Friends' Central School
| Friends' Central School | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
| Wynnewood, PA, USA | |
| Information | |
| School type | Private |
| Established | 1845 |
| Headmaster | Craig Normile Sellers |
| Gender | Co-educational |
| Enrollment | 955 |
| Student to teacher ratio | 9:1 |
| Athletics conference | Friends' Schools League |
| Mascot | Phoenix |
| Average SAT scores | 649 Math, 669 Verbal, 666 Writing (2010) |
| Affiliation | Quaker |
| Website | www.friendscentral.org |
Friends' Central School (FCS) is a college-preparatory, Quaker, coeducational day school for nursery through grade 12 located in Wynnewood, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1]
The school was founded in 1845 in Philadelphia, near the current location of the United States Mint and currently has an enrollment of more than 1200 students from nursery to grade 12.
Informally known as "Friends' Central," the school encompasses three divisions: lower school (nursery through 5th grades), middle school (6th through 8th) and upper school (9th through 12th). The middle and upper school share a campus, and the lower school occupies its own site.
The school is widely known for the quality of its education, ranking highly as one of the top schools in the Philadelphia area.[2][3]
History
Friends' Central School was founded in 1845 in Philadelphia at 4th Street and Cherry Street, serving as an upper school for the Quaker primary schools with grades 7 through 12. In 1857, the school moved to 15th and Race Street, remaining at this location 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, 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 acquired the Montgomery School's property and relocated the lower school there.[4] Recent expansion includes construction of the Shimada Athletic Center (2000) and the Fannie Cox Center for Science, Math and Technology (2003).[5] In 2011, David Felsen retired after 23 years of service as headmaster;[6] beginning in the 2012 school year, Craig Sellers was named Head of School.[7]
Emphasis and Incorporation of Quaker Values
Quaker values such as community, service, equality and integrity are all incorporated into student life. All students attend a weekly Meeting for Worship on Wednesdays for 40 minutes, sharing messages when "moved to speak". The community convenes in one room in silence and individuals stand when expressing thoughts to the community. 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 religion in general.[citation needed]
Academics
Friends' Central School students achieved the highest average SAT scores in all three sections (Math, Verbal and Writing) of the 19 schools that had scores reported in Suburban Life Magazine's 2010 report on suburban Philadelphia private high schools. The scores were 649 in Math, 669 in Verbal, and 666 in Writing. This report also indicated that Friends' Central had a student-faculty ratio of 9:1, a yearly high school tuition of $25,400, and that 100% of the 93 students in the senior class went on to a four-year college.[2]
Of the 2009 graduating class, eight schools enrolled 30% of the senior class: The University of Pennsylvania (6), Muhlenberg College (4), Johns Hopkins (3), Haverford (3), Carnegie Mellon (3), Temple(3), Washington University in St. Louis (3), and Sarah Lawrence (3). Fourteen students enrolled at Ivy League institutions.[8]
Athletics
Friends' Central has a strong basketball program. In 2011, Friends' Central won the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Boys' Basketball Tournament for the third year in a row.[9][10][11]
Notable alumni
- George Letchworth English (Class of 1881) — Collector and trader of minerals. His name was called mineral Inglishite[citation needed].
- Hilda Doolittle (Class of 1903) - Noted poet and novelist.
- Cynthia Shallcross Calhoun (Class of 1919) - Former President of the Pennsylvania Resources Council
- Edmund Bacon - Urban planner, architect, educator and author[12]
- 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 to 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.
- Daniel Porter (Class of 1984) - Former CEO OMGPOP, Creator of Draw Something Game, Former President of Teach For America
- 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 (Phoenix Suns, Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis Grizzlies), former NCAA Player (Syracuse University, member of 2003 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship team)
- Benj Pasek (Class of 2003)[13] - Tony-nominated songwriter - Pasek and Paul, A Christmas Story, Dogfight, NBC's SMASH, Johnny and the Sprites
- Mustafa Shakur (Class of 2003) - NBA Player (Washington Wizards), Polish Basketball Player, former NBA Player (Sacramento Kings), former NCAA Player (Arizona)
See also
- List of Friends Schools
References
- ↑ http://onedayatfcs.org/about
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://www.suburbanlifemagazine.com/articles/?articleid=194
- ↑ http://www.phillymag.com/articles/philadelphia_magazine_top_schools_2006/
- ↑ http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/texts/first300/part16.html
- ↑ http://www.friendscentral.org/about/who/faq
- ↑ http://www.friendscentral.org/podium/default.aspx?t=204&tn=David+M.+Felsen+Announces+His+Retirement&nid=693615&ptid=42520&sdb=True&pf=pglw&mode=0&vcm=True&rc=0
- ↑ http://www.friendscentral.org/podium/default.aspx?t=204&sdb=1&nid=752077&bl=/default.aspx
- ↑ http://www.friendscentral.org/podium/default.aspx?t=204&id=536497
- ↑ https://www.friendscentral.org/podium/default.aspx?t=204&nid=683720
- ↑ http://mainlinemedianews.com/articles/2011/02/19/sports/doc4d5f92fa12aa9275917690.txt
- ↑ http://www.mainlinemedianews.com/articles/2011/02/23/sports/doc4d5f92fa12aa9275917690.txt
- ↑ Greg Heller, Ed Bacon: Planning, Politics, and the Building of Modern Philadelphia. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013) p.17
- ↑ "Alum Destined for The Great White Way!". Friends' Central School. Retrieved June 1, 2012.
External links
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Coordinates: 39°59′06″N 75°15′45″W / 39.98502°N 75.26261°W