Friends' Central School

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Friends' Central School
Location
Wynnewood, PA, USA
Information
School type	Private
Established	1845
Head teacher	David M. Felsen
Gender	Co-educational
Enrollment	1001
Student:teacher ratio	9:1
Athletics conference	Friends' Schools League
Mascot	Phoenix
Affiliation	Quaker
Website	www.friendscentral.org

Friends' Central School (FCS) is a Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) school located in Wynnewood, a section of Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, United States. With more than 1000 students ranging from pre-kindergarten to grade 12, Friends' Central School is one of the largest Friends schools in the Delaware Valley. "Friends' Central," as the school is casually referred to, was founded in 1845 in Philadelphia, near the current location of the United States Mint. The school contains three divisions: a lower school for grades pre-K through 4th, a middle school for grades 5th through 8th and an upper school for grades 9th through 12th. While the middle and upper school share the same campus, the lower school is on a separate site in Wynnewood. Friends' Central is well known for the quality of its education, ranking highly as one of the top schools in the Philadelphia area ^[1]. It is also known for its highly liberal and active community.

Contents 1 History 2 Emphasis and Incorporation of Quaker Values 3 Notable alumni 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] History

Founded in 1845, Friends' Central's original campus was located in Philadelphia on 4th and Cherry street. Then it served as an upper school for the Quaker primary schools, educating only grade 7 through grade 12. In 1857, the school moved to 15th and Race Street, remaining at this location (which is the modern day site of Friends' Center)) until 1925, when it then moved to its current campus on City Avenue, formerly the Wistar Morris Estate. The main house of the estate, constructed in 1862, still remains and serves as the administrative building of the school as well as an architectural focal point of the campus. In 1988, due to the growth of the student body, Friends' Central purchased the Montgomery School's property and relocated the lower school to that acquired property. Friends' Central continues expansion and development, such as the building of the Fannie Cox Center for Science, Math and Technology and the Shimada Athletic Center, built in 2003 and 2001, respectively.

[edit] Emphasis and Incorporation of Quaker Values

Quaker testimonies such as community, service, equality and integrity are all incorporated into student life. All students are required to attend weekly Meeting for Worship on Wednesdays for 40 minutes, regardless of personal religion. The community convenes in one room in silence and individuals stand when "moved to speak" to express a thought to the community. This creates an atmosphere of tolerance and equality, also stressing the importance of the need to listen to the voices of others. Students are also required to perform off-campus service for a set of mandatory hours. In the middle and upper school, students are required to take three religious courses concerning the history of the Society of Friends and the central philosophies of Quakerism from a non-religious perspective. In middle school 5th grade and 7th grade learn the history and faith of Quakerism, and the 9th grade course further explores the Quaker faith and practice, focusing on a deeper understanding of the religion's history and its testimonies. Additionally 11th and 12th graders may take additional study in the origin and philosophy of region in general. Quaker philosophies are at the core of the school's tight-knit community and open-minded education.

[edit] Notable alumni

• Hilda Doolittle (Class of 1903) - Noted poet and novelist.
• Cynthia Shallcross Calhoun (Class of 1919) - Former President of the Pennsylvania Resources Council
• James Wolfenden - United States Congressman from Pennsylvania
• Charlotte McAleer Kohler (Class of 1931) - Former First Lady of Wisconsin, wife of Governor Walter J. Kohler, Jr., who was also President of the Kohler Company.
• Jane Wooster Scott (Class of 1947) - Renowned American folk artist
• Gardner C. Hendrie (Class of 1950) - Designer of "microNova," the first commercial single chip, 16-bit microprocessor. Special Limited Partner, Sigma Partners - a Silicon Valley venture capital firm.
• Sylvia Hill Williams (Class of 1953) - former director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art
• Alexander L. Fetter (Class of 1954) - Professor of Physics and Applied Physics and Director of the Laboratory for Advanced Materials (LAM), Stanford University
• Elizabeth Osborne (Class of 1954) - Renowned artist
• Stephen A. Cozen (Class of 1957) - Founder and Chairman of Cozen O'Connor, a Philadelphia-based law firm with 21 offices throughout the United States and offices in London and Toronto.
• Richard B. Klein (Class of 1957) - Judge of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania
• Brian De Palma (Class of 1958) - Movie Director
• K. Barry Sharpless (Class of 1959) - 2001 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
• Maude Southwell Wahlman (Class of 1959) - Dorothy and Dale Thompson/Missouri Endowed Professor of Global Arts, University of Missouri-Kansas City
• A. Carter Pottash (Class of 1966) - Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at New York University and a Distinguished Fellow in the American Psychiatric Association
• Lise Funderburg (Class of 1977) - Author
• Stacey (Goldsborough) Snider (Class of 1978) - CEO, Dreamworks
• Douglas G. Baird (Class of 1971) - Harry A. Bigelow Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago. Former Dean of the Law School from 1994-1999.
• Barry L. Zubrow (Class of 1971) - Former Chief Administrative Officer of Goldman Sachs, chairman of the New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation and current Chief Risk Officer of JPMorgan Chase.
• Jonathan H. Adler (Class of 1987) - Professor of Law at the Case Western University School of Law
• Sonya Sklaroff (Class of 1988) - Artist
• Adam Goldstein (Class of 1991) - Renowned Disk Jockey, also known as DJ AM
• Andy Greenwald (Class of 1995) - Author
• Zach Leibowitz (Class of 1997) - ESPN Personality
• Hakim Warrick (Class of 2001) - NBA Player (Memphis Grizzlies), former NCAA Player (Syracuse University, member of 2003 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship team).
• Benj Pasek (Class of 2003) - Songwriter - Pasek and Paul, Johnny and the Sprites
• Mustafa Shakur (Class of 2003) - Polish Basketball Player, former NBA Player (Sacramento Kings), former NCAA Player (Arizona).
• Mike Cook (Class of 2002) - Former NCAA Player (East Carolina and Pittsburgh).

[edit] See also

• List of Friends Schools

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website for Friends' Central School

This article needs references that appear in reliable third-party publications. Primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject are generally not sufficient for a Wikipedia article. Please add more appropriate citations from reliable sources. (March 2007)