Home & School News

Under the leadership of clerks Tonya Baynes, Amy Blake, and Fola Adebi, the WFS Home & School Association (“H&S”) continued to rise to the challenge of coming up with new and creative ways to fulfill its mission of building community and raising funds for the school in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the spring semester, H&S focused on creating community through a series of virtual events. It organized a three-part Zoom series on “Parenting with Resilience” with Lani Nelson-Zlupko, Ph.D., LCSW, who gave parents practical tips and strategies for helping their children manage common struggles related to mood, relationships, and time and task management. H&S also organized two very popular virtual cooking nights, which were a fun and delicious way to build community among students, parents, and faculty who learned to cook ricotta gnocchi with WFS parent Dan Butler of Piccolina Toscana restaurant, and Korean chicken bulgogi (“fire meat”) with WFS parent Sonia Connor of SoCoToGo. H&S is very thankful to Dan and Sonia for sharing their time and culinary talents with the WFS community.

The H&S Parent Ambassador program, spearheaded by Kyle McKean ’98 and Kelly O’Donnell ’93, helped to organize a virtual “Community & Conversation” event for parents of students who were new to WFS this year. Parents connected over Zoom with Head of School Ken Aldridge and Parent Ambassadors in

In addition, the H&S Parents for Multiculturalism group, clerked by Tonya Baynes and Kendra Okolo, hosted a virtual screening of the movie Coded Bias, which explored the impact of racial and gender bias in facial recognition software, followed by a thoughtprovoking Q&A session with the filmmaker.

H&S continued its community service efforts through the Emmanuel Dining Room (“EDR”) project clerked by David and Kristine Tuttleman, who organized a group of generous WFS volunteers to provide lunch to between 150 and 200 families in need each month. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the volunteers prepared the meals at home for delivery to the EDR. Many new volunteers came on board this year, and their efforts helped to ensure that the EDR could continue to serve families without interruption throughout the pandemic.

H&S also worked to make students, teachers, and staff feel appreciated during this challenging year. The H&S class representatives organized a surprise treat of soft pretzels and hot chocolate for upper school students in February, and a surprise ice cream truck for middle school students in May, which brought many smiles to campus. H&S clerks Fola Adebi, Tonya Baynes, and Amy Blake, and Lower School Coordinator Heather Jackman and Special Events Clerks Sue Handling and Kristin Jenney organized outdoor appreciation luncheons for teachers and staff in May, and thanked them for their extraordinary efforts this year with a surprise gift of WFS camp chairs.

Finally, H&S was able to expand its fundraising efforts in several ways during the spring. Fundraising Coordinator Melissa Bilek helped to organize the first WFS Golf Outing in more than 20 years, which raised over $30,000 for the School. H&S was also able to reopen the Quaker Closet clothing resale store to current WFS families in April, under the leadership of clerks Lisa Pisano and Kendra Okolo, and held a successful virtual spring Scholastic Book Fair clerked by Kameron McConnell and Olivia Montejo.

Thank you to all of the H&S volunteers who helped to make each of these events possible.

PRESCRIPTION

CHICKEN How one alum's Senior Exploration led to a creative soup business.

Each year in May, the Senior Exploration provides seniors with a chance to integrate and apply skills and knowledge in an authentic, in-depth experience. Using a personal question as a guide, students are encouraged to find an experience that will require them to reflect on their own growth while at WFS. Students may explore any of the following: career options, service, immersion in a different culture, an old passion, or a new interest. Students work with a mentor/expert, document the experience through guided journals and photographic evidence, and present to family, peers, and faculty.

With the Class of 2021 getting ready to head out on their Senior Explorations in the Spring, it was timely that we got an update about Taryn Pellicone ’06 whose Senior Exploration was about the “life of a chef” and learned that after working in the restaurant industry after college for 10 years, she started an on-demand chicken soup business (“Prescription Chicken”) in Washington, D.C. Most recently, Taryn and her partner began selling their product to grocery stores and it can now be found in more than 400 stores across the nation, including Whole Foods in the Mid-Atlantic region and Sprouts Farmers Market.

We had a chance to ask Taryn some questions about her time at WFS and how her teachers and her Senior Exploration encouraged her to pursue her passion about food.

Can you tell us about your background and where you are now?

My life has always revolved around food and cooking in some form from going to cooking camp with my cousins and always entertaining for friends and family gatherings. Upon graduating from Friends, I decided to study hospitality at the University of Delaware as it combined my love for the culinary world with people. Immediately after my studies at UD, I moved to Washington D.C. to start a career in the food industry - from running fast casual operations to high volume restaurants at sports and entertainment venues. Hospitality has always been a passion of mine and no matter what path I took, I found myself coming back to the world of food and entertainment!

What do you remember from your Senior Exploration?

Senior Exploration was SO fun and SO interesting. I

Taryn Pellicone ’06 with her business partner, Valerie. Photo credit: Scott Suchman

remember thinking, "How amazing is it that our school is letting us pre-explore our passions before going into the big scary (and exciting) world of college!" At that time I LOVED to cook and thought I wanted to be a chef. With that, I took some cooking classes with a fellow classmate and did an internship at the Four Seasons Philadelphia in their kitchen. The one thing I vividly remember was on day one of the Four Seasons the executive chef made me clean out lobster heads - and if you've ever done that, you'll know it really prepares you for the real world of being in the kitchen. I loved the hustle and bustle. I loved the white coat. I loved the passion behind every slice of the knife and even the bellow of the hot lines. There was a sense of community in the kitchen that I loved and it showed me that I wanted to continue down that path.

Did you have any particular teachers at WFS who had an impact on you?

It's hard to name just a few, because all of my teachers were absolutely incredible and I was there from second grade. Hope Hawkins was my first teacher - she made me believe in the value of friendship. Mrs. Woodward and Mrs. McManus were the two who had the most impact on me as I was graduating. Micheline (McManus) was my advisor and a teacher for the IB program. She showed me how to be me and to allow myself to shine through no matter what. I worked very closely with Mary Woodward for the yearbook. I cannot say enough amazing things about her and she really got on our level to make us feel empowered and that we could accomplish anything. I could ramble for HOURS about all of my teachers. Looking back on it today, my time at Friends was invaluable and I am proud to say that I went there and got the guidance from who I did.

The idea of "prescription chicken" is so unique - is there a background story on it? What made you want to start selling your soup in grocery stores?

As I mentioned, I used to go to culinary camps with my cousin. Her sister, Valerie, is who I am in business with now! Val was battling two bouts of laryngitis in a matter of six weeks. It was crazy - she is a trained chef, lived above a grocery store, in the heart of D.C., and couldn't find good, practically homemade chicken soup anywhere. I was in the midst of a job transition and she approached me with the idea of chicken soup delivery and my immediate answer was YES. She has a background in restaurant public relations, marketing and brand development. All of that combined with my heavy operational background, mixed with people development and systems creation, we knew we were the perfect balanced recipe for creating this business. We launched in 2016 and tried a variety of things such as soup delivery, pop-ups in food halls, but one thing we noticed there to be a need for was a clean-label, all-natural and practically homemade chicken soup on the shelves of the prepared food aisles in grocery across the nation. So four years later, here we are, slinging soup in D.C. and on the shelves of over 400 natural grocery stores across the nation.

Can you tell us more about the Whole Foods Women Maker Project?

Whole Foods Market Mid Atlantic was one of the first retail partners we acquired. They are AMAZING about featuring locally made products, especially those founded by women. In the month of March they committed to partnering with three local non-profit organizations and matched 100 percent of sales up to $30,000 from featured women maker purchases March 1 through March 21, of which we were included. The non-profits were: Dreaming Out Loud, The Enterprise Center, and Community Kitchen Pittsburgh. We haven't seen the results of the campaign but we know they definitely reached their maximum.

Any advice you'd have for the Class of 2021?

Can't stop, won’t stop - is that so cheesy? But really - as cliché as it is, follow your dreams. If there is something you want to do, then do it and do not let anyone tell you that it is impossible. One thing I will say is it's not easy and you've got to be persistent and hustle hard. Listen to your mentors. In the moment, your education may not always seem like it's setting you up for success, but you just got the best education out there and you are prepared to take over the world. It's also okay to change paths multiple times. Just because you think you're set out to do something does not mean it will always turn out that way. Never give up and always view a pitfall or challenge as an opportunity to learn. Some of the biggest advances we've had in our business have been from failures and we wouldn't trade those experiences for anything. It has allowed us to intimately get to know our business and our product and for that we are set up to do really amazing things.

Anything else you'd like to add?

In the Wilmington area, you can find our products at Sprouts Farmers Market and Whole Foods Market. It would mean the world to me for WFS families to discover our product and make it a part of their weekly grocery haul.

Friends taught me everything. I look back on my education and time there and am so grateful for where it has gotten me today. My closest friends are all people that were in my classes and their friendship is my family. Friends school had such an impact on me and I fully believe that I've gotten where I am today because of my experiences and the people that were there by my side!