True Blue/All Alumni Reunion and Awards Reception

We had originally planned to host the True Blue and All Alumni Reunion/Awards reception outdoors, in a beautifully lit and heated tent, but the weather had different plans! Gusting winds, heavy rain, and cold temperatures moved the event indoors to the Library Learning Commons. If the past 20 months have taught us anything, it’s how to be flexible. With an efficient and hard-working facilities crew, we were able to change the event’s location in just two hours. Thank you to all those who attended and were patient with us as we navigated this! Once the location change was set, the reception felt similar to past years. About 60 guests attended the event, which featured entertainment by the WFS Jazz Band, led by Chris Verry.

This annual event honors our True Blue donors (who have given to the school for 10 or more consecutive years) and our reunioning alumni. A major highlight of the evening is the presentation of the Alumni Awards. In opening the awards program, Head of School Ken Aldridge acknowledged and thanked the many True Blue donors and alumni in attendance. He expressed gratitude for Friends alumni representing Quaker values in their everyday lives, wherever they may be. Before introducing each alumni award recipient, he mentioned that the award recipients emulate the distinctive qualities of a Friends School graduate–– integrity, a commitment to excellence with responsibility to the common good, and an active valuing of peace and social justice––in everything they do.

Carol Quillen ’79 Distinguished Alumna Award

Although unable to join us at the reception, Carol, the current and first female president of Davidson College, was recognized for her many accomplishments. Under her leadership, Davidson grew more diverse socioeconomically and racially. Applications reached record numbers, and Carol led a $555 million capital campaign that helped push the college’s endowment above $1 billion. Davidson reached top-tier status in undergraduate research and tied for second in the nation for the NCAA’s graduation success rate of athletes. The president of The Aspen Institute describes her as “a transformational leader with a brilliant mind, a devotion to students, and the courage of her convictions. Davidson College has become an even more remarkable institution because of her vision, will and skill.” Carol continues to appreciate the Quaker values that served as the foundation for a WFS education and says it helped her realize, “learning is liberating.” We were thrilled to honor her with the Distinguished Alumna of the Year award.

Tom Scott ’70 Outstanding Service Award

Tom Scott has worked tirelessly to strengthen the Wilmington community. Upon moving back to Delaware, he was introduced to several non-profit organizations through his parents and children. In addition to volunteering and supporting Wilmington Friends School, he has worked with numerous non-profit organizations in the area, including Christ Church, Wilmington Garden Day, Friendship House, St. Michael’s School, Limen House, Lutheran Community Services, Urban Promise, and DE Humane Association, to name a few.

Upon accepting his award, Tom spoke about being saddened by the lack of progress in Wilmington and beyond, despite money and efforts to address challenging situations. While this is disheartening, he has seen the positive impact of individuals willing to learn more and to help their community. Tom shared a few stories of working with youth, and how exposing them

Jon Layton ’86.

Tom Scott ’70 and Betsy Lord Scott.

Matt Meyer ’90 and Aundrea Almond ’90. Bill Neff, Ken Aldridge, and Bob Tattersall.

Anna Wales, Eden Wales Freedman ’99, and Luke Wales.

to different service opportunities can change their perspective and outlook on how they see both themselves and those they are helping. He told stories of children helping create blankets for children entering the foster care system through Fleece for Keeps; teens doing work at Survivors of Abuse in Recovery (SOAR); and trips to the Dominican Republic with Urban Promise youth to do work in the small village of Jalonga. In observing the young people working on these projects he said, “...you see some inkling of understanding, that is transformational, that is a seed of change.”

Tom encouraged others to invest in non-profit organizations in and around the city. In closing he said, “I try to keep in mind the Japanese aesthetic wabi-sabi. Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect. It acknowledges three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.”

Eden Wales Freedman ’99 Young Alumna of the Year

Dr. Eden Wales Freedman is an accomplished scholar and author. She recently became the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty at Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa. Before joining Clarke, she served as Vice Provost for Faculties and Academic Affairs at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota and as an associate professor of English, Director of Diversity Studies, and Department Chair of Communication, Literature, and Arts, as well as the Dr. Thomas R. Feld Chair for Teaching Excellence and deputy Title IX coordinator at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Eden published her first book in February 2020, Reading Testimony Witnessing Trauma: Confronting Race, Gender, and Violence in American Literature, which explores how readers can engage literary representations of race, gender, and trauma both critically and empathically. Eden’s work focuses on empathy, perspectives, and social justice.

In her remarks, Eden referenced the importance of education and expressed gratitude for attending Friends. She quoted Nelson Mandela saying that, ‘education is the most powerful weapon’ we ‘can use to change the world,’ and asked us to imagine if everyone received a Friends education. Everyone could be, “armed with such lifelong and life-changing ‘weapons’ as education, access, equity, and love- and a lifetime of nuanced discernment and open collaboration,” privileges that could help change the world. Eden also quoted Toni Morrison, whom she met when Morrison visited WFS in 1999. Morrison said, ‘When you get these jobs that you have so brilliantly trained for, remember your real job: If you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have power, your job is to empower somebody else.’ Eden went on to say that “her advice, like Mandela’s, feels weighted in Quaker tradition: We educate to empower. We learn together to free each other.” In describing her current work as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty at Clarke, she said, “I lead with the values I learned at Friends: equity, accountability, collaboration, courage, and an unflagging respect for the light that shines in and through us all.” She went on to say, "...I am humbled and grateful – and determined to continue to live Friends’ mission to challenge students to seek truth, to value justice and peace, and to act as creative, independent, discerning thinkers with a conscious responsibility to listen to others and speak for the good of all...I thank you for this honor and for the gift of my education. I will never stop paying it forward. Thank you.”