Seventy-three students from AFS, Greene Street Friends School and Plymouth Meeting Friends School gathered in the Meeting House on January 23 to participate in the 38th annual Mold Symposium. The fourth graders, dressed in white T-shirts with hand-drawn, mold-theme designs, quickly transformed their nervous energy into the adrenaline they needed to present their research. Divided into groups of seven and standing in front of their peers, they pointed to their display boards and described how they used the scientific method in their experiments — a question, a hypothesis, the materials used, the procedure followed and the conclusions they’d drawn from months of research.

One experiment, for example, explored whether mold grew better on a mushroom dipped in milk, or a mushroom without milk. “I found out,” the student said, “that mushrooms don’t grow mold. A mushroom is a fungus.”

 

During the breaks for snack, lunch and recess, the students explored the nooks and crannies of the Meeting House and walked down the path to the Lower School. There was much laughter and chatter as they ran and played together on the Headwaters Discovery Playground.

“It was beautiful to watch the students embracing the opportunity to create new friendships and enjoy the nature around them,” said Lower School Science Teacher Rasheeda Murphy, who organized the day at AFS.

In keeping with tradition, the day concluded with the singing of the mold songs that students from each school had created, and, of course, the singing of the traditional “Moldy Gifts” song.