Advance Friends Select: Transformation Campaign | Transformation Campaign | Friends Select School | Philadelphia

PARKWAY CAMPUS EXPANSION PROJECT 

Friends Select School has an unprecedented opportunity to expand and meet the rising needs of our students, families, faculty, and staff as we flourish with record enrollment. The Parkway Campus Expansion Project, the exciting next phase of the Advance Friends Select: Transformation Campaign, will add much-needed space for excellence in teaching and learning while enabling us to continue deepening our symbiotic relationship with the city of Philadelphia.

This project will add to Friends Select's campus approximately 27,000 square feet of space on the second and third floors of the building directly adjacent to us, Three Parkway, which will be used for classrooms, gathering spaces, workspaces, conference rooms, and much more. This space will be directly connected to our second floor via two new entryways between the Parkway and Three Parkway Buildings, turning our second floor into a single, enlarged loop. Meanwhile, the Parkway Campus Expansion Project will shift our use of space in the current Parkway Building, creating many additional classrooms and gathering spaces for middle school.

Estimated to be completed by the start of the 2025-26 school year, the Parkway Campus Expansion Project will be overseen by Anchor Management Group, which has successfully transformed other parts of the Parkway Building, created the upper school STEAM Building, and will be working with us on the Back Lot Transformation. As with other phases of the Transformation Campaign, the Parkway Campus Expansion Project will also continue to prioritize environmental sustainability. 

The Parkway Campus Expansion Project will create:

• 10 new upper school classrooms in Three Parkway, with sweeping views of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. 

• An additional STEAM room and a multipurpose room in Three Parkway.

• A new workspace in Three Parkway for all faculty and staff.

• New conference rooms, offices, and storage space in Three Parkway.

• Elevator access in Three Parkway to the Parkway Building’s rooftop athletic field and event space, which will be for Friends Select’s use only. 

• Additional restroom access from the rooftop athletic field to the third floor of Three Parkway.

• Many more available classrooms in the Parkway Building for middle school, by transforming current upper school classrooms on the second floor.

• Additional spaces in the Parkway Building for lower school instructional specialists to work with students and teachers.

• Additional music rooms and practice spaces in the Parkway Building for students of all divisions.

• Lastly, the Parkway Campus Expansion Project addresses several goals of the Back Lot Transformation, including elevator access to the Parkway Building roof, restrooms, and providing 27,000 square feet of additional space to accommodate our growing student population.

For more than 330 years, Friends Select has provided unparalleled educational opportunities for generations of students in keeping with the Quaker testimonies of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equity and justice, and stewardship. The Advance Friends Select: Transformation Campaign is creating physical spaces that embody these Quaker values, providing the financial underpinning that ensures the school can continue building a diverse, inclusive, and nurturing community for generations to come.

For more information about supporting the Parkway Campus Expansion Project and the Advance Friends Select: Transformation Campaign, please contact Christine Jefferson, Friends Select’s chief development officer, at chrisj@friends-select.org or 215-561-5900 x3141.