Sandy Spring Friends School Viewbook

Space to Excel

Space to Excel Whether you live in Silver Spring or Sierra Leone, Rockville or Iraq, Chevy Chase or China, the District, Takoma Park, Gaithersburg, Olney, or points in between, the space to excel is here on a spectacular 140-acre campus in Montgomery County.

Belonging to one of the great traditions in education, Sandy Spring Friends School is a Quaker school, whose peers include schools such as Sidwell Friends, Wilmington Friends, William Penn Charter, Germantown Friends, Westtown, George School, and Friends School of Baltimore, as well as colleges and universities like Swarthmore, Haverford, and the University of Pennsylvania.

What could you do with academic opportunities without a ceiling‌ in classrooms where teachers not only teach but inspire?

What would it mean to go to a school that cares not only about the strength of your mind but also about the strength of your character?

What would it be like to have a 140-acre world of arts, athletics, service, and leadership opportunities to call one’s own and classmates who become lifelong friends?

Make Room for Excellence.

Welcome to Sandy Spring Friends School.

Your mind Your talents Your dreams Your spirit Your ambition Your imagination Your heroes Your friendships Your potential Your mentors Your opportunities Your life lessons Your excellence

Need a lot of room.

You’ll find it here.

Ta b l e o f C o n t e n t s S a n d y S pri n g F ri e n ds S choo l

Sandy Spring Friends School has the physical space as well as the programs and opportunities for students to excel beginning in preschool through the senior year of high school. We invite you to explore all that this school has to offer.

2 3 Schools in 1 Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools

11 Limitless Academics Acceleration and enrichment in all divisions

20 “Light Lessons�

Arts, athletics, service, leadership

27 Lives That Speak

Graduates who live lives of accomplishment with character

32 A Campus That Inspires Its Community 140 Spectacular acres

3 Schools in 1

Lower, Middle, and Upper School Sandy Spring Friends School is a place where the youngest to the oldest students get just what they need at every stage of their intellectual, physical, social, and spiritual development. We’re three schools in one — Lower, Middle, and Upper, with an optional boarding program in the Upper School. Each school has its own faculty of fabulous teachers whose expertise and experience are just right for the age they teach. Each school has its own curriculum, signature programs, buildings, and outdoor spaces that are just right for the students they engage. Sandy Spring is remarkable because it offers these just-right worlds for each age group.

And yet Sandy Spring Friends is also far more than the sum of its parts. What makes it even more enjoyable, exciting, and enriching for students and their families is the combined vision and energy each school brings to this one campus. Whether a preschooler, a sixth grader, or a senior about to go to college, students here live the experience of being part of a bigger world with people who are the same and different from themselves. They learn what it is to care about and be cared about by that bigger world, and they learn early that they can make a contribution to that big world.

ParentoParent

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—Kathy, Upper School and Alumnus Parent

SSFS

Space to Excel

“Small classes are only part of Sandy Spring’s successful, nurturing ‘whole child’ formula.

I know that if there is an issue with my child, I will be informed about it quickly from a truly concerned member of SSFS’s staff. They know my child, be it the bus driver or Dean.

And they know me too. My daughter’s advisor rocks.”

Sandy Spring Friends School is a pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade college preparatory day school of approximately 575 students with optional five- and seven-day boarding programs in the Upper School.

Founded in 1961, SSFS is located in Sandy Spring, Maryland.

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3 Schools in 1:Lower School The wonderful advantage of being a young student today who is just starting out on his or her educational journey is that educators know so much more about the ways students develop and learn. Young students learn best when they can experiment, discover, and make connections through hands-on activities that allow new ideas to progress from the concrete to the conceptual.

Collaborative learning can enhance a student’s ability to make cognitive leaps.

Consequently, our school days provide opportunities for student partners and small groups to work together. Our students are also most receptive to learning when they have ownership over aspects of their learning. To that end, we are responsive to the interests of our students as they engage in our rich curriculum of language arts, mathematics, science, social studies,

art, music, Spanish, physical and outdoor education, community and spiritual life, and technology.

We believe that academic and social learning are inextricably linked and that building a strong foundation in character development and social skills sets the stage for academic learning to flourish. Our program enables students to learn to listen, exchange ideas, and develop a respect for themselves and others even as they learn essential academic skills like reading, writing, and mathematics.

Sandy Spring Friends students learn how to ask questions and seek answers. They become confident and capable, and they develop the capacity for the next stage of their learning and growth — the adventure of Middle School.

Brenda Benjamin Lower School Music Teacher

“Everybody leaves this community feeling more confident in who they are and discovering who they are and what they have to offer the world outside.

That’s a big deal.”

SSFS

LOWER SCHOOL Student Body: Approximately 180 Student/Teacher Ratios: Begin in pre-K at 6:1 and gradually increase to 16:1 by Fifth Grade School Day: 8:10-3:15 plus Extended Day Program until 6:00

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Space to Excel

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LOWER SCHOOL After-school activities: Chess, computer games, creative movement and yoga, digital photography and filmmaking, woodwind and brass ensembles

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3 Schools in 1: Middle School The Middle School years can be one of the most challenging times in a student’s life, but here, middle schoolers navigate them with relative ease, engagement, and enjoyment.

It starts with a campus gem of a building completed in 2005 and designed to provide students in grades six through eight with an environment that promotes their academic and co-curricular success.

In small, seminar-style classes, students take English, mathematics, laboratory science, social studies, Spanish or French, studio art, music, drama, and physical and outdoor education.

They also have a rotating schedule of study skills, life skills, and technology skills classes.

Small classes and faculty members who work closely together allow for cross-disciplinary connections in courses like history and English.

Students don’t have to choose between music and art, and they can take a foreign language beginning in the sixth grade. They have

a strong, hands-on science program that incorporates abundant opportunities for field work, and a signature environmental science trip to Assateague Island. They also have teachers who really know their students’ talents, which means they can offer these students special opportunities for independent and creative projects.

The Middle School academic experience is anchored by a strong advisor program that gives each student a teacher and group of friends to connect with from the moment he or she starts school. Advisee groups have a tradition of organizing fun activities throughout the year, such as takeout or off-campus lunches and weekend trips to amusement parks, movies, or to laser tag events.

Middle School is more than preparation for the challenging years that follow — it’s a whole and purposeful experience in itself.

Luke

Seventh Grade

“You can express yourself and sign up for all these electives, sports, and arts. Soccer and lacrosse are really good here. We also have a really good arts program so you can take drama, music, or studio art each semester.”

SSFS

MIDDLE SCHOOL Student Body: Approximately 140 Student/Teacher Ratio: 12:1 School Day: 8:00-2:50 plus optional after-school electives, competitive interscholastic team sports, and an Extended Day Program until 6:00

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Space to Excel

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An added advantage for all our students is a vibrant international and boarding program, which provides opportunities for students and faculty from a variety of cultures and backgrounds to interact both during and after school hours.

3 Schools in 1: Upper School The Upper School curriculum is a demanding one, enriched by arts and athletics, community service, and exceptional extracurriculars.

Within this environment, students are able to explore their talents and interests. We offer AP classes and independent studies in every discipline. In small classes, students can explore a rich curriculum with courses ranging from Dramatic Literature AP and Contemporary African American Literature to Bioethics and Environmental Science AP; from Multivariable Calculus and Statistics AP to Advanced Modern Dance and Photography; from two levels of creative writing to five levels of French and Spanish. Requirements for graduation include four years of English; three years of history, mathematics, science, foreign language, and the arts; as well as electives, athletics, community service, and a Quakerism requirement.

Within our Upper School program, we also offer an academically vigorous curriculum specifically for international students from diverse backgrounds. The International Student

Program prepares students academically and culturally for matriculation at selective colleges in the United States and other English-speaking nations. Currently, 42 students enrolled in our International Student Program represent 10 different countries: Bhutan, China, Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Korea, Scotland, Sierra Leone, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

When students graduate from the Upper School, they move on to higher education and the world at large as confident, responsible, and thoughtful citizens. Graduates understand their interdependence with communities, both local and global, as well as with the natural environment. They are open-minded, skilled, and curious. They have an understanding of Quaker practices in simplicity, tolerance, and non-violence. From the foundation of a strong and caring community, challenging intellectual pursuits, and enriching life activities, Sandy Spring Friends School students are prepared to become fully active, contributing members of the world.

Naya Junior

“My favorite class is probably Western Civilization. It’s not your traditional history class. We go back and forth between the past and current events, so one day we could be talking about Rome, and then we’ll start talking about what’s going on in the Middle East. I just feel like everything we do in the class has some purpose, whether it’s history or a life lesson.”

SSFS

UPPER SCHOOL Student Body: Approximately 250 Boarding and International Student Program: Approximately 50 Student/Teacher Ratio: 12:1

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Space to Excel

SSFS

UPPER SCHOOL School Day: 8:00-2:50 plus optional after-school electives and competitive interscholastic team sports

ParentoParent

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“Once you have a child at SSFS, you are part of a real community. It fosters friendships and shared values. You have a lot of concerned people who will really get to know your child, and eventually, the rest of the family. I think it helps a person raise saner children, especially in an area as privileged as ours, which tends to give people a skewed picture of reality.”

—Katie, Lower, Middle, and Upper School Parent

All-School Connections Lower, Middle, and Upper Schoolers spend most of their days in their own ample, dedicated spaces and places. But we also have great traditions between the schools, such as Middle Schoolers cheering Upper School teams on to victory; Upper Schoolers reading with their Lower School buddies; Community Day and Earth Day, when the whole school comes together for a day of service and stewardship; school governance committees that draw student members from each school, and Winterfest, when everyone including parents and siblings plan and celebrate a weekend festival of student bands, great food, and the creativity of our community.

Limitless Academics Acceleration and enrichment in all divisions The only limit to how far you can go here is how far you want to go. The Sandy Spring curriculum offers acceleration and enrichment in all divisions, independent studies and projects in Middle School, AP courses in every department and independent studies in the Upper School.

Just like the extraordinary physical space our campus offers, our academic program gives students the room they need at every turn to grow intellectually. Teachers and advisors know this community of students so well that they can encourage and guide students on an individual basis to push themselves in exactly the ways they need to excel.

Sandy Spring Friends School offers students a challenging pre-K through 12th grade college preparatory education enhanced by a combination of benefits like those described on the following pages — a total package one would be hard pressed to find anywhere else in the area.

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Master Teachers Anyone can teach but few inspire. The teachers here are intellectual powerhouses who focus on developing each student’s individual gifts. Over half of the faculty has advanced degrees. As one parent of two Upper Schoolers says, “The biggest advantage at SSFS is strong, experienced, understanding teachers who look

for ways to help each student discover and develop their strengths, which propels them to explore further.

SSFS is a safe place where a young person can make mistakes and learn from them, go on, be stronger, gain confidence, and develop a commitment to building a life that speaks.”

Joy Happiness cannot be underestimated. A Sandy Spring education is effective in part because students really like being here. When students want to be at school, when their classes and school life are enjoyable, you maximize their potential for learning.

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“When I think about my children attending a highly competitive school, I honestly get scared for them. My kids are smart, but I don’t want to put them through the intense pressure to achieve that you see at many elite schools.

I want my children to learn at a school where they can be the best they can be, not a place where they need to beat others in order to succeed,” says one Sandy Spring father. Parents and students all say they value Sandy Spring’s ability to deliver a top education without a pressure-cooker environment. “The teachers here don’t break you,” says one student. “They bend you and shape you as a person.”

StudentoStudent “My SSFS education forced me to ask questions and never settle for simple answers.

Teachers at SSFS are willing to engage their students in discussions that are not cookie-cutter in terms of content. They are not afraid to defend their positions and allow the students to come up with their own opinions. Many of the people I meet in college did not have an experience like this. In their high schools the teacher’s opinion was always right. The teachers at SSFS let me question everything so I could really learn.” ­

—Matthew, Sophomore, Ohio State University

Eduardo Polon

Upper School Spanish Teacher, Lower School Parent and Soccer Coach

“What this school is doing for our daughter in terms of building her as a future leader, a compassionate leader, a confident but humble individual is a rare combination of academic integrity and human understanding of what it is to be genuinely compassionate and active. It’s a recipe this school has mastered.

It’s manifested in the rigor in the classroom that challenges our students to push beyond. It’s certainly manifested in the spirit of the community that not only creates independent individuals, but — perhaps more importantly in today’s day and age — builds interdependent individuals who learn the importance of working with others for a common cause.

The United States is a beautiful place and there are many wonderful schools and many wonderful places to live. The only reason we are in Montgomery County and Maryland is because of Sandy Spring Friends School. That is how magical the effect of this school is on our family.”

Space to Excel

High Achievement Without Intense Competition

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300 Years of Tradition When President and Mrs. Obama selected a Quaker school for their daughters, Time magazine wrote: “The choice makes sense at a philosophical level . . . because of how Quakers view the challenge of shaping children into socially responsible and spiritually aware adults.”

As a Quaker school, SSFS is part of a 300-year-old tradition in education recognized for fine academics as well as a whole-child approach to intellectual and moral development. Underlying all that we do are our Quaker values of simplicity, equality, honesty, respect, peaceful resolution of conflict, and community involvement.

“There is a strong emphasis on being a good community member,” says one parent, “on being a person with strong values, and a good contributing, helping member of society. As opposed to the ceaseless competition so often found elsewhere — to be better than the guy next to you — smarter, stronger, faster. . .”

You don’t have to be a Quaker to appreciate Quaker values. Our parents and students, who represent more than 20 different faiths, say what makes Sandy Spring Friends special is that those values engender a very cooperative, collaborative educational experience.

Because SSFS is a place where each child’s strengths and individuality can shine, each child feels an integral part of a group that truly cares about him or her. Students learn to step up without stepping on others. They take these values with them to college and they draw from them when they are out in the world making decisions as the artists, doctors, lawyers, policy makers, teachers, software programmers, writers, and entrepreneurs they will become.

Ted McAdams

Middle School English and Drama Teacher

“If I were to tell a student who’s looking at this school one thing it would be to come here and spend a day. Anywhere you go, you’re going to get classes in certain subjects. It’s who you’re going to be taking the classes with, who you’re going to be taking the classes from, and the physical environment of the class that matters.

Spend a day because it’s the best way to find out what it’s like here. The number of different ways you see people laughing and smiling and talking to each other on the sidewalks. The spiritual aspect of the school. The energy.”

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Signature Trips SSFS students learn about the world by being in the world.

Each Lower School grade goes on field trips and overnight trips beginning in fourth grade. Middle School trips include a sixth grade environmental science and history trip to St. George’s Island in the Chesapeake Bay, a seventh grade trip to Gettysburg, and an eighth grade trip to Assateague Island. Middle Schoolers also have the option of summer language immersion trips to France and Spain, as well as

domestic service learning trips. In addition to the ninth grade camping trip, Upper Schoolers have educational and service-learning trip options every spring through our Intersession program. Recent Intersession trips include: hiking in Death Valley, Costa Rican Ecoadventure, West Virginia Service Project, and cultural trips to England and Italy. During the summer, some students take part in service trips in the U.S. or abroad.

Global and Cultural Fluency

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The rigor of our language curriculum, our International Student Program, and opportunities for international study start SSFS students on their way to cultural and global fluency. We’re also fortunate to be in the Washington, D.C. area, which attracts an international student body and faculty to our school.

As one of our international and foreign language teachers says, “Students here come with a unique curiosity and openness to learning of new cultures, breaking down prejudices and ignorance, and really trying to be a part of a global society. In general, I think that’s part of what Sandy Spring Friends School is all about. The teaching of foreign language is a wonderful field in terms of its opportunities to break barriers and to bridge different worlds. It’s much more than just the linguistic part. It embodies the breadth and wealth of culture. There’s a very famous quote that says, ‘To possess a second language is to have a second soul.’ And I think that’s very, very true. The ability to understand each other as human beings via communication, I can’t think of anything more gratifying.”

ParentoParent “I’m always impressed that the kids here know how to talk to adults. They can look them in the eye and have a conversation with them without hiding behind their parents or just putting their heads down and smiling.”

—Michelle, Middle School and Upper School Parent

The Ninth Grade Program

17 to know each other before high school even begins.

The ninth grade trip has been a cornerstone of the program for years. Many colleges now use this kind of bonding and teambuilding experience to orient new students. Throughout the year, the ninth grade program has several additional all-class experiences, including field trips, community service projects, the ninth grade play, and Intersession. Ninth graders also have their own wing where their classes, lockers, and the program coordinator’s office are located.

Laurel Flyer

Upper School Biology, Bioethics Teacher

“You make real connections here. I so appreciate having small classes and getting to know my students outside of class. We have an experiential learning trip in March where we take the kids on some other kind of adventure outside of school. I’ve taken kids to the Amazon twice. I think in schools where there are large classes where everybody doesn’t know everybody else, if you want to you can hide out. You can’t do that here. People know you and want you to be part of things.”

Space to Excel

Getting the right start to high school is a Sandy Spring Friends hallmark. The school offers a rich transitional experience for ninth grade students, linking the middle school years with the more intensive demands of our Upper School program. The program is sensitive to the particular intellectual, social, and emotional needs of 13- to 14-year-old adolescents and is led by a faculty team devoted to the ninth grade. Students participate in a signature trip just prior to the start of school that allows new and returning students and faculty to get

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Senior Projects Seniors have the option of taking on a senior capstone project. The goal of senior projects is to provide a helpful transition between the expectations of high school course work and those of college and adult life through independent research, internships, or service endeavors.

StudentoStudent “My Spanish teacher is amazing. One of my friends wasn’t even in my class, but he overheard our teacher teaching one day. He was so blown away that he wanted to take the class. That’s the type of teacher you will find here. They give you all the steps. They show you how to do it. But they expect you to apply yourself and do it. They show you the door and they open it. But they expect you to walk through it. And they inspire you to want to.” ­

AP Classes and National Merit Scholars The majority of our juniors and seniors earn college credit by taking AP exams that lead to scores of 3 or better. Each year, approximately one-third of our seniors are named AP Scholars, National Merit Scholars, or Maryland Distinguished Scholars.

—Eli, Senior

First Choice Colleges Barnard Bates Boston University Bowdoin Bryn Mawr Brown University Carnegie Mellon University Colgate Columbia Cornell Dartmouth Dickinson Drexel Duke Earlham George Washington Georgetown Goucher Grinnell Guilford Haverford Johns Hopkins Kenyon McGill (Canada) Middlebury New York University

Northwestern Oglethorpe Parsons School of Design Pennsylvania State University Princeton St. Mary’s College of Maryland Smith Stanford Swarthmore Trinity Tufts Tulane University of Colorado University of Delaware University of Maryland University of North Carolina University of Pennsylvania University of Vermont Vanderbilt Vassar Virginia Commonwealth Wellesley Wesleyan

Adriana Sophomore

“We have some pretty awesome teachers, some really funny ones. The teachers are funny, but you also get a lot out of it. I’m not a very big math person but I think math freshman year was probably one of my favorite classes just because the teacher was such a good teacher. I also really liked English. There are no classes that I think to myself, ‘I don’t want to go to this class right now.’ I’m taking AP U.S. History next year. I’ve had multiple people tell me that if I didn’t take AP U.S. with Bob Hoch, I wouldn’t be experiencing the full Sandy Spring Friends education. A lot of the teachers are like that. I just think so highly of them.”

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One hundred percent of our students apply and are accepted to college. Schools currently attended by SSFS graduates include:

“Light Lessons” Arts, Athletics, Service, Leadership

The beauty of an SSFS education is that students are never pigeonholed into one area.

It’s a natural extension of the Quaker principle that there is “that of God” or an “Inner Light” in every person.

Put into practice that means we value each person’s unique gifts. Consequently, we give our students many routes in the arts, athletics, service, and leadership as well as academics to discover and realize their gifts.

We challenge students to stretch their talents and share them with their communities now and moving forward into their lives. Indeed, that is what a Sandy Spring Friends education is all about.

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Visual and Performing Arts The SSFS Arts Program is an integral part of daily life on campus. Led by an exceptional arts faculty of professional artists, actors, and musicians who have also devoted their lives to teaching, students have multiple creative options.

Indeed, many graduates have gone on to successful creative careers. Completed in 2006, our Performing Arts Center (PAC) includes a 384-seat theater, set workshop, dance studio, classrooms, and practice rooms. In addition to the PAC, we have a second large theater space, Clifton, so a variety of projects can be undertaken at the same time.

Separate art, ceramics, photography, and weaving studios are also in constant use by our students for classes and independent projects.

Lower School Music and Art

Students at all grade levels explore and expand their musical abilities through singing, moving, playing instruments, listening to selected musical works, and creating original music and interpretive movements to music. Classroom music techniques and activities are drawn from the music methodologies of Kodály, Orff, and Dalcroze. A sequence of visual artistic concepts is presented at each grade level with the variety of materials and level of complexity and proficiency increasing at each successive level. These progressive strands include: color, line, texture, form, painting, printing, and sculpture. The particular projects chosen for these studies often reflect integration with classroom themes.

Middle School Arts Courses Music Drama Art

Chorus and Instrumental Ensemble Weaving Movement There is also a Middle School play every year in which all grades can participate and twice-yearly arts nights to showcase the work of all our students.

Upper School Arts Courses

Desktop Publishing and Yearbook Music Theory (Advanced Placement) Foundations of Art: 2-D and 3-D Design Print Shop Stagecraft Ceramics Modern Dance Advanced Modern Dance Instrumental Music: Orchestra Handbells Woodworking Weaving and Fibers Photography (Wet to Dry Lab) Arts and Ideas I & II (Art History) Drawing Drama – Video Production/One Acts Chorus Painting Musical Production Drama – Play Production

Trevor Seventh Grade

“I’m looking forward to eighth grade dance next year because it’s something you can only do in eighth grade. I’ve seen students in that class perform at Arts Night every year and the dances look really fun.”

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Athletics All students are encouraged to participate in interscholastic sports, and no cuts are made from any team (although junior varsity teams exist in some programs). SSFS competes in the PVAC League with 15 other independent schools in the Washington Metropolitan area. In recent years we have fielded championship teams in girls and boys varsity soccer.

A new Athletic Complex was completed in December of 2005. The complex includes a 9,000-square-foot gymnasium and fitness center. In addition, we have on campus baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse fields and one of the most scenic cross country courses in the area.

Middle School Sports Basketball Cross Country (Co-ed) Lacrosse Soccer Softball Volleyball (Girls)

Upper School Sports

Baseball Basketball (Varsity and JV) Cross Country Lacrosse Soccer (Varsity and JV) Softball Tennis Track & Field Women’s Volleyball (Varsity and JV)

Service SSFS strives to balance our varied and ongoing service outreach projects with conscious reflection on our experience.

In service to others, we address issues such as diversity, prejudice, and social justice. Beyond heightened awareness of the world around them, our students gain self-esteem and humility that help sustain them as committed, responsible, and joyful members of a wider human community.

Lower School

Service learning in the Lower School is active, hands-on, and developmentally appropriate. Whether singing a song to elderly residents of a nearby retirement community, collecting “pennies for peace” to help build a school in Asia, making blankets for sick children, crafting one-of-a-kind bowls for a hunger project, or taking lunch scraps to the campus compost heap, Lower School students engage in the Friends testimony of service to others and to our environment. Several Lower School classes link regularly with Upper School buddies, performing stewardship tasks to help our campus and environment.

Middle School

Our regular service endeavors include volunteering weekly at a food kitchen, So Others May Eat (S.O.M.E.), in Washington, D.C., and projects that benefit senior citizens, the hungry, children in need, and animal shelters. Middle Schoolers also have the option of new summer excursion service trips. The first service trip took a group of students, teachers, and parents to Rocky Mountain National Park, where they helped the U.S. Park Service remove invasive species in a moraine valley. In that experience, students explored different ecosystems, hiking at 12,000 feet in the snowy tundra as well as walking through a glacial valley blooming with native flowers. The group also restored a roadside pull-out, revitalizing native species through revegetation, and potted native plants at the Forest Service Greenhouse.

Upper School

Every Upper School student at Sandy Spring Friends School is expected to contribute at least 100 hours of assistance, combining service to those outside of the school with stewardship to the Sandy Spring Friends community. In the Upper School, a student creates a portfolio of service learning experiences. Fifty of those hours are completed in school-sponsored Intersession projects. Thirty hours are student-directed. Many of our students have chosen to become involved with local programs, performing tasks such as cooking chili for the elderly or giving tours for the Underground Railroad. Others have gone abroad for service learning. Such projects have included working in Spain to help create a self-sufficient ecosystem in the desert, coaching a children’s soccer team in South Africa, and helping construct flush toilets for a Fiji Island village.

StudentoStudent “One of the things I like the most here is that with our small school and with Quaker values of respect and equality there is an opportunity for everyone to try whatever he or she wants. And I guess everyone is pretty talented, because what you see is this very high quality in areas like drama and dance and sports.”

—David D., Senior

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Leadership Lower School

It takes a SPARK to light a FLAME that can be carried as a TORCH. These are the names of the Lower, Middle, and Upper School student government councils. SPARK is composed of a boy and a girl from each fourth and fifth grade class, who are selected by their peers to represent them.

Middle School

Students have opportunities for leadership as representatives on FLAME (Friends Leading And Mentoring Everyone), as clerks of the Student Meeting for Business (Governance Committee), and on other various schoolwide or local committees. Students may also have opportunities to represent Sandy Spring Friends at student leadership conferences.

Upper School

In addition to Student Government, student representatives are chosen for several major All-School and Upper School faculty committees to develop leadership and encourage a student voice in decision-making. These committees include Upper School Co-curricular Committee (Student Life), Diversity Committee, Faculty Committee, Spiritual Life Committee, Traditions Committee, and Peace Committee. Students leaders also attend conferences related to peace, Quakerism, and diversity during the school year.

SSFS

Upper School Student Publications:

The Wildezine (Literary magazine) The Gnus (Newspaper) Yearbook (Middle School and Upper School)

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SSFS

Upper School Clubs: AIDS Awareness, American Culture Club, Amnesty International, Anime Club, Art Club, Asian Club, Black Student Union, Business Club (Future Business Leaders of America), Chess Club, Climbing Club, Drama Club, Environmental Club, Fine Film Society of Sandy Spring, Football for Friends, French Club, Gay Straight Alliance, International Student Club, Knitting Club, Mathletes, Model U.N., Outdoor Adventure Club, PG Pride Club, Political Affairs, Spirit Squad, Swing Dance, Technology Club, Writer’s Block.

Lives That Speak Graduates who live lives of accomplishment with character “Let Your Lives Speak� is the SSFS motto and a famous Quaker saying.

SSFS graduates gain the knowledge, experience, values, responsibility, and confidence to build lives that speak accomplishment with character, speak creativity, speak intelligence, speak understanding, speak discovery, speak social responsibility, speak friendship.

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James “Jay” Nubile ’82 Jay’s photography has been featured in numerous national and international publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Newsweek, Time, U.S. News and World Report, and USA Today. In recent years he has lived in and traveled to the Middle East, former Soviet Union, Central Asia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Northern Ireland, and has covered various domestic stories on the social issues of the day.

“S

SFS provided an atmosphere that was at once both welcoming and challenging. Let’s face it, high school can be a social minefield. SSFS was a safe place to take risks, both socially and intellectually, mostly because you were always seen as an individual.

I think SSFS was the best place not only to be myself, but to project myself as well. The place was so darn friendly for one thing. It sounds trite, but everyone really did like one another and that makes a difference.

I always felt that college was somewhat easier for me than a lot of my fellow students because of not only the rigor of SSFS but the independent way that one could navigate high school. In public school, you went where you were told. At SSFS I could choose classes that interested me and have a hand in how my education was shaped.

I think on top of that, the SSFS foundation has served me well long-term. As a journalist, I always have to question things and look at things from a lot of different angles. I think the school sowed those critical thinking seeds.

As someone who has spent his whole life trying to be a contributor to the public discourse, I always find myself talking about my SSFS Quaker education as a pivotal point in my life — the place that I really discovered there was a way to make a difference. “Let your lives speak” has always stayed with me. I continue to remind myself of that saying and not only try to take it to heart for myself, but to pass it on to others as well.”

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Gabrielle Quintana Greenfield ’06

Isabel Quintana Greenfield ’07

Gabrielle is a public policy major at Brown University. She plans to pursue a career in politics and law.

Isabel is a biology major at Stanford University. She plans to pursue a career in medicine.

I

“M

Another important skill that SSFS taught me which I value is the ability to question. Because

During my senior year at Sandy Spring, I took a class in Modern China just because I liked the teacher. I ended up loving the subject as well. If I hadn’t had that experience I don’t think I would be as comfortable as I am branching outside my major in college. It would be easy to say, oh, I’m good at chemistry so I’m just going to take that – which would make for a really boring and narrow undergraduate experience.

think SSFS’s biggest asset is its community.

Since the school is small, I learned to work together with all other students and faculty — it was impossible to simply brush off someone you disagreed with. I brought with me to Brown a sense that it is important to create relationships and help my fellow students so that we all have a good experience. Even though Brown is a much larger school, I have found my own smaller communities within the school, as well as built some so that I could have my own support network.

I had such great relationships with my teachers, I never felt intimidated about asking questions to make sure I completely understood the material.

I could ask why it was that the school did things certain ways, and I was able to voice my support or dissent. I’ve found

that in studying with my college friends, I am always the one asking clarifying questions. And I don’t feel dumb asking because I know that I am actively taking part in my education.

I am glad to have gone to a school with Quaker values. I am always looking to come to a consensus when working in groups. I believe people should act responsibly toward their communities and environments, and I understand that a little silence is okay. I’m used to it after all those Meetings for Worship.

y classes at Sandy Spring Friends were never more than 15 people.

That made me really comfortable working within a small student to teacher ratio.

While lecture courses at Stanford were kind of a shock, it still worked to my advantage because I’m not scared to interact with faculty. I know they’re there to help me, and I know how to speak up in class.

In terms of preparedness for college, something I learned when I got to Stanford is that so many

of my college friends couldn’t take the AP classes they wanted to take in high school because of a lack of space.

It was difficult for them to take more than one or two AP classes at a time.

I appreciate the fact that at Sandy Spring I had the ability to take the classes I wanted.”

Sandy Spring Friends School

30

M. Cary Leahey ’70 Cary is Senior Managing Director with Decision Economics, a consulting firm with offices in New York, Boston, and London.

He writes regularly for the daily and weekly publications for client readership and provides advice and commentary as needed to clients.

“W

hen I attended SSFS, the major intellectual leaders were teachers who focused on developing in each student the ability to write a first class research paper. This was an extremely important skill for college. In my career of economics, the ability to write a tightly reasoned paper on a tight deadline was even more important. Other skills that SSFS helped with that turned out to be important were intellectual curiosity and an appreciation for other points of view. SSFS challenged my preconceived thinking, which helped teach me intellectual resilience.

While risk-taking was encouraged when I was at SSFS, one of the leading teachers always pointed out that it was important to cultivate something that you were good at. It was important for one’s self-esteem to remember that no matter how poorly the current attempt at something new was going, there was always that ‘something else you

were good at’ to fall back on. Great advice for school and for life.

SSFS wanted each student to be prepared for life and not just college. So using your gifts or skills to help others was integral to that instruction. The number of graduates in social service fields is very impressive. I can’t say that I followed a helping profession per se by working on Wall Street, but my work is about calling on my particular skills to help investors make the right choices.

It is hard to define what makes Sandy Spring ‘special,’ but I firmly believe that when I run a fast-forward of my life on my deathbed, my three years at SSFS will be a major feature film.

Outside of being a husband and father (and a few moments on the golf course), Sandy Spring was the most memorable time of my life.”

Lent Johnson ’70 Lent practices family medicine at Hannibal Clinic in Hannibal, Missouri, where he serves as the group’s medical director.

“M

y years at Sandy Spring Friends helped me develop my personality, taught me to express my feelings to friends and family, and develop leadership skills. High school is a critical time for many students to allow them to develop their personalities within the structure of school. For many, this can set the stage for future achievements through their successes while giving students an opportunity to experience failure in an environment of support and nurturing. My years

at SSFS helped me develop confidence and leadership skills that have helped me throughout life.”

31 Amelie earned her PhD in Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue University. Her areas of research and teaching are environmental, social, and economic sustainability.

“Sandy Spring Friends allowed me to expand my horizons. I was able to try so many subjects in a small setting and really get the attention I needed to become more confident in my abilities. I am a postdoctoral fellow at Furman University. In addition to looking at ways to promote sustainability both at Furman and in the community, I teach courses on land use, urban planning, conservation, and climate action planning. I was only at Sandy Spring for one year but I can easily say that I wouldn’t be where I am without my experience and education there, and for that I am grateful every day.”

Space to Excel

Amelie Davis ’98

A Campus That Inspires Its Community 140 Spectacular Acres

“I drive on the campus and feel transported to a place where what really matters in this world just resonates in the space.

Quaker values of simplicity and generosity are called forth when I am on campus. There is a sense of ‘can do’ and ‘belonging’ that I feel when I am there.”

—Jessica, Lower School and Upper School Parent

There’s no question that the Sandy Spring Friends School campus has an intangible quality to it. To try to define it is a difficult task, but perhaps we can begin in an easy place: The fact that we have 140 bucolic acres in Montgomery County is an anomaly first and foremost. Students have a safe world all their own that incorporates a pond and woods for science field work, multiple athletic fields, a ropes course, places to play, and state-of-the-art facilities.

But the campus does more for us than provide unparalleled physical resources. As one teacher says, “The elbow room that we have also allows us to be more human. As a result what we are as a school is exceptional.

But what we are as a community is exemplary.”

33 Space to Excel

Sandy Spring Friends School

“This campus is unusual in the fact that we are surrounded by woods so there is a natural feel to it despite the buildings.

34It’s laid out well too. Each school has its own area and yet we mix together on a daily basis crossing between classes. My Middle Schoolers will go over to where we have our drama class and move around the edge of the Lower School having recess, and then around the edge of some Upper Schoolers lounging around between classes. And so there’s interaction throughout the grades. The spirit that is in this place is very special; it is a real community.”

Ted McAdams Lower School, Middle School, and Upper School Parent and Middle School Teacher of Drama and English; Former Professional Actor

“There’s a hammock right in front of Moore that I really like. It’s great because it’s under some trees. I’ve sat there and talked for an hour with a friend. I’ve also taken a nap there, and I’ve also done homework there. It just serves all different purposes.”

Brian, Senior

“All the teachers like to have classes outdoors at times. My music class and I will go outside to listen to nature sounds and then try to simulate those sounds with instruments. We’ll talk about the leaves rustling in the wind. The acorns falling on top of the cars. If we’re over by the playground, we’ll talk about what we hear when you’re just listening to the everyday sounds of life. I’m really privileged to teach here. There’s something special about coming on the grounds of this campus; you feel suddenly released like you can do things you never thought you would be able to do. I see that in myself. I see that in my students.”

Brenda Benjamin Lower School Teacher of Music

“My favorite place on campus is the cirlce of tree stumps outside the Middle School because that’s a really fun place to sit35 with friends and talk.”

Trevor, Seventh Grade

Laurel Flyer, Upper School Biology, Bioethics Teacher

“I really like the couches in the collection area of the Middle School and the sport court on a hot day. It’s fun to sit with my friends and watch basketball. In the winter, when it’s play practice, one of my favorite places is Clifton, where we practice. Then when the play is almost ready we move to the Performing Arts Center and practice there. I love that too, sitting in the back at the end of the day talking with friends about everything from the performance to what happened that day to music and what we’re going to do on the weekend.”

Carson, Eighth Grade

Space to Excel

“I love having this living laboratory for my classes.

We have a pond, we have a stream, we have forest, we have fields. We have the kids outside all the time. They do macro invertebrate stream essays, we do pond studies, they do a wildflower project in the Spring that’s been a tradition here for over 40 years. The kids really develop an appreciation for nature that they might not have had otherwise.

They tell me they have a new appreciation for what they see, and they notice things that they didn’t notice before.”

Sandy Spring Friends School

36

Campus History The land on which Sandy Spring stands once included one of the trails for the Underground Railroad. Later it was a working farm. The school opened in 1961 with 77 students in grades 10 and 11 and three buildings on acreage from a family farm. Through the years, land and buildings were added, although not all were new: In 1983, the historic Ashton Meeting House was moved overland to its campus site.

Since 2005, SSFS has built a new Middle School, expanded its Lower School, and added a new Performing Arts Center and Athletic Complex. In addition to the Lower, Middle, and Upper School facilities, our grounds include residence and dining halls, a main library, and a smaller Lower School library, an observatory, and faculty housing.

Along with these campus facilities, the nearby Sandy Spring Museum is open to students for original research in collections on early settlements and the Underground Railroad.

We now offer programs to approximately 575 students from pre-K to 12th grade, and we have long-term plans to continue growing. But SSFS carefully nurtures its expansion. The school recently removed several campus roads and replaced them with grass and sidewalks. We care for our environment by constructing a physical plant with minimal impact and by providing a program that connects students with their environment.

A Special Commitment to Environmental Stewardship and Education The Quaker heritage of Sandy Spring Friends School has as its hallmarks belief in the values of environmental justice, practicality (learning by doing), spirituality of nature, the power of truth, sustaining community, and constructive engagement in problem solving. An emphasis on environmental stewardship flows naturally from these Quaker values and beliefs. The unique natural resources of our campus give Sandy Spring Friends students an exceptional advantage in learning and practicing environmental stewardship.

37 Space to Excel

Space to Excel

Exploring your talents in limitless ways. Knowing the strength of your mind and your character.

Forming friendships that last a lifetime.

Learning everything

Excellence takes space.

from Spanish to Environmental Science

What could your child do with

to Music Theory to Russian Literature

academic opportunities without a ceiling? What would it be like for

and AP U.S. History.

him or her to learn from teachers

Learning to speak your mind

What would it be like to have a

with confidence and conviction.

who not only teach but inspire? spectacular 140-acre world of arts, athletics, leadership, and service

We invite you

16923 Norwood Road • Sandy Spring, MD 20860 T: 301-774-7455 • F: 301-924-1115

www.ssfs.org

Turnaround Marketing Communications

Text: Andrea Jarrell

to visit us and find out.

Photography: Michael Branscom, Margaret Rosser

opportunities to call one’s own?

ParentoParent “Our daughter would do well wherever she goes to school and it’s a financial stretch to have her here. But we chose Sandy Spring over a top public high school because we want her to have every opportunity to engage and develop her talents. We want her to have a strong moral compass to guide her. We want her to be in classes that are small enough that she can contribute her ideas. We want her to have mentors who will help her accelerate her strengths and counter her weaknesses. We want her to be absolutely ready for college and the world — the confident, capable, dazzling girl she is.

Can Sandy Spring Friends do all that? We see what it does for her every day and it’s absolutely worth it.”

—Brad, Upper School Parent

Sandy Spring Friends School 16923 Norwood Road Sandy Spring, MD 20860 T: 301-774-7455 F: 301-924-1115 www.ssfs.org

Sandy Spring Friends School (SSFS) is a pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade college preparatory day school of approximately 575 students with optional five and seven day boarding programs in the Upper School. Founded in 1961, Sandy Spring Friends is located in Sandy Spring, Maryland.

SSFS began with a powerful vision on the part of founder Brook Moore and a generous gift from his friend Esther Scott, who contributed her land to see that vision fulfilled. Esther Scott reflected later that “the land on which Sandy Spring Friends School was built has deep meaning for me. When it came into my hands, I knew it had not come by chance and that something worthwhile should be done with it.”

That something became a school whose mission is to develop a student’s unique talents, to establish an environment of mutual trust and respect that encourages both personal and academic growth, and to ensure that each student becomes a contributing member of both the school community and the world at large.

16923 Norwood Road • Sandy Spring, MD 20860 T: 301-774-7455 • F: 301-924-1115

www.ssfs.org