One world community
CHRONICLES OF
Quaker Education
FA L L 2 0 1 3
International partnerships strengthen Friends education and students around the world Quaker education inspires us to learn about and care for the people and resources of the world. This issue of Chronicles of Quaker Education focuses on collaborations that Friends schools have created around the world. A few of the many Friends school global partnerships are highlighted herein.
A drawing from the ten-day diary of a 14-year old Topchi student in Afghanistan that was sent to her Carolina Friends Middle School pen pal.
The Afghan Sister Schools Partnership (ASSP) of the Carolina Friends School (Durham, NC) grew out of a desire to offer students a response other than war to the events of September 11, 2001. Activities focus on the Topchi School, now a K-12 coeducational school located in a small village in Bamiyan Province west of Kabul. The heart of the relationship is a pen pal letter program, through which more than 60 letters are swapped twice a year. Other facets of the cultural exchange span pre-K through 12th grades and have included class electives, guest speakers, and sharing handmade gifts. Carolina Friends raises CFS Middle Schoolers wit h a peace sign of origami more than $7,000 annually for Topchi School, which allows hearts being sent to their Top chi pen pals. them to purchase necessary items such as school furniture, library books, and computers. The aim is to help students become global citizens aware of their ability to change the world, one letter, one student, one school, one community at a time. Carolina Friends School is currently producing a video profile of the Sister Schools Partnership, funded in part by a grant from the Friends Council on Education.
“ Having another family in a different culture feels great. Knowing that someone is thinking about you and loves you in a different country is amazing.” “ Over the exchange, I learned to be brave. I feel that I can do more since I have been to Mexico. I learned that if I need help, it is OK to ask. The exchange is important because kids need to understand other cultures and learn life skills.” These words, from fifth graders at Plymouth Meeting Friends School (Plymouth Meeting, PA), speak to the heart of the school’s 40-year-old Mexican Exchange Program. PMFS students partner every year with Mexican students in an international exchange, each child spending two weeks living with a host student and family. The direct experience of being both traveler and host provides the students with a better understanding of themselves, as well as a greater sense of independence and their own ability to handle challenges. In tandem with this growing sense of self comes a strengthening and expanding of community — both within their cohort, and among their new friends. As one student put it, “I felt like all of us were one class, and I really liked that feeling.” mon B. at the Jordan D. and Si ihuacan Mexico. pyramids in Teot
Open minds, open hearts By Michael Zimmerman Head of School at Friends School Haverford There was so much that was new for the sixth grade students from Friends School Haverford (Haverford, PA) during their recent visit to our sister school, Escuela Altos de San Luis, in a relatively impoverished area of Costa Rica. It was their first extended period away from home, first time in another country, first time on an airplane, first time immersed in a language not their own, and first in-person encounter with their Costa Rican counterparts. Ironically, the newness of it all seemed excellent preparation for maintaining open minds and hearts in the face of an onslaught of novel experiences. For our hosts, our arrival was an annual occurrence. The Costa Rican children knew language would be no barrier to games and activities. They were excited to meet this year’s friends, this new crop of individuals. We also raise some $3,000 a year for Escuela Altos de San Luis, which made it possible to bring running water to the community of our sister school. One of our students, a Katrina refugee, told me Costa Rica so reminded him of his native New Orleans that he felt very much at home and was determined to come back. The value of this life-altering experience was not limited to the student participants. As I was putting a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a bag for lunch, I couldn’t help but wonder whose life was “impoverished.” Haverford student from New Orleans (right) with his Costa Rican partners.
A Publication of the
Inspired by her JEM trip to the rainforest in Ecuador, Michaela Godshall, Buckingham Friends School Class of 2009, will be spending a “gap year” in Ecuador working on a local service project.
Unique to Buckingham Friends School (Lahaska, PA) is the Joint Environmental Mission (JEM) founded in 1991 by a collaboration of Russian and Buckingham Friends teachers. The program has grown to encompass permanent partner schools on all continents including Russia, India, China, Australia, Ecuador, Hawaii, and Kenya. The JEM partner school students engage in yearly home-stay exchanges. Every five years, Buckingham Friends hosts a two-week Earth Summit, inviting student and teacher representatives from all of the JEM partner schools to come together. The next Earth Summit, April 2014, provides a rare opportunity for children to develop cultural understanding and tolerance for different points of view as they collaborate on projects, engage in simulation games, and discuss their fears and hopes for the future. (continued on page 2)
One world community (continued from page 1) At Westtown School (West Chester, PA), students come from the four corners of the globe to attend boarding school. Westtown also sends students out into the world through ongoing relationships with Heritage Academy (Essiam, Ghana), The Friends School (Ramallah, Palestine), and language exchanges in France and Spain. Service is a core component of all student trips. The goal is to develop authentic, ongoing partnerships with these sister schools. Every year one or two students come to Westtown from Ramallah Friends, and in the spring during Senior Projects 18 Westtown seniors go to Ramallah Friends. During the same Senior Projects, 18 students go to Heritage Academy, a K-8 school founded by Westtown teachers Kwesi and Melissa Koomson. While in Ghana, Westtown students teach Heritage students reading, writing, and math. Westtown third and eighth graders have Heritage pen pals and students raise funds to support the ongoing work of the school. The seeds of the Nicaraguan sister-school relationship were planted in 1986 when a series of speakers at George School (Newtown, PA) presented perspectives on the economic realities of Nicaragua and the impact of U.S. foreign policy on the country. Traveling to Nicaragua to see how the school could help, a group of George School faculty and staff connected with El
Students at Heritage Academy, Westtown’s sister school in Ghana.
Centro Educativo Nicaraguita, a private school for pre-kindergarten through high school students located in a working-class barrio. During annual service trips, George School students work in the classrooms as teachers’ aides. They also help maintain the school’s appearance, painting walls, painting and repairing desks and tables, and working with mural artists. In addition, every year George School students fundraise so that students from the Nicaraguan school can take field trips to places like museums and zoos. Lauren Neal, a George School alumna, says that seeing firsthand the poverty, as well as the “rich tradition and love” in which her host family lived, was a powerful experience. “It is when one gets the opportunity to know others that the world becomes less distant and more human,” she adds. At William Penn Charter (WPC; Philadelphia, PA), the new strategic vision calls on faculty and administrators to “prepare graduates to live lives that make a difference.” As part of that charge, vibrant global collaborations currently include the following schools:
Yaohua High School (Tianjin, China): This partnership involves student and faculty exchanges with homestays and a WPC faculty sabbatical taught for a semester in Yaohua. Martin Buber School (Buenos Aires, Argentina): Students and faculty have a biennial exchange, with homestays. Ramallah Friends School (Palestine): A Palestinian tenth grader attends Penn Charter for one year living with Penn Charter families. Stephanie Judson, Associate Head of WPC, travels yearly to Ramallah to meet the incoming student and his/her family. This program is in its sixth year. Caramanico School (Ratanakiri, Cambodia): Established by a Penn Charter board member, this partnership provides learning opportunities for students through communication exchanges via letters and video. Costa Rica: Students and faculty travel to Costa Rica during spring vacation. Iran, Lebanon, and Turkey: WPC faculty visit and work in these countries.
A rich cultural exchange By Peter F. Baily Head of School at Oakwood Friends School and former Secretary for the Board of Directors of Friends Council In the early 1970s, Newton Garver, a distinguished philosophy professor and member of Buffalo (N.Y.) Friends Meeting, served as the clerk of the Board of Managers at Oakwood Friends School (Poughkeepsie, NY). Decades later, still retaining a fondness for our school and its programs, Newton introduced us to the Bolivian Quaker Education Fund (BQEF), and to the Visiting Apprentice Teacher program. Since then, Oakwood has twice been privileged to host a Bolivian Quaker teacher on our campus for an extended period of time, and to experience a rich cultural exchange. In the 2008-09 school year, Ruben Hilare lived and worked on Oakwood’s boarding school campus. An accomplished musician and artist (as well as linguist), he shared his talents and culture with us in a variety of ways. Playing musical instruments and singing, teaching us expressions in his indigenous Aymara language, and cooking Bolivian food in the dining hall, Ruben graced us with his thoughts and beliefs in ways that were both open and spontaneous. Since returning to his home, Ruben has continued to be an active ambassador for Quaker education in Bolivia, and for BQEF. This past January, Emma Condori, also from the Bolivian Altiplano, joined us for the second half of the school year. Emma brought her own set of gifts to Oakwood’s community: she had just completed a master of divinity degree at Earlham School of Religion, and she is a gifted writer about her personal life journey as it relates to her experience of the divine. She helped to teach Quakerism, Spanish, and ESL classes, and she spoke movingly about her home and her country. Raised in a house made of mud and rock at an elevation of 14,000 feet, Emma shared stories of chores and challenges that are utterly foreign to our students. She is now serving the Quaker school community here in the United States as a teacher at Scattergood Friends School in Iowa. Ruben and Emma both made enormous personal, professional, and cultural gifts to Oakwood’s community. The opportunity to host a visiting apprentice teacher continues to be available to all Quaker schools, under the auspices of BQEF.
Emma Condori
Ruben Hilare (and llama)
The Friends’ School (Hobart, Tasmania) has maintained strong, mutually beneficial links with two schools in Japan for 20 years: Tokyo Friends’ School and Kochi Nishi High School. The partnerships include student exchanges and mutual visits by teachers, parents, and administrators that enhance understanding across cultures and local communities.
The Quaker School at Horsham (Horsham, PA) holds an annual Skate-A-Thon in support of AIDS orphans at The Hope School in Guyana, South America. Children at both schools share photos, letters, and artwork. The students’ donations have helped the Hope School purchase necessary basic items such as a school vehicle and beds for the children in the home.
Friends Academy (Locust Valley, NY) has four different exchange programs with partner schools in Shanghai, Versailles, Málaga, and Martinique. Each of these programs includes home-stay, school visits, and travel. The school has a biannual service learning trip to El Salvador where students build houses for a village in need. In this photo, Alix Liss and Gabrielle Rechler (in white shirts) play with children at El Espiritu Santo school in El Salvador.
Toward a sustainable future for our global community The Friends Environmental Education Network (FEEN) has worked for the past 12 years to promote innovative environmental education and sustainable practices in Friends schools, essential components to supporting our one world community. This is an excerpt from FEEN’s minutes to Friends school boards and heads of school, written in May at the annual FEEN peer network gathering. It is our shared conviction that all Quaker schools need to advocate strongly for sustainability to ensure the health and safety not only of our own staff and students, but also of the diverse eco-systems that support the global community. While there are many ways that each of our Friends Schools interprets and supports the Quaker testimony of Stewardship, we propose that all Friends Schools make an effort to take the following action steps, which would put Quaker schools on track to lead this crucial social transition.
Draft and adopt a Sustainability Mission Statement.
J oin the Green Schools Alliance (greenschoolsalliance.org) and make a commitment to carbon emissions reductions over time.
I ntegrate themes surrounding sustainable food systems into the curriculum, either through a gardening program, local/ organic purchasing program in the dining room, connection with a community garden, and/or other programs and activities suitable to your school.
Embed Quaker testimonies of simplicity and stewardship into the curriculum wherever possible.
Friends schools have historically been at the forefront of progressive educational change, including co-education, desegregation, service learning, conflict resolution, and teaching the whole child. By becoming educational institutions that are also committed to stewarding our natural world through our campus operations and by educating for sustainability in our classrooms, we will graduate students who are ready to meet the world’s ecological challenges.
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Student Voices Project The Friends Journal Student Voices Project is a new initiative calling all middle school and high school students to add their voices to the Friends Journal community of readers. Submissions of no more than 2,000 words are welcome from all students at Friends schools. The theme for 2013 – 14 is the Testimony of Integrity. Students are invited to submit poetry, memoirs, essays, or visual art. The writing or artwork should speak to each student’s personal journey of seeking truth and forging his or her own path.
Our mission is to communicate Quaker experience in order to connect and deepen spiritual lives. The Friends Journal Student Voices Project is a new initiative calling all middle school (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12) students to add their voices to the Friends Journal community of readers. ORDER FRIENDS JOURNAL FOR YOUR STUDENTS TODAY!
Bridge Film Festival Since 2000, with the help of an FCE grant, the Bridge Film Festival (Brooklyn, New York) has been building bridges of communication to the international network of Friends schools. This annual celebration of student filmmaking, now in its 15th year, receives international entries and develops relationships with partner schools, including Brummana High School (Lebanon), Pickering College (Newmarket, Canada), and Friends’ School (Lisburn, Northern Ireland). The festival also has facilitated direct collaborations with international Friends. More information is available online at www.bridgefilmfestival.org.
Using Their Powers for Good: Student Government in the Manner of Friends
NEW
Kiri Harris Thirty-eight Quaker schools share their models for student government. This resource was created as part of Kiri Harris’ action research project for Friends Council’s Institute for Engaging Leadership in Friends Schools. To order, go to Bookstore at www.friendscouncil.org.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE STUDENT VOICES PROJECT
Nobis World for Global Awareness www.friendsjournal.org
Submission guidelines and all the latest information are online at friendsjournal.org/studentvoices. The deadline for submissions is December 31, 2013.
Welcome New Heads: Marta Rhea Johnson* — Friends School in Detroit Appreciation and best wishes on new journeys to the following Heads: Dana J. Okeson Weeks — Germantown Friends School Andrew Smith — Greenwood Friends School Edwin Harris, Dick Wade, Cindy Shultz, David Tomlin, Susan Stone, Ari Betof — New Garden Friends School Julia Eells, Abigail Dowd, Matt Bradley, John McKinstry — Lansdowne Friends School Gerri Faivre, Bill Probsting, Ann Sullivan* — Lincoln School Dorothy Henderson Sue Ugliarolo — Scarsdale Friends Nursery School Lynn Oberfield* — West Chester Friends School Elizabeth Enloe* — Westbury Friends School Peter Pearson* — Westfield Friends School Marjorie Fox — Woolman Semester * Interim Head
NEWS OF GIVING AND SUPPORT Sustaining the Spirit with a Commitment to Friends Council on Education
Cassandra and Ken Aldridge
Resources
Ken Aldridge has been immersed in Friends education for more than 23 years. He began as a science teacher at George School (Newtown, PA), and is now in his 18th year at Germantown Friends (Philadelphia, PA) where he’s the middle school principal. Friends education also is embedded in the family. Cassandra Aldridge teaches at William Penn Charter School (Philadelphia, PA) and all three of their children attend Germantown Friends. Ken joined the FCE board in 2008 and says that his family’s commitment to Friends education led them to become loyal FCE donors.
“ We give to the Friends Council because of the work it does in support of Friends education, the programs it offers to educators, and its efforts to develop leaders in Friends schools. We appreciate the ways in which Friends Council deepens the work in our Friends schools and supports those schools as they develop the next generation of leaders. Through my own involvement with the Council, I’ve learned more about good Quaker practice, best practices in school governance, and best practices at other schools. It has all been very fulfilling.”
Friends Council partners with Nobis Project for the Quaker School Voices blog, available at www. friendscouncil.org. Now, the Nobis Project has launched a new professional development initiative, Nobis World, that will allow K-12 teachers to travel domestically or abroad to experience cultures different from their own. In the summer of 2014, teachers can learn how to create more culturally responsive and globally relevant classrooms by traveling to the following locations: Savannah, Georgia, and the Lowcountry; the Dominican Republic. Registration ends February 1, 2014. Scholarships are available. Find out more at www.nobisworld.org.
New resource for school partnerships Schools everywhere are engaging in public-private partnerships that expand educational opportunities for all young people. Now, there’s a new resource for educators and community leaders who want to improve these partnerships: the National Network of Schools in Partnership (NNSP). NNSP was created to meet the growing demand for models of best practice and access to expertise in developing partnerships. Friends Council on Education, William Penn Charter, and San Francisco Friends School are founding members of NNSP. Friends Council’s partnership involves hosting regional gatherings and connecting the Service Learning Peer Network to the work of NNSP. To find out more, go to www.schoolsinpartnership.org.
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Ramallah Friends School (RFS) in Palestine was founded in 1869 to offer Palestinian youth a rigorous academic program guided by the principles of the Religious Society of Friends, teaching young people to honor the Light in everyone and to use their education in the service of society. In August, I had the opportunity to travel to Ramallah Friends and facilitate faculty professional development workshops to deepen understanding of the Quaker connections and roots of the school. My co-facilitator was Thea Abu El Haj, former Friends school teacher and current professor in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University. Both Thea and I care deeply about the Middle East and have ties with people in the region. It was with a sense of excitement and gratitude that we accepted the invitation to make new connections. It was challenging to offer a workshop on Quakerism and Quaker pedagogy in a different culture and through a translator, so Thea and I adapted activities designing a participatory workshop modeling the use of reflection and silence as tools for intellectual and spiritual development. As they work to build a more collaborative and reflective school community, RFS faculty identify similar challenges to the ones we often hear from other Friends school faculty. The community struggles with the contradictions between outside cultural forces, such as violence and materialism or consumerism, and the values of peace, simplicity, and care for
(L to R) Thea Abu El Haj, Deborra Sines Pancoe, Jean Zaru, Mai Zaru, and Carson Dietz-Hartmann.
Deborra Sines Pancoe Associate Director, Friends Council on Education
the environment that the school community strives to uphold. The reality of living under occupation also made a deep impression on me. The effects can be seen in the ordinary — in the goods and services that are not available, in the difficulty of travel — and in the constraints on opportunities for young peoples’ future. These concerns were expressed in many of the conversations we had with people in Ramallah. And I witnessed an amazing spirit and energy from my Palestinian colleagues for finding a solution to this long-standing conflict. While in Palestine, Thea and I attended worship and had dinner with Jean Zaru, clerk of Ramallah Friends Meeting, and her granddaughter Mai, a student at RFS. Jean has been a strong Quaker presence and leader in the struggle for justice, peace and liberation for the Palestinian community. Jean writes, We must work hard to find nonviolent ways of overcoming political, social, economic, ecological and religious violence and to join hands with all those who are committed to fighting the forces of darkness. In order to hope for justice and to hope for peace, we must work for peace. Working with the dedicated faculty of Ramallah Friends School feels like one small way of joining with those who continue this commitment to keep Friends’ values and testimonies at the heart of the school engaging young people and their families in seeking peace and justice.
Ramallah Friends: Upholding Quaker values in a land of conflict
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Reflections Peer Network Events and Head Gatherings
Admissions, May 16, 2014, Friends Center
April 24th annual meeting, reception, and dinner to celebrate Irene’s retirement
SAVE THE DATE!
Heads’ Assistants, November 7 – 8, 2013, George School Friends Environmental Educators Network (FEEN), May 1 – 2, 2014, Washington, DC area Facilitating Quaker-Based Decision Making in a Friends School November 4, 2013 with Arthur Larrabee at Friends Center, Philadelphia
Division Directors & Assistant Heads Conference, November 15, 2013, Friends Center Diversity, January 31, 2014, Friends Center
Development & Public Relations, April 11, 2014, Friends Center
Trustee U: Governance Programs for Trustees Workshops
Elementary Heads Gathering, April 23 – 25, 2014, Chestnut Hill Friends Meetinghouse
Early Childhood Educators, April 3 – 4, 2014, Location TBA Educators New to Quakerism, Pendle Hill. Three separate offerings: February 6 – 7, 2014 (Thursday – Friday) March 3 – 4, 2014 (Monday – Tuesday) May 1 – 2, 2014 (Thursday – Friday)
Quaker Life in Lower & Middle Schools, November 1, 2013, Friends Center Librarians, February 21, 2014, Westtown School
Mindfulness in Learning and Life February 3, 10, 24, March 3, 10, 17, 2014 6:30 – 8:30 pm with Irene McHenry
Three online sessions in the fall: October 15, October 29, and November 12, 2013 “Fiduciary Responsibility: The Board’s Role in Philanthropy”
Secondary Heads Gathering, April 24 – 25, 2014, Friends Select School
Quaker Youth Leadership Conference, February 6 – 8, 2014, Westtown School Three online sessions in the winter: January 14, January 28, and February 11, 2014 “Partnership Conversations: Board and Head Goal — Setting and Evaluation”
Service Learning with National Network of Schools in Partnership, October 23, 2013, Friends Center Joint Conference: Friends Council and Friends Association for Higher Education Exploring Right Relationships June 12 – June 15, 2014, at Haverford College
U.S. Religion Teachers, December 9, 2013, Moorestown Friends School
REGISTER NOW online at www.friendscouncil.org
2013 – 2014 Friends Council on Education Workshops & Peer Network Gatherings Calendar
Quaker Education CHRONICLES OF
One world community
2013
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