Alumni News

AlumniNews

Dear Friends,

In my final letter as Alumni Board Clerk, I am happy to extend my sincerest congratulations to the Class of 2021. I’m sure you never imagined that your last year at WFS would be during a pandemic! Your resilience, flexibility, and patience this year is a true testament to your character as a class. The Alumni Board wanted to acknowledge your accomplishments and enjoyed writing notes to each of you. I hope these messages communicated just how proud the WFS community is of you. We are so happy to welcome you to the alumni community, and we look forward to celebrating future milestones with you. I wish you all the best as you begin the next chapter after WFS.

This year presented the opportunity for us to reimagine many aspects of school life: classes were taught in a hybrid format, combining virtual and in-person learning; events were held virtually, giving us the chance to engage with alumni all over the world; and performances were held outside. Athletic contests continued and our teams had successful seasons, with every spring team making it to the state tournament. Our Annual Fund raised $1,022,596, thanks to your support, and Friends will continue to offer strong programs in support of our Quaker values. Please check out the Annual Report, included in this edition, to read about all that we accomplished together.

Looking forward to the year ahead, we are planning to bring back many of our on-campus events, including Homecoming on October 29-30. Since Homecoming was not held in-person last year, we invite alumni in Classes ending in 0, 1, 5, 6, to join us on campus. We will also be celebrating the 2020 Alumni Award recipients at the All Alumni, True Blue Reunion and Awards Reception. We are excited to acknowledge these honorees in person: Distinguished Alumna Award, Carol Quillen ’79; Outstanding Service Alumna Award, Tom Scott ’70; and Young Alumna Award, Eden Wales Freedman ’99.

Please stay tuned for more Homecoming information and visit our website wilmingtonfriends.org/alumni/homecoming.

Thank you for your loyalty and support of Wilmington Friends School. I enjoyed serving as the Clerk of the Alumni Board for the past few years, and I am grateful to be part of such a wonderful community. Please join me in welcoming the new Clerk of the Alumni Board, Jon Layton ’86. Jon has served as the Vice Clerk for several years and is looking forward to continuing our strong traditions, rooted in Quaker values.

Sincerely,

Matt Lang ’08

Matt Lang ’08

Jon Layton ’86

Grow Your Network with Quakers Connect!

Quakers Connect is a free online career networking platform powered by Alumni Fire, exclusively for WFS alumni, parents, faculty, and staff.

Members of Quakers Connect can benefit from support offered by others, while also giving back to the community by sharing their expertise. Sign up using LinkedIn or Facebook and expand your network! The link can be found on our website under “Alumni.” Members can share their expertise, or receive help with general career advice, introductions and networking, resume reviews, job shadowing, and informational interviews. Users can also search other members using location, industry, and common interests while at WFS, and limit the number of times they can be contacted by members.

Giving of Their Time:

Alumni Virtual Visits

Thanks to Zoom, we were able to host several virtual visitors this year, including Peter Kelemen ’74; Javi Horstmann ’11; and Emily David Hershman ’09.

A Conversation with Peter Kelemen ‘74: Some possible routes to mitigating global climate change

On May 4, Head of School Ken Aldridge sat down with Peter Kelemen ’74, a recipient of the WFS Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2019, to discuss his work around climate change.

Peter graduated from Wilmington Friends School, in 1974, and from Dartmouth College in 1980. He received his PhD from the University of Washington in 1987. He is an Arthur D. Storke Professor in Columbia University’s Dept. of Earth & Environmental Sciences, based at Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. He was Associate Chair and Chair of the Department from 2012 to 2018. Kelemen is a member of the US Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the Mineralogical Society of America, and the Geochemical Society, a recipient of the AGU Bowen Award, an adjunct Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), a Research Associate at the American Museum of Natural History, the Chief Scientist of the ICDP Oman Drilling Project, and a member of the NASA Mars 2020 Rover Science Team. He worked as a mineral exploration consultant from 19811990, and spent 16 years as a research scientist at WHOI before moving to Columbia University in 2004. His research focuses on chemical and physical feedbacks during reactive porous flow of fluids and associated deformation. For the past dozen years, this has included a focus on natural and engineered systems for CO2 removal from air and permanent, geological storage, via carbon mineralization during weathering and alteration of Magnesium- and Calcium-rich rocks.

We are grateful to Peter for sharing his time and knowledge with the WFS community! To see a recording from the event, visit wilmingtonfriends.org/alumni/alumni-event.

Student Lunch and Learns

Upper School students had the opportunity to hear from two alumni working in Governor John Carney’s office. Javi Horstmann ’11, Director of Constituent Relations/Policy Advisor, spoke to students about his role in the Governor’s office. Javi enjoys the opportunity to hear about issues from constituents and then having the ability to work on policies that directly address these issues.

Emily David Hershman ‘09 serves as Communications Advisor and is currently one of the leads on communications for the State of Delaware around the COVID-19 virus and vaccine. Emily showed examples of the advertisements her team developed to help keep Delawareans safe during the pandemic. She was also interested in hearing the students’ perception and feelings toward the vaccine since they are now eligible to receive it.

Both Javi and Emily encouraged students interested in politics to explore working in state governments, saying it’s a great opportunity to get involved and make a difference in your state!

READ Groups for Alumni, Parents of Alumni, and Residents at Kendal-Crosslands

As part of the School’s ongoing diversity, equity, and inclusion work, a faculty and staff group developed a new program the School is piloting called READ, which stands for Read and Educate ourselves on Anti-Racism and Diversity. Each month, members of our faculty and staff community are invited to read an article about anti-racism and then participate in facilitated discussions.

As an extension of this work, WFS recently hosted two virtual events: one for Alumni and Parents of Alumni and the other for residents at the Kendal-Crosslands retirement community. Participants at the Alumni and Parents of Alumni event read excerpts from Speak Up: Responding to Everyday Bigotry published by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The facilitated discussions were led by Kathleen Martin, Director of College Guidance; Erica Childs, Upper School Math teacher; Rose Gnade, Upper School Chemistry teacher and Assistant Director of College Guidance; and Ken Aldridge, Head of School. We’ve received positive feedback from those who attended, and hope to host more READ Journal discussions for alumni and friends in the future!

Homecoming 2021

Tentative Schedule Pencil it in!

We are planning to celebrate Homecoming on campus and in-person this year! All events will follow the proper COVID-19 protocols and are subject to change based on state guidelines and restrictions at the time of the event. Here is our tentative schedule, but please refer to the “Homecoming” page on our website under “Alumni” for up-to-date information. We will also send an email as we get closer.

Homecoming Games

Friday, October 29, 2021✓ 50th + Reunion and 1748 Planned Giving Society Luncheon; Classes of 1945, 1946, 1950, 1951, 1955, 1956, 1960, 1961, 1965, 1966, 1970, 1971; duPont Country Club (11:30am) ✓ ✓ ✓ Guided tour of campus for luncheon guests (3pm) Alumni/ae Field Hockey and Soccer Game (5pm) True Blue and All Alumni Reunion/Awards Reception honoring the 2020 Alumni Award Recipients (6:30pm)

Friday

5:15pm Volleyball vs. St. Andrew’s

Saturday

12:00pm Field Hockey vs. St.Andrew’s 1:00pm Boys’ Soccer vs. Conrad 2:30pm Football vs. Brandywine HS & Halftime Show by 4th-8th grade band

Cross Country TBD

NEW! The Forums: Discussions in the classroom and by video conference, featuring Eden Wales Freedman, PhD '99 on “How we can respond to violence and trauma based on findings from Reading Testimony, Witnessing Trauma” and Christopher P. Loeffler '00 on “The Power of Design Thinking.” Saturday 10/30, Time TBD

Saturday, October 30, 2021 ✓ Homecoming Service Collection (all day) Smith McMillan 5k Run/Walk (8:30am) Meeting for Worship honoring faculty/staff with 15 or more years of service to WFS (10am) Conversation with Head of School Ken Aldridge (11am) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Homecoming Lunch (11:30) ✓ ✓ Self-guided Tours of the MS/US Campus (12pm) Kids’ Corner (12pm) ✓ Evening reunions off-campus for all classes ending in 0,1,5, or 6, as arranged by class agents.

GO BLUE!

Welcome Margaretta!

Please join us in welcoming Margaretta Homsey Kroeger ’00 as the new Constituent Resources Coordinator in the Alumni/Development Office. Margaretta attended WFS from kindergarten through eighth grade. A former attorney, she previously worked as a judicial law clerk and legal aid lawyer for several years. Margaretta will be working closely with the Home and School Association, as well as our alumni, parents of alumni, and grandparent communities.