continue giving through The Collaborative even in the years since. The rewards for Daniel, Ahashta, and their family are manifold: “It feels good to give back to a community that has given so much to us and the development of our children. I’ve formed so many friendships by working with parents, volunteering in the community, and our journey to becoming Quakers. Our time here has allowed our children to grow up and be the best version of themselves while developing meaningful relationships with students and others in the AFS community.” For more information on The Friends Collaborative, contact Cara Palladino P’27, AFS Director of Annual Giving at cpalladino@abingtonfriends.net or at 215.576.3957. 39
“I can’t help but think of how much the school has changed since I attended the little school I went to across the street in the Triangle Building. But one thing that never changes at AFS is its deep concern for the student’s inner sense. This is at the core of what I learned at this school. And this is at the core of what I carried with me.” Susan Salesky Rudin, SC ’57
Kenneth* and Diane Ahl P’01 P’05 Richard Ahl ’05 and Samantha Rothberg Jamie and Jeffrey Alper P’27 Jean Nicholas Alsentzer ’51 P’75 Julie Amento ’13 Alexis Apfelbaum ’04 John and Lynn Apfelbaum P’01 P’04 Barbara Berger Aronson ’70 Benjamin and Jane Ashcom P’84 Skip and Naomi Atkins P’07 P’12 Charles Avant ’98 Adrienne Avery, AFSA, and William Avery, P’16 P’20 Olivia Avery^ ’16 Gretchyn and Troy Bailey P’15 Nathan Balsham ’84 David and Patricia Baron P’05 Garland and Donna Barr G’25 Nicole Barrick and Brett Naylor P’29 Jeffrey Barudin^ Roma Batra and Biswaroop Majumdar P’26 P’27 Wendy and Daniel Bender G’27 Drew^ and Tiffanie Benfer P’24 Doris Benfer G’24 Frank Benner, AFSA and Mary Anne Benner P’05 P’09 G’35 Scott Berman ’08 Roberta Besden Alex Bezahler ’09 Max Bezahler and Amy Celentano P’09 Bonnie and Barry Bickman G’28 Kenneth Biehn P’83 Nina and David Bisbee P’16 Kimberly Bishop ’90 Philip Block ’01 Miriam Bolger P’16 Jeffrey Bond^ and Courtenay Harris Barry Bornstein Jodi Bornstein and Patrick Cobbs P’24 Colleen and Edmund Bowman P’13 Box Tops for Education Allison Boyle, SC Reid Bramblett and Frances Sayers P’26 Stewart Bramson G’27 Amy Brantz Bedrick and Edward Bedrick P’15
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Vanessa Briceno-Scherzer and Adam Scherzer P’27 Grace and Robert Brickhouse P’26 Kimberly and Timothy Brock P’30 Wendy Browder P’89, AFSA Jennifer and Kenneth Brown G’32 Marilyn Brown P’96 Katie Bucher and Russell McIntire P’30 Mary Buckman ’74 Lisa^ and Michael Budd P’22 P’27 Bobbie Bullard G’30 Jordan Burkey ^ Jeannetta Burpee ’66 Christopher Buzby, AFSA and Alison McCormick, AFSA Toby Calandra and Andrew Jayne P’26 Erwin and Linda Carner G’26 Mitz Carr ’83 Valerie Carr G’19 Lynn Carroll and JoAnn Puccella P’24 Christine Carson P’96 Regis, SC and Ana Carvalho P’28 P’31 Brian Cassady^ and Erin Bengtson^ P’33 P’35 Ilka and James Cassidy P’26 Carolyn and Erica Chavis P’25 Felix^ and Jessica Chen P’30 P’33 Sean and Song Chen P’28 Christopher Churchill P’08 Roger Clark G’30 Thomas and Terri Clark P’11 Amy and Michael Cohen P’20 Dana Stott Cohen ’68 Ruth Cohen Sheryl Cohen and John Miles P’23 Adekunle Cole and Monira Parkinson P’25 Kathleen^ and Vincent Coleman Bette Conover and Michele Clausz Kim Raznov Coon and James Coon P’28 Adam Cooper ’89 Stephanie Copelin and Mark Abboushi P’25 Holly Corn ’71 and Jonathan Kaufelt Edith Eberly Corson ’47 Elizabeth Lamb Creighton ’60 Maria and William Cromar P’23 P’25 Maria D’Ingianni Crosman ’66
Desmond Daniels ’17 Rachel and David Darwin P’31 P’34 Maggie and Jeff Davis P’26 Paul Davis G’26 Alexis Dechelette and Audrey Djibo P’34 Carolyn Parry Decker ’57 Margaret and Anthony Deguzman P’24 P’25 Emily Delany ’11 Howard Delfiner ’85 and Julie Stern-Delfiner Donna Delowery P’03 P’06 Hermite and Monel Delva G’25 Kathleen and John Depman P’29 David and Meryl Dessen P’00 P’03 Stefan and Terry Didizian P’34 M. Ernest Dixon and Robin Chambers-Dixon P’08 Evelyn Steelman Doane ’52 Olga Donskoy and Alex Orlik P’14 P’20 Shaun Dougherty ’95 and Lindsey Lockman Dougherty Marsha and Joseph Dratch P’00 Pattie D. Duncan Sallie Durant G’27 G’27 Stephen and Susan Dutot P’25 P’27 Susan Roy Dymek ’81 James* and Anne Egan G’21 G’25 Janine and Mehdi Ehsani P’19 Laura and Riad El-Dada P’15 P’18 Karolye Eldridge^ William and Carole Ellerbee P’93 Andrea Emmons^ and Won Yoon P’24 Mary Eno, AFSA and Dan Wagner Scott Erman ’86 and Nancy Erman Matthew Eskin, AFSA and Kristin Romens P’27 P’32 Susan Esslinger, AFSA, and Scott Esslinger, P’07 Robert and Doris Fanelli P’04 P’07 Joseph and Kate Fay P’27 P’30 Paul and Pnina Feiner G’22 Sharon Feiner P’22 Karen Feisullin and Stephen Chrzanowski P’24 Sally Fenley P’93, AFSA Alicia Fernandez^ and Elda Perez P’22 P’24 Anne Fields^ Carol Fine ’79
SC=School Committee *=Deceased ^=Faculty & Staff Donor lists reflect gifts made between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023.
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“I’ve formed so many friendships by working with parents, volunteering in the community, and our journey to becoming Quakers. Our time here has allowed our children to grow up and be the best version of themselves while developing meaningful relationships with students and others in the AFS community.” Daniel Odom-Woodlin, SC P’22 P’30
Joyce Greenawalt Fleming ’60 and David Fleming Lana Fogelman G’27 Phyllis Ford P’97 P’01 Deborah Fox Walsh Susan Fox ’64 Stephen and Barbara Foxman P’07 Dawn Franklin Jennifer French ’69 P’09 Richard and Janet French P’69 G’09 Sindy Paul Friedman ’75 and Oren Friedman Judith Chestnut Fuss ’63 Michael Garfinkle and Terry Levitt P’07 P’11 Colleen and Tom Garnevicus G’29 G’31 Marsha and Richard Gash G’26 Abby Gatenby, AFSA, and Robert Gatenby, P’99 P’04 Vanessa and Shandon Gelbaugh P’27 P’30 Tirthankar and Sreemati Ghosh P’12 Anu Ghosh-Holloman^ and Austin Holloman P’26 P’29 Gabrielle Giddings, AFSA and Glenn Giddings P’17 Sigrid Wasum Gilbert ’57 and John Russell Sheri Glassman Tony Godwin, AFSA and Amy Godwin Marla Gold and Debra Brady P’22 Wendy Goldberg ’86 Lindsay and Joshua Goodstein^ P’33 P’36 Margaret Carr Gossett ’88 Gwenn Pavlovitz Graboyes ’72 and Joseph Graboyes Glenn Gray and Jillian Howden P’25, P28, P’31 Joyce and Glenn Gray G’25 G’28 G’31 Barry and Jeanette Green P’92 Beverly Green^ and Stephen Green, P’85 P’88 Susan Greene ’80 James Gross P’05 P’08 Margaret Guerra^ and Frank Fisher ’79, AFSA, P’19 William Guhl ’92 Ann Packer Guillot ’66 Ariel and Mark Gyandoh P’32 P’35 Ayla Haig ’05 Donna Haines, AFSA, and C. Michael Haines,
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P’90 P’93 Jennifer Bornholdt Hammond ’86, AFSA, and Craig Hammond Fitim and Suzana Hamza P’24 Barbara Handler P’08, AFSA Karen J. Hanson ’72 and McWelling Todman, P’10 Cathy High Harris ’64 Kirsten Swenson Harris ’83, AFSA, and Maury Harris P’27 P’27 Brian Harrity ^ Barbara Hutchinson Hartman ’63 Geneva Hatcher G’17 G’19 G’25 Jeanette and Delbert Hausman P’16 Matthias Hausman ’16 Stacy Hawkins P’26 Will and Hawkins Maureen Hayes P’28 P’33 Kathleen Alter Hazen ’84 Pamela Heacock ’78 Carl Hemenway, SC P’04 Joan Diesinger Hendriks ’62 Melissa Henry P’27 Lauren Hersh and Justin Brown P’31 Meghan Higgins and Shawn Matson P’34 P’37 Keisha^ and Douglas Hirlinger P’26 P’29 Amanda and Jonathan Hirsch P’30 P’34 Nancy Abel Hoffenberg ’65 Megan Bellwoar Hollinger, AFSA and Michael Hollinger P’15 P’23 Christine Harkins Hosay ’84 Benjamin and Karen Hoyle P’00 P’03 P’07 Xiaofang Huang and Yong Chen P’19 Christine Hunter^ and Lawrence Mass P’20 Barbara Breinig Hyde ’68 Joyce Leonard Johnson ’60 Eileen Lynch and Steven Johnson P’25 Keira Jones ’15 David Jordan G’18 Stephen Jordan and Richard Oettinger P’36 Marney Jurist-Rosner ’94 Stephanie Hindin Katz ’70 and Stan Katz Hossein Kholghi^ and Victoria Mikus Wayne Knight and Tina Vance Knight P’25 Dawson and Kurt Knoblock P’37
Nancy Goldman Koenigsberg ’45 Nicole Kurtz ’14 Fiona Kyck and Paul Rossi P’24 P’27 Doris Laiss G’30 Carolyn Lindig Laumer ’59 Bonnie Libby P’16 Heidi Liivamagi P’34 Lauria Lindesay-Llewellyn G’23 G’26 William Lockwood III ’92 Charles Lockyer David Loder Christopher ’76 and Heidi Logan Richard and Molly Logan P’76 Kathy Lopez, AFSA Daniel Lubinski ’88 and Melissa Evans Lubinski ’88 Lenore Lucey G’29 G’31 Caron Olivieri Lukens ’78 Shuting and Hong Ma P’25 Amy and Larami Mackenzie P’23 Matthew MacNaughton^ ’11 and Christine Guaragno Rachel Botel-Barnard Mainwaring ’00 and Jesse Mainwaring Jonathan Makler ’95 and Elise Makler Rajpal^ and Thalia Malik P’16 P’24 P’28 Virginia R. Martin and Robert Comis P’98 Kim Massare^ Cris Maxwell^ P’07 Elizabeth Mayers ’63 Colette Mayfield P’10 P’11 Andrea Mazzocco and Daniel Colavito P’30 P’33 Bridget Susan McCann and Harry Johnson P’36 Diane Lapreziosa and Sue McDonough G’27 G’29 Pamela McDowell G’25 G’27 Jacob McEntire ’10 Eleanor McFarland ’63 Carolyn Anderson McGuckin ’53 Michelle McKiernan and Stephen Conway P’32 Keith McKnight ’04 Julia McMillan ’09 Christine McNamee-Smith G’32 G’34 Christine McPeak, AFSA and Christopher McPeak, P’12 P’14
Devan and Andrea Mehrotra P’17 P’20 MaryJo McConnell Melberger ’61 and Kenneth Melberger Audrey Mento Charles Meyer ’77 Tracy Mills and Kent Julye P’22 Louise Schutz Minor ’67 and Albert Minor Laura^ and Matthew Mitchell P’19 Ferne Moffson, AFSA and Phillip Moffson, P’94 Christine and Dave Moore P’26 Rebecca Phillips Morehouse ’62 and Stephen Morehouse Amy and Carlos Moreno P’13 P’16 P’22 Sue Moritz G’23 G’24 Jazmine Mueller and Glenn Mueller P’28 Gigi Murphy G’29 Rasheeda Murphy^ and Jevon Battersbee P’29 Crystal and William Murray P’26 David Myers ’82 Maryrose Myrtetus ’05 and Matthew Nunn ’05 Neha Nautiyal, AFSA and Ritesh Nautiyal Malia Gilbert Neal ’04 Barbara and Ken Neuberger G’19 G’22 Shira Neuberger and Kelly Durand P’19 P’22 Lindsay^ and Paul Newlon P’27 P’31 Logan Newlon ’31 Lucas Newlon ’27 Richard and Maureen Nunn P’05
Alexandra Nuzhdin ’13 Anne Peterson Ogan ’65 and Nick Ogan Kittson O’Neill^ Cara Palladino^ and Isabelle Barker P’27 Deborra Sines Pancoe, SC AFSA and Craig Pancoe, AFSA Guna Pantele and Andrew Puntel P’25 Susan and David Pardys P’14 P’17 Elizabeth and Scott Parker P’26 Eileen and Joe Paschall G’35 Kenneth Patrick P’03 P’06 Jennifer and Jeffrey Pelus P’34 Bethany Perry and Seth Newman P’19 P’21 Katherine Pesce P’33 P’36 Nina and Josh Peskin P’29 Katherine Peterson G’29 Ruth Peterson Morgan Pfost ’08 Jane Piecuch and David Fine P’20 Ralph and Cheryl Pinkus P’92 Jason Pizzi ’93 Jeffrey and Ellen Plaut P’23 Cameron Plenty P’18 Tiffany Plummer-Sudler P’35 Michelle^ and Thomas Podulka P’18 P’25 Lynn and Joseph Pokrifka P’15 P’17 P’20 Ashanti Prentice^ and Aaron Wood P’26 Jessica Prince Wolfish and Eric Wolfish P’33, P’35
Jeffrey Purcell ’79 and Laurie Purcell Patricia Lapp Radey ’54 Jennifer and John Raynor P’30 Jane Rech ’81 Susan Burich Redding ’67 Shalimar Reddy ’98 and Carl Ridenhour, P’18 P’33 Diane Benson Reed ’49 Russell Regalbuto^ P’02 P’11 Ann Fleming Reid ’68 Lindsay and Ross Reinhold P’25 P’26 Maria and Eric Rieders P’11 P’14 Clark Riley Warren and Elaine Robinson P’23 Mary Kay Rohlfing^ and Rob Napoli P’20 Rachel Roter ’10 Darcy Clark Rowell ’71 and John Rowell Donna Russo^ P’05 Andrew Sage ’17 Melinda^ and Stephen Sage P’17 Joanne Sammak Mark Sandos ’91 Alan and Suzanne Saposnik G’32 Aram Sarkisian and Sandra Laiss-Sarkisian P’30 Robert and Sally Sarkisian G’30 Martha Scache^ George Schaefer, SC Steven Scharf ’79 and Renae Scharf Judy Schatz, AFSA, and Robin McEntire, P’02 P’06 P’10 Christina Schmidt-Belmonte and Daniel Belmonte P’27 Jane Jordan Schmitz ’55 Barbara Danehower Schnur ’55 P’81 Deborah Schrager P’06 P’10 Moira and Ryan Schwartz P’26 Randy J. Schwartz, AFSA, and Jay Finestone Gail Rosenau Scott ’64 and Thomas Quinlan, P’85 P’87 Patricia Scott ’76 Judie and Paul Seibert G’24 Susan and Robert Seltzer G’30 G’34 Angela and Mujahid Shakur P’23 P’26 Robin Shane and Jonathan Shandell P’22 P’25 Ora Sheares G’05 G’08 G’10 Shannon Sheek P’26 Fran and Hal Sheppard P’16 Irene and Peter Shoturma G’25 Robert Silverman and Randi Leavitt P’05 Matthew Silverstein ’96 Matthew^ and Antoinette Slagter P’17 Alan and Ruth Smith P’77 P’80 P’83 P’84 G’12 G’15 Cyd and Stanley Smith P’13 P’17 P’18 Jane Smith ’80 and Jeffrey Ginsberg, P’12 P’14 Mark^ and Sarah Smith P’32 P’34 Oscar and Mary Smith G’27 G’27 Oscar Smith and Desmona Durant-Smith P’27 P’27 Deirdre Rhoads Snyder ’62 and W. Lloyd Snyder Phyllis^ and David Snyder P’25 Hyun Sohn and John Fox P’32
SC=School Committee *=Deceased ^=Faculty & Staff Donor lists reflect gifts made between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023.
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PLUG AND PLAY Hossein Kholghi’s Quiet, Mission-Driven, Heart-led Support
Everyone on campus knows him simply as Hoss. He’s the guy who — in the midst of your tech meltdown — is unflappable: a patient explainer, and a thoughtful purveyor of equipment and know-how. If you are new here — whether as a student, faculty member or staff — you will hear about Hossein Kholghi before you meet him. And when you do, and he strides in to fix your issue (often with just the touch of a button), his calm demeanor will signal that you truly have arrived at a good place. Hoss has been a presence on the AFS campus since 1999, and currently serves as the Education Technology Specialist. He says, “I heard about the opening through the grapevine … that the job would use my strengths, (and) the school was in an intimate setting with a strong sense of community, which appealed to me. I also heard that the previous IT director, the late Rosanne Montgomery, was an excellent boss, which she was.” Beyond the draw of the people, Hoss learned about and resonated with the School’s mission, which he describes as, “the combination of over 300 years of Quaker tradition with progressive values.” He adds, “Every student, faculty member and staff member is important and considered. Time is taken for reflection and purposeful action.” Hoss has taken full advantage of the rich AFS community, stating, “Though I work in technology, AFS has a strong arts program. I’ve enjoyed the plays I’ve seen here, especially “The Laramie Project” and “Caucasian Chalk Circle.” When visiting the Woodmere Museum recently, I saw Amy Newman’s class’s work, which looked like a professional exhibit. It was gratifying to see the work of students I know in a museum!” All of Hoss’s engagement and knowledge about AFS led him to become a longstanding supporter of The Fund for AFS. When asked why, he said: “It’s important to me to give not just to causes and institutions that I believe in, but
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that I know will be here in 50, 100, or 200 years. … AFS has been here for over 300 years!” He’s happy that his gifts, combined with other donors to The Fund for AFS, help make all of our student experiences possible. The rewards of giving for Hoss are in seeing the impact each and every school day. He also finds satisfaction in performing his essential role on campus. “The nature of my job is support and service, ensuring that people have what they need when they need it. So constantly being on my toes is my best accomplishment.” Lucky for AFS, Hoss can be on his toes and always remain in perfect balance.
“As a young alumna, I had the recent honor of the AFS experience, and because of that I feel a duty to give back in any way I can — so that the next generations of faculty, staff, and students can continue on the legacy of an AFS education.” Rachel Yakobashvili, SC ’14
Rita Solofsky Sharyn Solomon P’97 Justin Solonynka^ and Courtney Gable, P’29 Richard and Elizabeth Soltan P’08 P’10 Dong Son and Tuyen Le P’23 Jessica Stephan Spencer ’55 Tom and Carolyn Spencer Debbie Stauffer, SC AFSA, and Carol Palmer, AFSA, P’08 Justine Stehle and R. Tyson Smith P’24 Dale and Kristen Stirzel P’24 Carolyn Blount Street ’44 Jeremy Sullivan ’94 and Amy Widestrom, P’27 P’30 Shelley and Valjean Sylva P’26 Susan Gerlitz Tam ’64 and Phillip Tam Peter Taylor ’76 and Roger Saint-Laurent Robert Taylor Deloris and Raymond Thomas P’18 Ann Thompson and Patrick Mutchler P’07 P’11 Anne B. Thompson ’57 Erin^ and John Timmer P’27 P’29 Eugenia Timmer G’27 G’29 Nicole Toizer ’89 Kristin Tomko ’90 Robert Topkis ’87 and Jamie Topkis Stuart and Zelda Topkis P’87 Frances Conkey Trafton ’66 Drew Tucker ’83 Carol and Leroy Turner G’36 Makeda Turner P’25 Joanna^ and Nicholas Upmeyer P’32 P’35 Carina Urbach, AFSA and David Urbach P’19 Toni Vahlsing^ and Antony Dugdale P’18 P’20 Rebecca Van Buren ’68 Darlene and Michael Vaughn G’26 Ann Vernon Grey and Cam Grey P’26 Adriane and Peter Wack P’28 P’33 Dolores and Robert Wack G’28 G’33 Maani Waldor and Mark Fallon P’25 Dean and Audrey Wallace P’01 P’05 Malikha Washington and Gregg Moritz P’23 P’24 Mary Anne Wassel^ Douglas Watford ’17 Gordon Watts ’84 and Kathleen Watts William Weary, AFSA
Colin Webb ’95 and Lisa Webb Julie Ufberg Webb ’98, AFSA Maureen Weiner P’07 Linda Hano Weintraub ’55 Macy Wendler and Mathew Turner^ P’36 Richard Wertime P’97 P’02 Brent Whitman ’80 and Doug Jensen Susan Barnes Whyte ’71 Kevin and Dawn Williams P’12 P’15 Byron and Cynthia Wilson P’05 P’08 P’10 James and Emma Wilson G’05 G’08 G’10 Deborah Winokur and Hanan Fishman P’26 Carol Wolf^ and Ana Maria Garcia P’21 Flora B. Wolf Wesley Wolf and Catherine Hunt P’09 Jennifer White Wood ’89 Luca Wood ’26 Janet and William Woods P’14 Richard Wordinger, AFSA Patricia Workman Wendy Wyatt Loos ’60 Rachel Yakobashvili ’16 SC Coleen Young and Jonathan Waldman P’23 P’31 Robert and Susan Zaslow P’24 Stacey Zavala P’23 Amanda and Edward Zhang P’26 Robert Zingle P’99 Patricia Rosenau Ziplow ’78, AFSA
Brian Cassady^ and Erin Bengtson^ P’33 P’35 Charles H. and Annetta R. Masland Foundation Reina and Michael Cohen P’23 P’26 Robert Cohen and Debby Peikes G’23 G’26 Eileen and Ira Ingerman Family Foundation Elizabeth G. Smith Scholarship Trust Maxine Greenberg P’91 Edward and Mary Hayes G’19 G’21 Wayne Kurtz^ and Lisa Treadway-Kurtz^ P’14 P’18 P’22 David Leeser ’88 and Jodi Leeser Susan and Terrance Lohr P’24 P’24 Jonathan Makler ’95 and Elise Makler Todd and Susan Makler P’92 P’95 Lynne Koolpe Mass, AFSA, and Burton Mass, G’20 E. Kevin and Margaret McGlynn P’09 P’11 John McGlynn ’09 Kelly McGlynn ’11 Mark O’Donnell and James Delaplane P’24 Ruth Bornholdt Olsson P’86 P’90 The Pamela Scott Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation Thomas Rush and Jennifer Saltmarsh P’23 P’23 P’25 John and Laura Salmon Martha Scache^ Patricia Scott ’76 Ross, SC and Lori Shanken P’17 P’20 P’24
SCHOLARSHIPS, NAMED FUNDS AND OTHER GIFTS
EDUCATIONAL IMPROVEMENT TAX CREDIT (EITC)
The following individuals have made gifts to enhance our campus, provide co-curricular opportunities and strengthen our tuition assistance programs.
A Pennsylvania state tax credit program through which businesses can provide tuition assistance for qualifying AFS students.
Trustees, Abington Monthly Meeting Lisa^ and Drew Ammirati P’35 P’37 Megan Asplundh^ P’31 Cindy Balick, SC P’13 P’19 P’19 Robert Bettiker, SC and Robert Grundmeier P’24 Donna Bleznak Keller and Stefan Keller P’23 Marcia Boraas and Eugene Lugano P’10 P’13 David and Gwen Campbell P’11 P’14 P’21 Jocelyn Faulkner Casey ’97 and James Casey
Benjamin Obdyke Incorporated Steven and Ricki Fisher P’13 IMC Construction Leapfrog Group PEI-Genesis, Inc. Republic Bank
SC=School Committee *=Deceased ^=Faculty & Staff Donor lists reflect gifts made between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023.
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FRIENDS COLLABORATIVE
Through AFS’s membership in the Friends Collaborative, friends of AFS now have the opportunity to receive PA state tax credits for supporting tuition assistance for AFS students. This method of giving not only supports AFS students through tuition assistance, it provides a great tax benefit to the donor while maximizing their support. Alan Balick P’13 P’19 P’19 Cindy Balick, SC P’13 P’19 P’19 Carol and Bruce Beaton P’10 Marc and David Berman P’19 P’20 Karin Borgmann-Winter P’14 Regis, SC and Ana Carvalho P’28 P’31 Sarah Clarke and Kirk Smothers P’25 Katherine and Peter Commons P’27 Julie and Brad Copeland P’22 P’26 P’28 Jennifer Couzin-Frankel and Richard Frankel P’27 Adena^ and Adam Dershowitz P’34 P’34 Matthew Eskin, AFSA and Kristin Romens P’27 P’32 Susan and Stewart Fisher P’13 Kevin and Janet Gift G’27 G’31 Judith Goodstein G’33 G’35 Theresa Hipp G’24 Mark Kahn ’75 and Lauren Kahn P’14 P’17 Suzanne Martin and Scott Rubin P’24 P’26 Elizabeth McGettigan Colleen and Mark Mele P’19 P’21 P’23 William Merritt P’21 and Karen Mileti-Merritt P’21 Rich^ and Robin Nourie P’10 P’13 Daniel Odom-Woodlin, SC and Ahashta Johnson P’22 P’30 Mark O’Donnell and James Delaplane P’24 Hetal and Vishal Patel P’27 P’30 Andrea and Jack Platt P’17 Lynn and Joseph Pokrifka P’15 P’17 P’20 Christine and Robert Pugh P’22 P’26 Steven and Marcella Ridenour P’99 G’32 G’33 Marisa Rogers and Eston Griffin P’26 Margaret, SC and Steven Sayers P’16 P’18 Irvin, SC and Marilyn Schorsch P’20 Jacqueline and Jay Silverman P’19 Joanne Solakian and James Wang P’24 P’27 Anne Moch Steinberg and David Steinberg P’17 P’19 Sue and Rich Tressider P’18
THE OPPORTUNITY SCHOLARSHIP TAX CREDIT PROGRAM (OSTC)
Similar to EITC, the OSTC program provides tax credits to eligible businesses contributing to an Opportunity Scholarship Organization. Comcast Corporation UGI Storage Company
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LIGHT KEEPERS SOCIETY
The Light Keepers Legacy Society honors those who have arranged to support AFS through a planned or estate gift. Barry Bedrick, AFSA and Susan Bedrick Mary Helen Bickley*, AFSA Christopher Biehn ’83 and Julie Biehn Marcia Boraas and Eugene Lugano P’10 P’13 Allison Boyle, SC Sally Goldschmeding Branch ’64 Carl Brehmer* AFSA Carol Brick ’62 Alice Atkinson Christie ’63 Stefannie Todd Coggeshall* ’50 Marsha Cohen ’82 and Peter Lubowitz Stephen Collins P’07 P’10 Evelyn Steelman Doane ’52 Nathan Gaskill* David Goodman* Marion Graham* Barbara Handler P’08, AFSA Alexandra Hanson ’74 Robert and Charlene Hills P’06 P’08 Peggy Hurst* ’42 Julia Cheyney Knickerbocker* ’38 Donald Knight* Peter Kollros and Barbara Konkle P’00 P’03
Marsha Cohen ’82 and Peter Lubowitz Mary Elizabeth Logan P’76 Elizabeth Mayers ’63 E. Kevin and Margaret McGlynn P’09 P’11 Hilda Notley* P’79 Anne Peterson Ogan ’65 and Nick Ogan Regina Hallowell Peasley* Clark Riley Jane Cobourn Riley* ’54 LaRue Schutz* P’67 Elizabeth Smith* Mary Strang ’46 Marian Sullivan* Marshall Sullivan* ’31 Herbert Taylor* Anna Taylor* Evelyn Tyson* 1917 Natalie Tyson* 1914 Richard Wordinger, AFSA Elizabeth Zeliff*
SC=School Committee *=Deceased ^=Faculty & Staff Donor lists reflect gifts made between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023.
Thank you to our generous donors and supporters! Every effort has been made to accurately reflect donations made between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023. Please contact Cara Palladino at 215.576.3957 or cpalladino@abingtonfriends.net if you find an error or omission.
The Fourth Century Center at AFS supports a full range of faculty learning, study, release-time and innovative initiatives to keep our school at the forefront of meaningful growth in an ever-changing educational landscape. For more than three centuries, Abington Friends School has adapted and innovated to meet the ascendant needs and opportunities of each successive generation — and that is no less true today. We are witnessing a profound transformation in the way teachers teach and students learn, led by revolutionary technologies and digitally mediated experiences, new research in cognitive development regarding our best practices, and a renewed commitment to a shared vision of equity, inclusion and dignity. To meet these needs, we are cultivating a forward-thinking approach to teacher development through The Fourth Century Center. We are thrilled by the financial support we have thus far received from the AFS community to build The Fourth Century Fund, which will provide seed funding for these initiatives. Thus far, we have raised more than $650,000 toward our goal — and we are deeply grateful to a current AFS family who stepped forward with a generous lead gift of $350,000 to kickstart this effort. This family has pledged to make an additional capstone gift of $150,000 once community support has reached $850,000, bringing us to our minimum goal of $1 million in seed funding.
Our gratitude to the following individuals who have made gifts to support the Fourth Century Fund at Abington Friends School: Subha Airan-Javia, SC, and Luv Javia P’27 Cindy Balick, SC, P’13 P’19 P’19 Robert Bettiker, SC, and Robert Grundmeier P’24 Marcia Boraas and Gene Lugano P’10 P’13 Rebecca Ethridge Bubb ’02, SC, and Michael Bubb ’03 P’33 P’35 Regis, SC and Ana Carvalho P’28 P’31 Stefannie Todd Coggeshall ’50* and the Coggeshall Family Foundation Carl Hemenway, SC, P’04 Daniel Odom-Woodlin, SC, and Ahashta Johnson P’22 P’30 Andrea and Jack Platt P'17 Susan Salesky Rudin ’57, SC Margaret, SC, and Steven Sayers P’16 P’18 George Schaefer SC Adam Schorsch ’03, SC and Melissa Ward Schorsch ’03 P’38
Can you help us cross the finish line and bring our ambitious goals into the light? Please contact: Devin Schlickmann 215.576.3068 dschlickmann@abingtonfriends.net
Irvin, SC, and Marilyn Schorsch P’20 Ross, SC, and Lori Shanken P’17 P’20 P’24 Deborra Sines Pancoe, AFSA SC, and Craig Pancoe, AFSA Debbie Stauffer, AFSA SC, and Carol Palmer, AFSA P’08 SC=School Committee *=Deceased List current as of 11/17/2023
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IN MEMORIAM KENNETH AHL SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Kenneth E. Ahl of Doylestown passed away in the loving company of his family on April 29, 2023, at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He was 74. Ken greeted each day with joy. He was devoted to his wife of 45 years, Diane (née Cole), cherished their beloved sons, David and Richard and daughters-in-law Molly Catchen and Samantha Rothberg, and adored their grandchildren, Henry, Sabrina, William and Talia. He and Diane enjoyed entertaining friends and family, camping in Vermont and traveling throughout the United States and Europe. Ken, a member of Plumstead Friends Meeting, was deeply committed to Quaker education. He served on the School Committee of Abington Friends School for more than a decade.
STEFANNIE COGGESHALL, NEE TODD ’50
Stefannie Todd Coggeshall ’50 passed away peacefully on September 13, 2022, in Austell, Georgia. Born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, on April 1, 1932, Stefannie was raised in nearby Elkins Park, attending Abington Friends School and Abington Quaker Meeting. Stefannie met her future husband, Russ Coggeshall, in Cape May, New Jersey, while working during summer break from Penn State University. They married in 1954 and Stefannie immersed herself into creating a loving home, raising her two daughters and serving in the Presbyterian Church as they moved along the East Coast for her husband’s career. An avid gardener, Stefannie designed and cultivated beautiful gardens in each of her homes. She took Master Gardener classes and studied historic landscape preservation at the University of Virginia. Stefannie is predeceased by her husband, Russell Coggeshall, and brothers John and Tom Todd. She is survived by her daughters, Ellen Coggeshall (Steve Odom) of Atlanta, and Melissa Carey (Mac) of Arlington, Virginia, her grandchildren, Randy (Kristin), Ellen, and Merrick Carey, Isabel and Hannah Odom, great-grandchildren Russell Graham Carey, and many nieces and nephews. Stefannie is remembered for her fierce love of family, her humor, pragmatism and generous philanthropy.
ROBERT IAN KONICK ’90
Robert Ian Konick passed away on January 2, 2023, at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He was 50 years old. He is survived by his children, Mandy, Vicky, Sab, Harrison and Beck.
Robert was born in Abington, Pennsylvania, in 1972. He attended Abington Friends School from kindergarten to graduation in 1990, where he met many of his lifelong friends. After high school, Robert attended Temple University where he studied architecture until 1992. Robert went on to support his father in his architecture firm for several years, after which he opened his own business, British Racing Group. Robert was also proud of the family he “collected” over the years including his son-in-law, Patrick, his daughter-in-law, Zara, and a dear family friend/adopted son, Mari. He is also survived by an extended “family” of friends and community who loved and supported him until his passing. He took great joy in his business, and created a network of Lotus car and racing enthusiasts who also became friends. Robert was passionate about the Lotus brand, taking a position at Lotus of Greenwich as a salesman.
MARY ELIZABETH WOOD LOGAN P’76
Mary “Molly” Elizabeth Wood Logan passed away on April 10, 2023. From her birth in 1932 in Moorestown, New Jersey, she maintained a rootedness in her origins and the Quaker religion in which she was raised. Her life reflected her commitment to community — to both lifelong and recent friendships; to the natural world explored on vacations at her beloved “second home” in the Poconos; and to service for others. Her busy life as a homemaker in suburbs of northern New Jersey, Boston, Philadelphia and finally Wilmington included both serious tennis and volunteer services — to Cub Scouts, Abington Friends School and Philadelphia public schools.
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END NOTE The School Is In Great Hands BY JORDAN BURKEY As I write this, I cannot stop thinking about Field Day 2023, which will be one of the many fondly collected memories I will have from my last year at AFS. The weather was unseasonably warm and bright for fall: I had my sunglassinserts on and was carrying my umbrella everywhere to stay out of the sun. But more than the heat, what I experienced first hand was more joyful participation than I could remember since before the pandemic. The students were filled with such spirit and energy — as were the adults. With the approach of early retirement in June, I have naturally been reflecting a great deal on the people with whom I have worked, taught and interacted over the years. These people are, in fact, one of the reasons I am so confident in choosing this moment to retire. The Science Department is so strong right now. I have been consistently blown away by the professionalism, creativity and very intentional thought that everyone puts into their work, trying to make sure students dig deep in analyzing their data and communicating their scientific thinking. The wheels are always in motion. We never stop and say, “Yep, this is how this is done, forevermore.” Our faculty are at the forefront of not only their respective fields of study, but of educational theory and pedagogy — whether it’s reading and implementing books about Building Thinking Classrooms or taking online courses at UPenn and using fellow department members as their “test students” to discuss practices and outcomes. This faculty thrives and cares for the school in so many groupings. Sitting in a circle of desks at a tenth-grade
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advisor team meeting in late September, I felt a warm smile spread across my face. I was surrounded by close friends and colleagues, some of whom I have known for my entire tenure at AFS. In the room were the only three Upper School faculty who were here before I started back in 2000 — Margaret Guerra, Donna Russo, and our intrepid grade dean, Rusty Regalbuto. With such a large tenth-grade class this year, we have 10 advisors/co-advisors on the team. The weight of institutional wisdom and the integrity of purpose in the room was palpable. There were at least four current or former grade deans in the room, five department chairs, seven parents of AFS students or alumni, and still there were three incredible, newer faculty who have been at AFS for three years or less. This school and its community have been my family for the past 24 years. We have done some very great things together and helped students do what sometimes seemed to be impossible. And on Field Day, when all the music, fun and games come to a close, it’s time to get to work: Winning the Senior vs. Faculty Tug-of-Friendly-Conflict-Resolution-InThe-Manner-Of-Friends. Somehow, I have been appointed coach of the Faculty Team. (Someone said it was because I’m tall enough and loud enough to be seen and heard over the crowd.) For a number of years now, the faculty have employed a strategy involving unity of purpose that has been unbeatable. And when we came together and achieved our goal once more, I felt a surge of oneness and comradery that I knew would continue even once I am gone. It is time for me to go well, knowing that AFS will stay well.
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Oak Leaves ABINGTON FRIENDS SCHOOL IN THIS ISSUE A Scrapbook of Photos A Look Back at the Tenure of Head of School Rich Nourie Annual Report of Donors
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WINTER 2024