Warm greetings in the heart of a very cold week!
Since I wrote to the community last April to report on the progress of our strategic plan, Leading by Design: Education for a Changing World, we have had a very productive time of research and planning. We began this year well ahead of schedule in completing most of our goals and we are ready to plan new steps in program and campus development to guide us over the next three years.
Our research, taking place in several project committees, has been notably spurred and energized by a number of lively conversations to share and refine ideas with families and alumni over the past nine months. The commitment of our entire community to our distinctive vision for education is inspiring to me and invaluable as we set community goals together.
At our mid-year All School Meeting with faculty and staff, I was pleased to share an overview of the projects and plans that are under development, and with this letter I write to share a similar update with the whole community.
Here are some of the key areas under development.
Program
AFS is a leader in recognizing that our students and teachers live in an increasingly resource-rich world where the walls of school should become thinner and the landscape of learning should extend beyond the classroom into the larger world that surrounds us. Our new initiatives in STE(A)M, experiential learning and international studies all broaden the landscape of learning for AFS students, connecting them to use of new tools, wider exploration of various fields with professional practitioners and deeper engagement with the international dimensions of our student body and curriculum.
STE(A)M
Underway
Director of Technology John Rison and Science Chair Chris Hunter are chairing a committee to map and extend our offerings in science, technology, engineering, arts and math, building on curriculum that has been introduced in all three divisions over the past three years. We are excited about the developing work in robotics, computer assisted design, 3D printing, design thinking across disciplines, circuit making and programming and their links to the basic disciplines in science, math and the arts. The enthusiasm among students of all ages and the relevance of this work are compelling.
Moving Forward
The committee will complete recommendations for growth in the curriculum and development of relevant spaces by the end of the year.
Experiential Education
Underway
Building on the ECCO (Engaging, Connecting and Committing to Opportunity) program that connects students to transformative learning experiences in the larger world, we are developing a group-mentoring program to provide new access for high school students to worlds of professional practice.
We are currently designing a pilot program for the field of medicine where a small group of 10th graders will work with a cohort of four doctors for a year and a half. Over the course of that time, the professionals will get to know the students and their interests, meet monthly to look at the curriculum they are studying in school through the eyes of medical practitioners and arrange a series of experiential opportunities in hospitals, labs and clinical settings to deepen interest and knowledge.
Moving Forward
A preliminary meeting with AFS parents who are doctors at several major Philadelphia institutions was exciting and we are eager to begin a pilot program in the coming year. We envision future cohorts in a variety of fields, including social justice, law and engineering.
International and Global Perspectives in the Classroom
The advent of our international student program four years ago introduced a range of valuable new voices to our community and our classrooms.
Underway
In that time, we have begun to imagine new opportunities in our English, history, arts and language programs to explore the relationship of the United States and China as the two dominant cultural and economic forces on the world stage today. With the opportunity to study comparative cultures, history, current issues and events, languages and media in classrooms that can engage global perspectives, all AFS students will enter the larger world with a significantly deeper understanding than most American high school students. We will look at travel opportunities as well.
Moving Forward
The curricular research in this area is just beginning and includes faculty from these departments who will make full use of the abundant university resources in the Philadelphia area.
Wilf Learning Resource Center
Underway
A $100,000 project funded by the EE Ford Foundation and former AFS parents Dave and Gwen Campbell is supporting a two-year professional development project on engaging teaching in the Upper School and research for the development of the next generation of programs in the Wilf Learning Resources Center. Opened in 2012, the Wilf Center is a beautiful, light-filled space adjacent to our Faulkner Library that serves as an academic hub for students in grades 9-12, providing resources to enrich student learning and helping them to develop skills of active engagement, collaboration, initiative, leadership and continual learning. Wilf Center Director Randy Schwartz is researching programs around the country and assessing family and student needs to make recommendations for growing additional programming in the Wilf and extending its range to Middle School.
Moving Forward
Recommendations for the Wilf Center to be implemented in the 2016-2017 school year will be proposed this spring.
Campus Development
The AFS campus is a tremendous resource for our children and their teachers, providing extensive connection to the natural world and support of an incredibly rich program in and out of the classroom. Our campus improvement projects flow from our ambition for the best possible learning environments for students. Fully realizing our dreams will take commitment from the entire AFS community and there is significant work ahead to determine the scale of what we can accomplish together. The projects below represent our greatest hopes for the next several years ahead.
AFS Outside
AFS Outside is our larger vision for the role of natural experience in the lives of our children, a dimension we know is essential for healthy development, particularly in a media-driven world.
Underway
Following two years of extensive planning, new architectural renderings of a second, more extensive nature playground for grades 1-6 arrived shortly before winter break, an exciting moment for the faculty, students and parent professionals who have been developing the vision for the new playground.
The plans include an extensive climbing structure and canopy bridge system that draws inspiration from the tree forts that children consistently designed into their plans for a new playground. Other features include new hills and climbing areas, a water feature, a physics play area, slides, swings, a gaga pit and areas for outdoor study, gathering and reflection. A rain garden and headwaters project will tie in beautifully to the riparian buffer and restored creek funded by our partnership with the Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership.
Moving Forward
We are in a quiet fundraising phase right now that will go public when we have met some critical goals.
Muller Arts Wing
The arts provide an important landscape of expression, play and exploration of a wide range of ideas, media and disciplines within an AFS education.
Underway
Over the last year, thanks to the generosity of Sandy Muller and Marie Louise Jackson, we were able to renovate the Muller Auditorium with new lighting, sound, carpet, paint, restored seating and a number of technical enhancements. Juliet Koczak ’95 provided pro bono architectural services for this important project.
Moving Forward
Our larger vision includes a redesign of the backstage area, a long-desired technical theater shop adjoining the backstage facility, a modernized lobby, climate control throughout the wing and renovated choral and instrumental rehearsal rooms. We have collaborated closely with the arts department, are pricing elements and have begun talks with architects to complete a plan for the projects.
AFS Athletics
We recognize the value of athletics for the full range of experiences it provides for students in grades 5-12. Pursuing excellence through hard work and collaboration helps students develop life-long strengths of character and confidence. Athletics also builds strong community spirit and is strategically important for attracting strong students and families to our Upper School.
Underway
Programmatically, we have developed sport-by-sport plans for being appropriately competitive within the Friends Schools League. In facilities, we are set to rebuild the two older tennis courts for the spring season and have already installed new backstops for the softball and middle school baseball diamonds. We have also completed an engineering study of three possible plans for a modernized Hallowell Gym and have explored options for track and field development.
Moving Forward
We are prioritizing the need for an outdoor track for our excellent and growing track program, a rebuilt Smith Field, a renovated gym facility, and, ideally, the addition of a field house for better support of teams and individual athletes throughout the three seasons.
We have continued work to do in project development and assessing our philanthropic capacity to set appropriate goals and timelines. We know how powerful our campus goals are for the community and are hopeful that the passion our trustees, past parents, parents and alumni have for our School will make great things possible over the next several years.
Robotics
Underway: Our new Robotics Lab in Upper School, completed this past month, is in constant good use as students are finishing up a build for the next Robotics First Competition. Designed specifically for students engaged with the robotics program, the tile-floored lab space features upgraded electricity, an air conditioner and a ventilation system. Additional equipment includes a soldering station, table saw and a new drill press, as well as a programming table, and modular work desks complete with storage.
Moving forward
The STE(A)M committee will make recommendations for further development of the Media and Design Lab as a maker space and ongoing refinement of science facilities.
Upcoming Campus Renovations
Moving Forward
This summer we look forward to a major renovation of the older Upper School corridor and six of its classrooms, a refreshing of our cafeteria and an update to Tyson House as the place where families first encounter the AFS community, along with selected smaller projects throughout Lower and Middle Schools.
Mission Statement and New Website
Finally, as we become ever clearer about our vision for developing in our students deep strengths and the ability to thrive and contribute richly in our contemporary world, the School Committee is leading a process to renew and sharpen our mission statement.
Moving Forward
We’ll be reaching out to every constituency of the school for reflection on the deepest purpose of our school community and hope to enter the coming school year with both a renewed mission statement and a new website next October to best share the story of our amazing school and support our daily life within the community.
And so, we are a community energized and inspired by the AFS vision for education. Building on 318 years of leadership in Friends education, we are thriving in our current programs and excited by what we are creating together for the future.
Thank you to all for all that you do to add your voice, energy, perspective and wonderful good will to our community. We are as vibrant as we are because of how deeply our faculty, students and parents value this wonderful place. If there are projects you have read about here that you would like to help bring to fruition, I invite you to reach out to me. Your generosity as a community is what makes big dreams come true.
I look forward to sharing more progress toward the end of the school year.