Dear prospective students and families,
Thank you for taking the time to peruse the school’s website and for your interest in Friends Select, a Quaker school whose commitments to its students and families, faculty and staff, and the city of Philadephia are unparalleled.
In the upper school at Friends Select, we welcome many of our own students from middle school, as well as intentionally growing the upper school with students from area independent, public, and charter schools. As a school grounded in respect, finding the gifts that each individual brings to the community, and searching for truth, we have curated an educational program that balances support with challenge, seeing yourself in the curriculum and learning about others, and reflecting on our differences and commonalities. We are a college preparatory program, and as such, you will see our students focused on their intellectual development through asking questions, debating, researching, writing, and digging deep in all of their classes. You will also see students embracing “The Whole of Life” motto of the school as they perform in plays and musicals, compete on the playing fields and courts, and organize clubs for the benefit of the school. They are also whimsical, and you will see students decorating for holidays in the hallways, smiling and laughing with friends, and connecting with their teachers.
Friends Select upper school is a place of connection: between students and teachers, between students, between all of us and the city, and between the world of ideas and the world before us. Many of our endeavors are structured to embrace the premise in our mission that “Learning should be placed at the service of society.” We have a robust service program and service hour requirement, and we weave community contributions into many of our day-to-day interactions: students in advisories clean the dining hall each day; there are office hours for students to find their teachers and follow up on questions; there are so many clubs that we have recommended limiting the number that you join! In all, we are an upper school with brains, with heart, and with spirit.
In taking seriously the notion that individuals can make a difference in the world, we fully enact the Quaker premise of looking for the good and the Light in each individual. I hope that you will come to campus to see more of our communal and individual magic at work.
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Sincerely, Chris Singler Upper School Director |
