From the Head of School

Dear Friends,

In November of this school year, I received a special text message from a Preschool teacher. He shared a photo of an enormous frog that his students had found in the rain garden that is now a central element of our newly designed Playscape. Just three weeks after opening this natural, open-ended play environment for Preschool - Fifth Grade students, the children were watching a new ecosystem emerge before their very eyes. What was once a sparsely populated playground with traditional plastic structures is now nearly an acre of green space with 2,600 new plantings, wood steppers, and play zones that invite collaborative play and direct interactions with nature. As students hop across wooden stumps into the deepest part of the rain garden, they make keen observations about the natural world and are finding the first living creatures to call the MFS Playscape home.

When we envisioned this new approach to play and learning, we knew that there was a unique opportunity to not only align outdoor play with our mission and Quaker values, but invite students to learn from nature and to ask big questions about our relationship with the planet. The frog encounter was just the beginning as we continue to watch the back of campus transform with each season and take shape as an inviting outdoor learning space where children can create, grow, and learn.

As Moorestown Friends School moves into the future, one of our strategic priorities is to envision a campus and curriculum that ensures all students have a healthy relationship with the planet and its limited natural resources. We hope to inspire students to be agents of change and to think entrepreneurially about how they can act in service of environmental sustainability. As a Quaker institution, we are committed to helping students understand the central role they play in conserving resources, living simply, and leading responsibly in the face of a dire environmental outlook. To advance these objectives, we look to our alumni to inspire us and to our current students to chart the path forward.

In this issue of Among Friends, I am delighted to introduce you to some of our alumni who have dedicated their careers to environmental stewardship and bettering the planet. From environmental justice and city planning, to water conservation and policy initiatives, our alumni are building on the skills and guiding principles learned at MFS to make a positive impact on our local and global communities. You’ll also learn about some of the exciting new efforts driven by our students and faculty, including a new beehive on the McShap Path and campus-wide efforts to reduce waste and raise awareness about small changes that can make a big impact.

I hope you enjoy and are inspired by these stories.

Warmly,

Julia de la Torre Head of School