Sandy Spring Friends School Community News: Fall 2011

S A N D Y S P R I N G F R I E N D S S C H O O L

Community News Fall 2011

Celebrating 50 Years of Letting Our Lives Speak

Members of the first graduating classes of SSFS join the community in celebrating

the School's 50th Anniversary

Community News is a publication for the alumni, faculty, parents, students, and other friends past and present who make up the many communities of Sandy Spring Friends School.

Published twice a year by the Advancement Office:

Mary MazzucaDirector of Advancement

Judy AverbachDirector of the Annual Fund

Margaret RosserDirector of External Communications

Sarah MargolisMedia Relations

© 2011 Sandy Spring Friends School16923 Norwood RoadSandy Spring, Maryland 20860301.774.7455www.ssfs.org

Cover: Members of the first graduating classes of Sandy Spring Friends School came to campus for the beginning of the year all-school assembly, which took place 50 years to the day from when students first began classes in 1961. Joining the members of the class of 1963 and 1964 - Barbara (Cheeseman) Bason ’64, Martha (Sharpe) Menestrina ’64, Karl Richmond ’64, Philip Schwarz ’63, Judy (Slayton) Shefchik ’64, Steven L. Solomon ’64, and Andrea Taylor ’64 - are seniors Jason Denaburg and Emily Zhang, and 50th Anniversary Committee clerk Johanna Cowie. (Photo by Margaret Rosser)

Table of Contents

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Message from Tom Gibian, Head of School 1

SSFS History Through the Decades: The 1960s – Way Opens by Johanna Cowie 2

The 1970s – The School Grows by Ari Preuss 4

The 1980s – A School in Transition by Bob Hoch 6

The 1990s – Expanding into a PK-12 School by Linda Sulkin 8

The 2000s – and Beyond by Bim Schauffler 10

The 50th Anniversary Committee by Johanna Cowie 12

"What Does Better Look Like?" The Next 50 Years... by Tom Gibian 13

Success @ Summer @ Sandy Spring 14

Belay On! Our New Climbing Wall 15

New Faculty and Staff, 2011-2012 16

The SSFS Division Heads 18

Meet the Board, 2011-2012 by Curt Moffatt 20

Community News Query: "Why SSFS?" 22

Snapshots From Sandy Spring 24

The Annual Fund 25

Our Most Recent Alums: The Class of 2011 26

Alumni Notes 27

From the Archives Inside back cover

Special thanks to Johanna Cowie, Clerk of the 50th Anniversary Committee, Dave Burgevin, School Archivist, and all the members of the 50th Anniversary Committee for their contributions to this special issue.

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Message from the Head of School

Tom GibianHead of School

Sandy Spring Friends School celebrated Founder's Day on September 27. This date marks the first day of school for the 77 students who arrived at Sandy Spring Friends School that day in 1961. On this year’s Founders Day, I had the opportunity to spend time with members of the first two graduating classes of Sandy Spring Friends School. Seven classmates, traveling from Northern Virginia, Annapolis, Utah, Philadelphia, Boston, and California, sat together during our All School Assembly. They shared with our 572 students and our faculty, in turn, their memories of those first years at SSFS and wisdom acquired over the past 50 years, and helped cut the ribbon for the grand re-opening of Hartshorne, our newly-renovated ninth grade building. After lunch, they held Meeting for Worship in the Sandy Spring Meeting House.

They arrived at SSFS in 1963, the year that my family moved to Sandy Spring, and we shared remembrances of the land and the area as we recalled it. But mostly, I listened. I was moved to hear their stories of how this new school, still in many ways looking and feeling like a farm on that first day, shaped their visions and guided them to have lives well lived. Imagine, that first day, nervous faculty waiting as parents and families drove up what was still a dirt road to drop their children off at a school where they would study, learn, eat, sleep, play and grow together (all in the same building). They came – families, students and faculty – with many ideas, one of which they all held in common: that a Friends education was something of value.

Our first graduates told stories of the faculty that had changed their lives, of their roommates and their lasting friendships; of operettas; of working together to make the School’s first sidewalks; of Morley games, kitchen chores and passing notes pinned to ropes that could be collected through the dorm windows. They spoke about being listened to, and they spoke about how curious they remain about so many things.

At the end of the day, one of the alum asked me what I felt was important about the school. My response: that Sandy Spring Friends School continues to guide students to discover their gifts, their sense of connectedness, their passions and interests and their love of learning. That we remain a community that listens, that is comfortable in silence, that deals openly and well with complications and ambiguities. That we always have among us people who inspire, question, prod, challenge and make us laugh. That we continue to be true to ourselves.

As you read through this issue of Community News, I hope that you will appreciate in these pages both the history of SSFS and each stage that has led up to where we are today, and that you recognize in our new developments and programs both the spirit of the school that persists 50 years out from its opening year, and the vision that will sustain it for years to come.

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SSFS: 1960s - The Way Opens

The seed for Sandy Spring Friends School was planted by Brook Moore, who felt called to answer the need for a place for students seeking a Quaker high school experience in the Sandy Spring area. He proposed a new school under the care of the Sandy Spring Monthly and Baltimore Yearly Meeting. A school committee clerked by Brook Moore was formed, and the Sandy Spring Friends School’s found-ers “looked forward in faith.”

Undeterred by a lack of resources or direct experience, the committee had tremendous enthusiasm, an openness to possibility, and a willingness to work hard. Within a year, Esther Scott donated the first 56 of her 140-acre family farm. Sam Legg, our first head-master, and his wife Edna quit paying jobs, committing themselves to start-ing a new school without the benefit of salary or housing.

In May of 1960, ground was broken for Scott House, which was to be both residence for the Legg family and the school‘s first 8-11 students. Construc-tion inspired such a flow of contribu-tions that the Committee felt able to move ahead faster, building Moore Hall, and increasing the initial student population to 77.

In March of 1961, Sam and Edna Legg invited the teaching team – John and Sally Burrowes, David and Helen

Louise Liversidge, Anne and Barry Morley, and Henry Nadig – to campus for an orientation. For the Liversidges, it was the first time for them to see the campus and meet their new headmas-ter. Helen Louise remembers a damp, overcast weekend and the promise of a school building (Moore Hall) that "was nothing but a muddy hole in the ground." Happily, after talking through the program Sam Legg had put together and experiencing the camaraderie of the group assembled, Helen Louise left confident that she had made the right decision. Proceed-ing in faith.

Mud and construction, trial and er-ror, enthusiasm and exhaustion were mainstays that first school year. School had to be postponed two weeks until Moore Hall was ready for occupancy. Teachers, having arrived by Septem-ber 1, were put up by local families, and a handful of enthusiastic students showed up on the original start day and went to work side-by-side with their teachers, painting, moving furni-ture and cleaning to get the property ready for classes. The Burrowes, who arrived with their four children, took the lead in building Walbrooke, the fac-ulty residence (now part of the Lower School) in which they would live.

Mud was everywhere. Students that first year remember digging the milk truck out of the axle-deep mud,

Sandy Spring Friends School History: 1961-2011

The 50th Anniversary Committee has been busy in the past months compiling a written history of Sandy Spring Friends School from the past 50 years. Various members of the community agreed to write about highlights of each of the decades, from the 1960s through today. Johanna Cowie, with help from Robin Johnsen '69 and former faculty member Helen Louise Liversidge, writes about the school's beginnings and the first years; Ari Preuss provides rememberances of the school from the 1970s; longtime Upper School History teacher Bob Hoch com-piled highlights from the 1980s; Lower School teacher Linda Sulkin remembers the expansion of the Middle School and arrival of Friends Elementary School on campus among other events from the 1990s; and Bim Schauffler, who graduated from SSFS in 1974 and returned in the 1990s as Director of the International Student Program, gives his perspec-tive on the School's history from the 2000s to the present. These written histories are followed by an introduction to the members of the 50th Anniversary Committee, and a forward-looking piece by Head of School Tom Gibian addressing the coming 50 years, and "What Better Looks Like" for SSFS.

by Johanna Cowie, Clerk of the 50th Anniversary, School Librarian, and parent of Anna '18 and Max '14 Goodman. Johanna's husband Dan graduated from SSFS in 1978.

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sweeping the halls of Moore twice a day, and pouring sidewalks between buildings to stay above the mud.

The construction continued throughout the decade. Parents rallied to get the drive paved before the start of the sec-ond year, and Tanglewood (originally dorms and teacher housing) was built. In 1964, the infirmary (Hartshorne) and the barn (now Maintenance), the first indoor performance and dedicated Meeting space appeared. That same year, the pond was dug in time for winter ice skating. Hallowell House, Earnshaw, and Lea House were built over the next several years to meet the need for faculty housing. A woodwork-ing shop was added to the barn, and an extension was added to Moore Hall to house administrative offices, with Leeds Room above. The spring and summer of 1969 finished off the decade's growth with the construction of Westview and the Art Studio.

In the 1960s, the campus was chang-ing, the world was changing, and so was our leadership. Sam Legg, who had built the foundation of the school program so solidly, left in the second academic year. John Burrowes stepped in as interim headmaster in the fall of ’63, and Thornton "Thorny" Brown began his tenure in 1965.

As a younger child, Robin Johnsen ’69 knew Thorny as one of the weighty Quakers in the Sandy Spring Meet-ing and later as her headmaster in the late 60s. "Thorny had this tremendous connected silence to him that was mystical," recalls Robin. He was an independent thinker, choosing, despite his family’s disapproval, to work in construction after graduating from Haverford. "Thorny wasn’t impressed by genius. Just like in his own life, it wasn’t enough just to be smart."

Chorus was huge right through the 1960s. Barry Morley was such a char-ismatic leader that he had signed up 60 students during the first week of school. The chorus gave annual winter and spring concerts, as well as putting on a Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta each year. Chorus was such an iden-tifying part of being a Sandy Springer that for decades alumni returned to campus each year at graduation to re-join the chorus in singing "The Silver Swan" and "Mon Coeur."

Much of what we associate with our school today began in our first decade. Morley games such as Nurdleyball and Frazzleerham were played enthusi-astically. Dramatic and musical play performances; arts evenings including choral singing, hand bells and mod-

ern dance; Community Day (formerly Mountain Day); block scheduling; intersession; graduates returning as employees; and controversy over tech-nology (head phone use) all remain im-portant issues and events in school life today. This spring, Strawberry Cowbake will mark the end of our 50th successful school year, as it has in years past.

Sandy Spring’s commitment to di-versity has always been present. Our initial admissions material stated that we "look for a student body that will represent creative differences—social, economic, religious, racial, national, political, and intellectual." Robin re-members the world opening up to her as SSFS brought her into contact with students from a wide variety of places, backgrounds, and circumstances. "There was a velocity of change both in and out of school. What was happen-ing in the world definitely impacted what was happening on campus. We were taught: think for yourself, and expect others to do the same."

Students help pour the sidewalks between Moore Hall and Tanglewood.


SSFS: 1970s - The School Grows

By the end of the 60s, Moore Hall re-mained the hub of all school activities, housing the library, all dorms, class-rooms, offices, and the kitchen/dining room. All that changed drastically when Westview arose near the tennis courts in ‘69 to offer more “luxurious” dormitories, classrooms, a spacious dining room and modern kitchen. With the arrival of six power teaching couples, we moved from occasional Morley-Brown-Kline revelations to continuous pedagogic innovations by the Fishers, Olsens, Conoboys, Sinkhorns, Stewarts and Tates. The new mood and methods reflected the turbulence of university riots and the tensions of the Vietnam War. Operetta and chorus as chief participatory arts were dramatically challenged by Liz Lerman’s whirling choreographic dance productions like Alice in Won-derland, blending movement with speech and music and staging stu-dents along with faculty, their "brats," and Friends House residents. Ever since, dance practices, theme selec-tions and stunning concerts have been a signature Sandy Spring dynamic.

In sports, too, the Mor-ley Games of Hoopa-Doop, Frazzleerham, Brindledorph, Friedl- Frappe and, most im-portant, Nurdleybawl, reached their peak, but interscholastic soccer and lacrosse for boys and field hockey and tennis for girls vied for space and players. Few private and no public schools featured la-crosse, so away games,

on the one and only school bus, took teams to Blueridge, VA; Harrisburg, PA; and Annapolis, MD. By mid-de-cade, plastic sticks changed the game for boys, but the new girl’s lacrosse team continued to cradle their wood, gut and leather sticks carefully crafted by Native Americans. An aquatic team was added, and many of our swimmers learned sign language to communicate with the contestants at the Gallaudet racing pool. The Ultimate team won the East Coast Frisbee championship at the Mall in Washington.

Meeting was held every morning for 15 minutes, a stressful period for facul-ty booking late-arriving day students and chasing after hiding boarders. All students worked daily on class and hall clean-up, and Quaker plain talk could be heard: “Hast thee done thine job today, Friend?” Students from Ca-toctin and Glaydin addressed faculty by first names, puzzling public school transfers and foreign students. Fac-ulty meeting discussions probed the purpose of titles and intrinsic respect between adults and youngsters.

Feeling snug and secure in their peace-ful rural setting, students and teachers nevertheless drove to the cities to par-ticipate in peace marches and protests at the White House against Cold War atrocities and to help register potential draftees as conscientious objectors at local post offices. Initially viewed as subversive and treacherous, Quakers found themselves in the vanguard of the nation’s swelling anti-war movement, and our students quickly became intellectually and emotionally stimulated by constant lectures, films and peace conferences by Friends activists.

Internal tensions prodded the school to creative innovations as well. The senior year Mini-School projects were followed by the Symbiotic and Fath-oms curriculum in science, and the Colesville and Olney branches of the Interlocking Curriculum combined to form the new Thornton Friends School. Even more controversial was Barry and Anne Morley’s special Ninth Grade program at the Meeting House, with exciting outdoors, hands-on nature exploration hikes and canoe trips. They supplied a most energetic, enthusiastic, huggy and often rowdy cast of char-acters who challenged us to turn them into scholarly sophomores.

Intersession travels, too, proliferated with adventurous hiking and biking excursions to Iberia-Morocco, Venezu-ela-Colombia, Greece-Crete, Mexico, Guatemala, Haiti, France and Holland.After the Fall of Saigon and the Wa-tergate hearings, attention returned to the Middle East as gas prices spiked and stations dispensed fuel on alter-

by Ari Preuss, SSFS Upper School History teacher since 1967

Michael DeHart with 9th graders on the trail.

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nate days for odd and even numbered license plates. We caught thieves on campus stealing gas from cars and buses, and enterprising students sold coffee and donuts to drivers waiting in long lines at 6 a.m. in Ashton. Simulta-neously a Persian incursion occurred: our dorms were swelled by Iranian students - earnest, polite, and soccer- crazed, a boost to our teams.

In the kitchen, parent cooks Caro-line Hussman, Mary Austin, Marilyn Bourdeaux and Diana Sullivan cap-tured stoves, pots and ladles to bake the best bread, stir delicious soups, and serve wonderful homemade, nutritious dishes to the students.

1979 marked the end of an era when Mary Lillian Moore, Helen Louise and David Liversidge, and Margot and Thorny Brown retired. Present from the beginning, these faculty and staff dem-onstrated their dedicated, humble and caring service, always looking for the best in students and colleagues. They an-chored the hearty, welcoming spirit that has animated Sandy Spring ever since.

Westview was built, housing dormitories, classrooms, a dining room and kitchen.

The costumed Madrigal group, led by Anne Gulick.

Sports popular at SSFS in the 1970s: Nurdleyball (left) and Tennis

(above)


SSFS: 1980s - A School in Transition

When the 1979-80 school year began, Sandy Spring Friends School was a traditional boarding school with a day component. The Upper School was limited to grades ten through twelve, with a small ninth grade program run by the Morleys out of the Community House. The Middle School was a year away, and the Lower School would take another decade to appear.

Sports at the beginning of the 80s consisted of boy's soccer, boy's and girl's lacrosse, ultimate Frisbee, and tennis. Most girls took dance or yoga. There was an afternoon "Timed Walk" option, and Morley games. Swimming and gymnastics were also offered for recreation. There was no official ESL program, but there were a large num-ber of international students, most of them from Iran. Thornton Friends School (formerly called the Interlock-ing Curriculum, begun on our campus

by Peter and Nancy Kline) joined SSFS during seventh period for arts and sports.

The 1980s began under the leader-ship of Head of School Ed Hinshaw. He and his wife Dorothy (the new librarian) came from the Midwest after spending time in Africa to take over the administration of the school. Ed brought a steady hand and calm-ing presence to the community, and many changes took place under his direction. The Middle School began in a church basement in Brookeville before moving on campus, and by the end of the decade the Community House program morphed into the ninth grade, although keeping many of its unique features.

The major building project of the decade was the creation of Yarnall Hall. The new building featured a

new library (the old one was where the student lounge now exists), and the Horning Gymnasium. The Science Department later occupied the lower level. One of the unique features of the building is the observatory, which housed the telescope built by Robert Yarnall. The library was moved from its old location book by book by a human chain of students, faculty, staff and parents, with Ed at one end of the chain and Dorothy at the other. The event was covered by the local media.

Meeting for Worship evolved as well. Meeting time was changed to twice a week for 30 minutes and took place after the academic day had already begun. This improved the quality of Meeting for Worship, which at its old time saw students straggling in during the whole time Meeting was in session. The biggest change in Meeting came with the purchase of the 19th-century Meeting House next to Sherwood High School that had been used as a library. The building was moved through the woods and brought to the SSFS campus. The en-tire school community turned out to watch the event which was, of course, filmed by Ari Preuss.

The sports program began to grow. Soccer was offered as a girl’s varsity sport, and basketball for both boys and girls became part of the pro-gram. The Potomac Valley Athletic Conference was formed with SSFS as a founding member. League play would eventually encompass both Upper and Middle School teams. The sports program continued to expand throughout the decade.

by Bob Hoch, US History teacher since 1979

Students playing ultimate frisbee

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With all of the changes taking place, the one thing that never altered was the "feel" of the Quaker en-vironment. Meeting for Worship remained the center of the com-munity, and a community service component was added to the gradu-ation requirements. Long-standing traditions such as the ninth grade trip, operetta, intersession, fac-ulty serving the holiday meal, and Strawberry Cowbake still remained. Quaker values, social justice, peace-ful conflict resolution, diversity and a commitment to academic excel-lence remained what a Sandy Spring Friends education had to offer to all those who become part of the SSFS community.

The Meeting House being moved onto campus

US History teacher Ari Preuss and alum Barbara Gibian '67 with Brook Moore at the Yarnall Hall construction site.

The Middle School program in Brookeville

Sue DeVeer and Barry Morley The popular dance program at SSFS, taught by Arlene Horowitz


SSFS: 1990s - Expanding into a PK-12 School

In 1990, my daughter was a rising senior at SSFS, having been there since seventh grade. We had come to love the school, and as a result, we decided to send her two brothers, who would both be in Middle School. During the summer, the Middle School went through a renovation in order to add a sixth grade to the division. They expanded the downstairs, adding a two-story lobby entrance, classrooms, and an office. 14 students were in the first sixth grade class that year, includ-ing my youngest son.

Being clerk of the Parent Association, I was involved in the search for a new headmaster the following year, which brought the arrival of Stephen Gessner (whose title was henceforth known as Head of School). Each year, the par-ents were involved in organizing and running a white elephant sale at the May Fair, which was held on campus every spring, with the proceeds going to financial aid. We lobbied to take the auction off-campus and include din-ner to make it more of an evening of entertainment. This finally happened in February 1992. The auction theme was called "Breaking the Ice." It was held at the Holiday Inn in Columbia, and everyone was thrilled when we raised over $10,000. The money went toward new computers for the Upper School lab, and a new tradition was established.

The big news in 1993 was the ar-rival of Friends Elementary School on campus. Friends Elementary was a small Quaker school that rented space in Walbrooke, with the idea that it would merge with SSFS to form a

by Linda Sulkin, LS teacher since 1993

Head of School Stephen Gessner (middle) reviews a model of the proposed Science Wing addition to Yarnall with Upper School Science teacher Doug Smith and Middle School Science teacher Toni Evans.

Annette Breiling with Brook Moore at the opening of the Lower School at SSFS.

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Pre-K through 12 school. The merger took place that summer, as well as a huge expansion and renovation of Walbrooke. The new wing doubled the size of the building; it housed ten classrooms and several offices, includ-ing an office and conference room for the division head, Annette Breiling, and a front office for Linda Cooper, her right hand "man." It was a huge endeavor to be ready for the opening of school, and work was being done right up until the eleventh hour. A few days after school opened, an inspector decided there were too many things left undone and insisted that six of the classrooms move to another location until the work was completed. This transition was done in a matter of hours with the help of the students and many adults on campus. You might ask how I know about this. Well, I decided to return to teaching after many years at home raising my family, and I was hired to teach the third grade that fall. It was quite the "beginning of school." However, as always, our students, faculty, and staff worked together to make it happen and turned it into an adventure to be remembered and talked about for years! Our new building was dedi-cated in November of 1993 and is now known as Walbrooke/Breiling.

Over the next few years there were many changes. Annette Breiling moved to the Development office and Rhode Jones became the new Head of the Elementary School. The following year, Lynn Darman became Head of the Elementary School. We expanded the program to have two sections of each grade and for one year had to

have one fifth grade class in Tanglewood and the other still in Walbrooke. That gave new meaning to the term "changing classes"! The de-cision was made in 1996 to have the fifth grade become part of the Middle School. That same year, the El-ementary School officially became known as the Lower School, which was another transi-tion in thinking of our campus as one school. To help bridge the space between Lower School and Upper School, the "Senior Buddy" program was created. Each senior was assigned a "buddy" in Pre-K or Kindergarten. They would have activities together to get to know each other and appear on stage together at the all-school as-semblies at the beginning and end of the year. The first time this was done was in 1994; it was an instant success and became a cherished tradition by all. Other traditions the Lower School students looked forward to were Com-munity Day, the Halloween parade, Grandparents Day, Wee Mail, and our musical programs.

In 1997 Ken Smith became our new Head of School. He told the students

at the opening assembly that his goal was to learn the name of every stu-dent by the end of the year. He would open doors at carpool, and that first Christmas he dressed up in a tuxedo and top hat and came around to every classroom and gave the kids candy. He always had time to stop for a hug or to answer a question. He achieved his goal.

The school will continue to change and grow. However, people who be-long to this community often say that this is a "special place," and they are right. Strong Quaker values, spiritual-ity, learning ways to deal with conflict, academic achievement, and diversity are all part of the fabric that makes up Sandy Spring Friends School.

Howard Zuses carries the "1993" cornerstone during the Walbrooke addition dedication ceremony welcoming Friends Elemenary on campus.


SSFS: 2000s - and Beyond...

Under Ken Smith's nurturing leadership, the years 2000 - 2010 proved to be a period of stability and remark-able growth at Sandy Spring Friends School in a decade filled with both domestic and global turmoil and excitement. The first decade of the 21st century commenced with the controversial presidential election of 2000 and the attacks of 9/11/2001 on New York and Washington, DC. This was followed by the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October of 2001, the Beltway sniper a year later, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Natural disasters also marked this decade with major earthquakes in India, Pakistan, Chile, and China. Earthquakes in Indonesia and Japan lead to catastrophic tsuna-mis. In the U.S., Hurricane Katrina bat-tered the Gulf coast, and manmade di-sasters struck, including the bursting of the housing bubble, and the BP Deep-water Horizon oil spill. More hope-fully, President Barack Obama, our first African American President, was sworn into office in January of 2009. In retrospect, this most recent decade con-stitutes an appropriate bookend to the turbulent 1960s. Throughout this time, students at SSFS have continued to thrive and let their lives speak through the Quaker ideals that have remained at our core for 50 years.

The growth of the School through the first decade of the 21st century

was most visible in physical changes to the campus. Based on a strategic plan formulated in the late 90s, the school added a new middle school, an athletic center, and a state-of-the-art performing arts center. Addition-ally, the old Middle School building (Tanglewood) was remodeled and incorporated into the Lower School, and the Westview Dining Hall was expanded to accommodate a larger student body. The first five years of the decade provided a remarkable demonstration of Quaker process and decision-making as the whole commu-nity – including students, parents, fac-ulty and staff, administration, and the board of trustees – worked together to design and create a completely new and greatly-improved campus with three wonderful new buildings and a beautiful green and tree-filled campus quadrangle. The growth in facilities was capped in 2010 with the construc-tion of the Adventure Park at Sandy Spring Friends School, which provides

amazing opportunities for those with-in our community as well as many from the surrounding Sandy Spring area to enjoy our woods and climb in the trees through an impressive maze of zip lines and cabled bridges.

Programmatically, the school has also grown and flourished. Our sports teams in the Middle and Upper School have won more championships than in any previous decade. Across all three divisions, an award-winning recycling program thrives, including a composting system that allows us to fertilize our newly-landscaped spaces with the waste from our cafeteria. In mid-decade, Earth Stewardship Day was added as an all-school event, and Community Day evolved into more of a cross-divisional community build-ing day of Meeting for Worship, fun, work, and Morley games. These two changes reflect a growth in the tradi-tion of the stewardship of both our environment and the community in

by Bim Schauffler '74, Director of the Upper School International Student Program

Ken Smith, Brook Moore, and MS students at the MS ribbon-cutting.

Ken Smith passes the torch - and his SSFS jersey - to Tom Gibian, current Head of School.

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which we live.

One of the most dramatic aspects of growth over the decade has been the school’s increasing global connections. The decade began with an Interna-tional Student Program of 22 students, mostly from Korea and Taiwan. Pres-ently, the program enrolls 70 students, with the majority coming from China and additional students from Ja-pan, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, India, Ethiopia, The Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone. Through the decade, the program has enrolled students from Bhutan, Germany, Iraq, Kosovo, Nigeria, Rwanda, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, as well. Additionally, there is now a Summer Immersion Program that, in collaboration with American Field Service (AFS), brought 120 students from Italy, Paraguay, Ar-gentina, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Japan to study English and learn about American culture for the sum-mer of 2011.

In addition to bringing a larger num-ber and greater diversity of students to our campus, both the Middle and Upper Divisions of the school have expanded opportunities for domestic students to travel abroad and fur-ther develop global competency. The Middle School offers summer service

trips, as well as trips to French and Spanish speaking countries. Through intersessions and a new summer ser-vice program, Upper School students have had opportunities to experience culture and carry out service work in places such as South Africa, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the Peruvian Amazon, Korea, Senegal, Morocco, Italy, Spain, Great Britain, Iceland, Greece, and Finland. The growth in such diverse global educational opportunities for students, our strong academic cur-riculum, and the School’s Quaker core combine to produce graduates who are experientially, intellectually, and spiritually prepared to face the

challenges of an increasingly intercon-nected world.

The last decade closed with Ken Smith’s retirement and the arrival of Sandy Spring native and Quaker Tom Gibian as our new Head of School. In the tradition of Friends, we begin our new decade with our eyes open to the future and the belief in continuing revelation leading us to new and better programing and even richer education-al and spiritual opportunities for our students, all built on the foundation laid by the first members of our School community as well as those who have dwelt here in the intervening years.

This year's International Student Program. 70 students from 11 countries are represented.

Alex Connelly and Jeremy Wright '89 mark the future site of the PAC; Seniors with their buddies during groundbreaking ceremonies in 2004.


The 50th Anniversary Committee

50th Anniversary Committee's Statement of Purpose

The 50th Anniversary of Sandy Spring Friends School celebrates the history, traditions, and strengths - as well as the spirit - of this special place, as en-visioned by our founder Brook Moore. The year-long celebration will include opportunities for outreach, discovery, and connection which will reaffirm and guide us as we look towards a vibrant future.

Johanna Cowie, Clerk of the 50th Anniversary Committee.

50th Anniversary Committee Members:

Susan Aguilar Judy Averbach Anne Ball Scott Baytosh Matt Benning '02 Ben Booz Dave Burgevin Johanna CowieAmy Curtis Mike DeHart '71Bruce Evans Tom Gibian Gwen Handler Grace Hanson '12

Ellen Hartge Kip Imlay '71Donna Kellogg Hannah Kerr '95Mary Mazzuca Curt Moffatt Ari Pruess Nancy Preuss Lynda Reese Rex Riley '80Phil Schwarz '63Ann Tran Henry Winokur '70 Alan Wright

SSFS Timeline

The Committee has cre-ated an interactive online timeline through Dipity - www.dipity.com - that marks School events and photos from the Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting minute that declares Brook Moore's interest in start-ing a new Quaker school in 1958, all the way up to the present. Check out the timeline on the 50th an-niversary website:www.ssfs.org/50th_anniversaryYou can also add events or images to the timeline by joining Dipity (a free service). A portion of the timeline is sampled below:

It’s your celebration, so we need your input! Share a Sandy Spring story! Tell us what it is that makes Sandy Spring Friends School special to you! Who or what would you like to see on Alumni Weekend June 2nd? Email the committee at [email protected] with your stories, thoughts, and suggestions.

13Fall 2011

"What Does Better Look Like?" The Next 50 Years...

Last year, my first as Head of Sandy Spring Friends School, I used the “What Does Better Look Like?” line as a conversation starter whenever I met people who care deeply about the School. I asked the question out of strength. Sandy Spring Friends School has stable enrollment, stable finances, an incredible community of current families, alumni, faculty and staff, grandparents and friends, and a wonderful 50-year legacy of providing Quaker education and transforming lives. At the same time, I believe real sustainability comes from being willing to embrace change, adopt innovation, and challenge prevailing norms, all the while remaining true to our original purpose of educating the whole child.

Therefore, one of the things that I felt we needed as I started last year was to consider thoughtfully and then articu-late to the community what it means to educate our students for the 21st Century. We needed to construct a nar-rative of what better looks like, because it is a necessary first step on the road to achieving it. If we can’t describe what our destination should look like, then how will we know when we get there?

It was an exciting year. We have worked hard on some reorganization so that we have the right leaders in the right places. We focused on getting better at doing the little things that everyone expects schools like ours to do. I call that "Blocking and Tackling." We reviewed and tweaked our manu-als and policies and handbooks and contracts. We considered whether dogs should remain on leash (they should) and how much to blog (can’t blog too

much). We are not all the way to where we want to be in this area, but we are tackling problems and getting things done. If you are reading this on your wireless device while waiting in the car-pool line, then you know what I mean.

We also began the work of consider-ing more strategic issues. I called this category "Planning and Anticipation." What languages should we offer, and when should we offer them? (Note, we now teach Chinese [Mandarin] starting in the ninth grade.) We are emphasizing professional development opportunities for our teachers while introducing more systematic evalua-tion and feedback loops. What should our athletic program look like? This is a big one; we have lots of ideas, some of which we are able to act on quickly. For instance, we will offer intermural wrestling in the Upper School this winter. Other ideas will take a little longer to implement. For example, we are considering joining the MAC (Midatlantic Athletic Conference), a more competitive league which would nudge us to have all our sports pro-grams look more like our best sports programs. As a School, we are climb-ing the learning curve of differentiated learning to allow us to reach, prod and stimulate students wherever they are on their development progression. This seems to be entirely consistent with a Sandy Spring Friends education, featuring small classes and a nurtur-ing, you-can’t-fall-through-the-cracks environment.

We asked ourselves whether if we had had a crystal ball 14 years ago (in 1996, when our seniors were in PK) giv-

ing us perfect visibility into what the world of 2011 would look like, would we have put more math and science in the curriculum. I would not want to be assigned the negative side of that de-bate. And while we do not have perfect visibility into the world of 2025 that our current PKers will enter, we suspect that math, science and technology will not be in decline as useful skills in the job mar-ket. So we are working on creating more robust classes, electives and after school activities (i.e., Robotics Club).

These are just a few of the many areas that we are putting a shine to. It feels like we are going flat out this year, our 50th as a school. To help us, we are engaging in the development of a Strategic Plan that will seek input and guidance from our entire com-munity. We will look (or re-look) at some new questions, such as what is the optimal number of students in our school, in our residential program, in each grade? We will likely also con-sider what a new Upper School facility should look like in light of our curricu-lum, our campus, and our relationship to metropolitan Washington. (Hint: different than a re-purposed dorm.) We are not slowing down, even while we continue to ask ourselves "What Does Better Look Like?" The question does not feel old at all.

I am thrilled to be Head of School as we look ahead to the next 50 years. There are many reasons for this, but I count at the top of the list the opportunity to reach out and engage you in the conver-sation – the planning, the implementa-tion and the realization of What Better Looks Like. It’s important work.

by Tom Gibian, Head of School


Success @ Summer @ Sandy Spring

Summer at Sandy Spring 2011 brought excitement to the 140-acre campus almost every day. Over 1200 campers came to our beautiful campus through-out the summer months! This reflected an increase from 800 campers in 2010, and 300 in 2009.

In addition to the Friends Camps for grades PK-5, and the creative, athletic,academic, adventure, and skills camps offered by our Summer at Sandy Spring program, many other outside programs held camps on our campus. These included Center for Talented Youth (CTY), Summer Immersion Program (SIP), Summer Institute for the Gifted (SIG), Harwood Basketball, DC United (Soccer), National Guitar Workshop, Kyle Dixon Lacrosse Camp, and the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN).

Probably the biggest highlight of the summer was the addition of the Wilde-

beest Waterhole – the revitalized pond that now serves as a swimming hole. It was a huge hit, and the staff will look for ways to improve upon the wildly popular aquatics program even further during the off season.

Summer at Sandy Spring also used the Adventure Park a great deal, with most campers having the opportunity to experience the aerial park. This will certainly continue next summer.

There is still room to grow and devel-op Summer at Sandy Spring, and the staff is dedicated to doing just that.

Brittney Rohrs was hired in July as the Assistant Director of Auxiliary Programs at Summer at Sandy Spring. (See Brittney's bio in the New Faculty and Staff for 2011-2012 article, page 17). "After coming into the auxiliary department in July and being able to see camp in action, I, along with the

entire department, am excited and looking forward to seeing how we can help Summer at Sandy Spring grow and develop as the camp of choice," says Britteny.

Nancy St. Louis, Interim Camp Direc-tor during the past summer, says: "It still amazes me how dedicated, creative, nurturing, and respectful the staff and counselors were. They weathered many tough situations, such as power outages, heat waves, and the heavy rains. There’s an old saying that 'it takes a village to raise a child,' but in the camp world, it takes an amazing community of folks to provide lasting memories."Campers enjoyed the revitalized pond ("Wildebeest Waterhole") last summer.

Interim Camp Director Nancy St. Louis leads campers to their next activity.

15Fall 2011

The Climbing Wall is up! Thanks to the generous “Fund-an-Item” from the Parents Association Auction last spring, SSFS now has a climbing wall that will greatly enhance our P.E. curriculum and Outdoor Leadership program.

Over the summer, the wall was constructed in the Athletic Center by Eldorado Climbing Walls from Boulder, CO. The wall is 55’ wide and reaches 40’ high at its tallest point. The majority of the top ropes climbing routes are between 30’ and 35’. The wall has 18 potential belay stations for top rope climbing and offers seven lead climbing lines for more advanced climbers or for those looking for a new challenge. The wall includes a boulder cave (unroped climbing) that has a maximum height of 14’ and a variety of features, including a 30’ high crack, a rappel deck, and a blend of steep and low-angle terrain.

The size and scope of the wall make it an ideal teaching tool for students, fac-ulty and staff, and community mem-bers, and will have an extremely posi-tive impact on the school's mission to incorporate an adventure-based compo nent to the Physical Education program.

The Lower School PE department plans to carry out a month-long unit on the wall for all LS grades in the winter. This climbing curriculum, with an emphasis on traversing or bouldering (climbing at a designated developmentally-ap-propriate maximum height without a rope belay) has extremely strong educational benefits. Focus will be on developing the children’s energy, both

short and intense efforts, in addition to working to gain an ability to control continuity in effort and speed. Improv-ing motor skills through balance and body positioning, as well as cognitive ability to analyze informa tion and make decisions to reach goals, will be a foundation for learning. Taking risks and overcoming fear by empower ing these children in their own self-control will make a drastic impact on their af-fective development.

The Middle School is also looking foward to using the wall for exercise when the weather won’t allow them to get outside. Relay races, team events, and more will be possibilities as the students become more familiar with the climbing wall. Upper School stu-dents will also have the opportunity to use the wall through the Climbing Club and the Outdoor Leadership course.

Belay On! The Climbing Wall is Complete!

Trained US students demonstrate the newly-constructed climbing wall on Friends Day.


New Faculty and Staff for 2011-2012

LOWER SCHOOL

We are thrilled to welcome Brenda Crawley to SSFS as the new Lower School Head! Prior to coming to SSFS, Brenda spent seven years as the Lower School Head

at the McLean School of Maryland. Please read Brenda's full (and impressive!) profile on pages 18-19...

Jenny Lingelbach, Third Grade teacher, has been a member of the Sandy Spring community for the past 12 years: she is the mother of Catie

Lingelbach '12; served as the clerk of the PA; and worked in the business/admis-sions office here at SSFS before her deci-sion to pursue a career in early childhood education. Jenny taught 1st through 4th graders at Friends Community School in College Park before coming back to teach at SSFS. A lifelong Quaker, Jenny has attend-ed Quaker schools (Germantown Friends School from K-12 and Haverford College for undergrad), and worked in Quaker schools (Penn Charter, SSFS, Friends Com-munity) all her life.

Bela Meghani, First Grade teacher, is also familiar to many here on campus: she is the mother of three cur-rent Springers - Ravi, Tomar, and Lilli. Bela

received her B.A. in Anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley, and is currently working on her Master's in Early Childhood Education. Bela was born in India and moved to the United States when

she was three. She is a lover of maps and geography, a reader of classics and fantasy, and science education is her passion.

Kiki Vargas, Fifth Grade teacher, is yet another SSFS commu-nity member: her two sons Micah and Taddy both attend SSFS. Kiki received her B.A. from

Emory University in Atlanta, and an M.A. in Special Education and Learning Disabilities from Columbia University Teacher's College. Before coming to SSFS, Kiki taught at the Churchill School, the Lab School of Washing-ton, and the McLean School of Maryland.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Patrick Salmasi, MS English teacher and avid reader, comes to Maryland most recently from Florida, where he taught English and interdisciplinary units

in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Patrick received his B.A. from Florida State University and is currently working on an M.A. in English (Concentration in Multicul-tural and Transnational Literature) from East Carolina University.

Tyler Rieth, MS Music teacher, graduated from Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, MI, with a B.A. in music education and a B.A. in music composition. Ty-

ler’s experience includes drama, music, sound technical work, and performance. He has played in jazz bands as well as pit orchestras, toured across Italy three times with a choir and brass quintet, and has had his original music performed by a number of groups.

Heidi Butterworth, MS Math teacher, received a B.A. in Environmental Economics from Colgate University, and an M.A.T. in Math and Special Edu-cation from the College

of Notre Dame of Maryland. She has extensive outdoor education experience, and will also be teaching MS Outdoor Education. Heidi has taught at The Day School in Baltimore and the Lab School in Washington, DC. She also served as "Chief Mate" in the Living Classrooms Foun-dation, where she taught a hands-on ecology curriculum.

Ashlee McKinnon, MS Movement Teacher, joins us from Statesville, NC, where she earned her teaching license in Dance Education from the Uni-versity of North Carolina

at Charlotte. She also holds a B.A. from Uni-versity of Maryland College Park in Dance, and a M.Div. from Princeton Seminary. Dance is her pasison, and she is excited and driven to show its impact on the lives for her students and the SSFS community.

UPPER SCHOOL

Jerome (J.) Cole, As-sistant Head of Upper School for College Counseling, received his B.A. from Catholic University, and has an M.A. in Education and

Human Development from George Washing-ton University. He brings a wealth of experi-ence in college guidance, independent school management, and leadership of organizations as a result of his six years at Edmund Burke, five years at Bethesda - Chevy Chase High School, and twenty years in the U.S. Navy. J. will be working with Megan Hoover, who

The SSFS community welcomes the following new faculty and staff:

17Fall 2011

moves this year from her part-time role as Residential Life Counselor to a full-time role that also includes Assistant Director of College Counseling.

Justin Leak, Assistant Director of Residential Life/Evening Coordi-nator, holds a B.A. in Speech Communica-tions and African and African American

Studies and an M.A. in Counseling, Psy-chology, and Family Therapy Addiction(s) from Lewis and Clark College. He joins our dorm staff after a five year stint at Lewis and Clark that included work as Area Director of three residence facilities, Career Counselor, and Assistant Director of Multi-cultural Affairs. He also spent time honing his counseling skills as a Youth Mental Health Consultant for API Associates and Relief Counselor at Wellspring Ministries. Most recently he comes from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation where he was an Educa-tional Adviser working with young scholars making the move to independent schools. Justin’s experience and talents will certainly contribute to the strength and vitality of the dorm program.

Lyn Ostrov, US Art Teacher, received her educational training at the Maryland Institute College of Art where she obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts

and her Master of Fine Arts in painting.

Early in her career, Lyn obtained experi-ence teaching both adolescents and adults at institutions like Baltimore High School of the Arts, Bowie State College, Community College of Baltimore, and Lily Gallery in Baltimore. For the past 22 years, Lyn has been teaching at Friends School of Balti-more, where she was the Upper School Art Department Coordinator and Director of Art, as well as art instructor. Lyn is excited to be moving to SSFS and looks forward to expanding our fine arts program.

Kathy Laughlin, US History Teacher, comes to us most directly from St. John’s Episcopal School in Olney where she taught

World Geography, History of US Conflict, World Religion, and Model United Nations, in addition to her duties as Social Studies Department Chair, Director of Community Service, and Director of the Egypt Interna-tional Travel Program. Prior to her work at St. John’s, Kathy was an Outreach Coordi-nator for the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations. Kathy has an M.A. in Secondary Social Studies with a major in Curriculum and Instruction, an M.A.in Islamic Studies from McGill University, and a B.A. with a Specialization in Political Science and International Relations from University of Alberta. Kathy brings her unique experi-ence to the teaching of Cultural Geography, AP American Government, and ESL World History. In addition, she will be a member of the 9th Grade Team. Having traveled

extensively in the Middle East herself, Kathy plans to continue developing opportunities for students to travel to this fascinating region.

US Chinese (Mandarin) teacher and Homestay Coordinator Kexin Zhang will design and implement our Man-darin language study program in its pioneer

year. She will also assume primary responsi-bility for the administration of our Homestay Program, working closely with international students, their families, and the domestic families with whom they will live during the school year. Kexin, a native Mandarin speaker, has extensive experience teaching both adolescents and adults, and comes to us most recently from Norwood School, where she taught for five years. Kexin has her B.A. in English Literature from Sun-yet Sen University in Guangdong, China, and she is in the final stages of completing her M.A. in Cur-riculum and Instruction with a concentration in Foreign Language.

AUXILIARY PROGRAMS

Brittney Rorhs joins us as the Assistant Director of Auxiliary Programs/Summer Camp this year. Brittney received her B.S. in Parks & Recreation Management from Frost-

burg State University. Her prior experience includes work at various summer programs, and mostly recently, at Terrapin Adventures.

Admission and Advancement With the retirement this summer of Assistant Head of School for External Relations Karl Gedge, recent changes in the Admission and Advancement Offices have been made.

In the Advancement group, MaryMazzuca began her role as Director ofAdvancement this past summer. JudyAverbach continues her role as Directorof the Annual Fund, and MargaretRosser continues as Director of ExternalCommunications. Sarah Margolis, whohas been helping in the Communications depart-ment in a consulting capacity for the past three years, takes on an expanded role this year as she

helps get the word out about SSFS to publica-tions (both print and online) in our region.

In Admissions, the most recent member of the group is Karen Finkel, who began her job in late August as Admission Coordinator. Karen joins Director of Enrollment Management Yasmin McGinnis, who began in January 2011, and who will be working in Upper School and International Admissions. Dawn Griffith continues her position as Director of Financial Aid, and is also in charge of Middle School Admissions. Suzannah Hopkins, who began during the summer, will be working in Lower School Admissions.

The SSFS Admission team: Karen Finkel, Yasmin McGinnis, Dawn Griffith, and Suzannah Hopkins.


SSFS Division Heads

SSFS is fortunate to have three exceptionally talented individuals leading the Lower, Middle and Upper School divisions, each one bringing tremendous strengths and excitement to her role.

Many at SSFS already know Karen Cumberbatch, who has been working at SSFS since 2002, and Jen Cort, who is starting her second year as MS Head and who has been at SSFS in various

capacities since 2000. LS Head Brenda Crawley is brand new to the SSFS community, coming to SSFS from the McLean School of Maryland. Below are brief bios of each head, as well as what each hopes to achieve in her role.

Before joining the SSFS community, Brenda

Crawley spent seven years as Head of

Lower School at McLean School of Mary-

land. Prior to that role, she worked as the

Music Department Chair and Diversity

Coordinator at McLean and taught gen-

eral and choral music. As her interests in

social justice and issues of equity continued

to grow over the years, her professional

development opportunities included work

on conflict management and resolution,

diversity/multiculturalism, leadership and

the group process/dynamics. Brenda has

been a presenter and/or facilitator in these

areas for various organizations, including

NAIS (POCC), AISGW (now Independent

Education), SSATB and EastEd (Eastern

Educational Resource Collaborative).

Brenda holds a Bachelor of Music in Music

Education/Piano from Manhattanville

College and a Master of Science from Johns

Hopkins Carey Business School, with a

concentration in Organization Development

and Human Resources. She is the recipi-

ent of the 2007 Edward J. Stegman, C.P.A.

Memorial Award for Excellence in Business

Scholarship.

Brenda has numerous hopes for her first

year at SSFS. "At the top of my list, how-

ever, is my desire to build relationships

with the many families who call Sandy

Spring Friends School home. I consider

myself a hands-on administrator who is

not afraid to mix it up with the children,

get dirty on the playground or bring a little

silliness into the carpool line. I like to work

through problems, not around them, and I

believe that open, frank conversations can

pave the way toward progress. I hope that

my positivity and approachability help the

children, their parents and my colleagues

know that I am here to be part of every

child’s team." Brenda continues, "I am truly

amazed by the wonders of Lower School.

The faculty and staff are a strong and loving

group of professionals. As I join them on

their journey of educating and caring for

US Head Karen Cumberbatch, MS Head Jen Cort, and LS Head Brenda Crawley

19Fall 2011

the PK-5 students, I hope to strengthen their

skills (as well as my own) while exploring

ways that we can do even better by every

child. My dream would be to see 'better' in

each child, in the ways that they grow as

learners, friends, community members and,

ultimately, as genuinely good people."

Jen Cort, Head of Middle School, has

worked at Sandy Spring Friends School

for 12 years. Prior to joining the Middle

School, she was the counselor in all three

divisions, Assistant Head of Lower School,

and Director of Student Support services - a

role that gave her the opportunity to work

with faculty and staff across all three divi-

sions. Before joining Sandy Spring Friends

School, Jen worked at Sidwell Friends

and the Frost School. Until 2010, she had

a private practice which included provid-

ing psychological support to students and

their parents and, most recently, writing a

curriculum for life skills development for

schools, followed by a four-year integration

of the program into that School. Jen holds

a B.S. and M.S. in clinical social work from

Catholic University. She is also a licensed

certified clinical social worker and school

social work specialist.

Jen says, “Quaker education is important

to me because it calls upon our faith-based

mandate to seek out the Light in each

child. As I see it, seeking the Light in each

student means helping her or him feel seen

and heard. Helping students feel visible

and listened to is a mutual obligation. The

adults in a School are obliged to create safe

places for students to take an academic risk,

speak their minds, try a new sport, audition

for the play, and celebrate their authentic

selves. To create a mutual conversation,

students need to commit to learning meth-

ods of communication. A Quaker educa-

tion also means creating a school in which

students are challenged as learners, citizens

of their communities, and global citizens,

all while also attending to their inner quiet

selves."

As a member of the Sandy Spring

Monthly Meeting, Jen has been actively

involved in committees and Religious

Education for many years. “My husband

George and I, along with our children Lo-

gan and Melanie, are longtime residents

of Brookeville, MD. My connection to the

local community and the Meeting inform

my work every day,” states Jen.

2011-2012 will mark Karen Cumberbatch’s

first year as Head of Upper School, although

she is already familiar to many, as she came

to SSFS in 2002. Her roles at SSFS have

included Dean of Students, Assistant Head

of Upper School, and Head of Student Life.

Prior to coming to SSFS, Karen spent eight

years at Friends Seminary in New York and

2 ½ years at Bullis School in Potomac, MD,

where her roles included teaching history in

the Middle and Upper Schools, serving as

Director of Multicultural Affairs, and Admis-

sions support. After the birth of her children,

she worked part-time at the Black Student

Fund in Washington, DC, as the coordinator

of its Teacher Recruitment Program.

Karen holds a B.A. from Cornell Univer-

sity in Africana Studies and an M.A. from

the University of California Los Angeles

in Afro-American Studies with a focus

on history. Karen also earned a graduate

certificate in Educational Leadership for

Independent Schools at Johns Hopkins

University. Karen has two children who

attend SSFS: Elise in 5th grade and Justin

in 7th, both of whom started in PK.

Karen believes her professional educational

experiences in Quaker schools have been

formative ones. Her educational philoso-

phy is based almost exclusively on Quaker

educational principles. “I believe that a

school should be a place where transforma-

tive learning occurs. It should be a safe,

collaborative, engaging environment where

students and staff can explore and take risks

together. It was these qualities and SSFS's

emphasis on community that drew me and

my family to this school,” Karen states.

Karen says, “I am excited about my first

year as Head of Upper School and I have

many goals. The division will be busy ex-

amining the current curriculum to ensure

it is and remains effective, vital, current,

and on par or above our peer schools,

especially with respect to our course of-

ferings. The division is working toward

consistent development of a curriculum

that is reflective of 21st century education-

al principles. This means we are examining

the development of key life skills – nimble

thinking, global awareness, cultural com-

petence, innovation, and leadership - as

well as more traditional subject content."

The Upper School is engaged in the process

of evaluating athletics and PE in conjunc-

tion with the athletic director, Steve Powers.

Other goals for the year include the contin-

ued development of the dorm program and

greater diversification of countries of origin

for the International Student Program.

Karen continues, “I am focused on deliv-

ering more information about the Upper

School to the internal and external com-

munity; especially the Middle School.

We have a tremendous program, and

we want to be sure that everyone knows

about it.”


Meet the SSFS Board Of Trustees, 2011-2012

The mission statement of the Board of Trustees of Sandy Spring Friends School as stated above charges this group with wonderful yet weighty responsibilities. Working in tandem with school staff and guided by the School's philosophy "to nourish the principles of the Society of Friends: truth, simplicity, social equality, and 'walking cheerfully over the world, speaking to that of God in everyone,'" the Board seeks to ensure longevity and sustainability for the School. The members help guide SSFS in planning for its future and ensuring that the School has adequate resources avail-able for years to come.

This year, as we celebrate the vision that has kept the School alive and well for 50 years, these responsibilities translate into several specific initia-tives.

* Strategic Planning: Last spring, a Strategic Planning Advisory Commit-tee was formed comprised of Trustees, faculty and staff, parents, alumni, and members of the Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting. The goal of the Strategic Planning Committee is to solicit input from the School's many constituencies throughout the fall and to develop a vision by spring 2012 to carry the School through the next three to five years. The Board will be supporting and collaborating with the Head of School as this vision is developed and as specific areas of inquiry and investi-gation arise.

* Financial Sustainability: The Board will provide leadership to enhance the culture of philanthropy at SSFS and maintain the health and growth of the School's endowment, Annual Fund, and future capital campaigns. This effort includes strengthening connec-tions with the Alumni Council and outreach to all members of our com-munity.

* Honoring the School's relationships with the Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting and Baltimore Yearly Meet-ing: The Trustees will be exploring the Board's understanding of what it means to be "under the care" of these meetings, and reaching out to the meetings for their input about their

understanding of the relationship with the School and its vision.

* Increasing Board visibility within the SSFS Community: The Board has launched a series of initiatives this fall, including a Web page with photos and bios of all board members, and a new Board Blog, in order to introduce the individual members of the Board and inform the wider community about the Board's goals and ongoing work.

As stated in the first Board Blog post-ing, "we trust that these initiatives will promote and maintain confidence that the School has a sound governance structure to provide meaningful over-sight, enlightened vision and sincere dedication to its mission and future."

"The primary responsibility of the Board of Trustees shall be to

determine and maintain the character of the School, to establish

overall policy, to conduct strategic planning, to assure the finan-

cial stability of the School, and to assess the School's effective-

ness in manifesting the mission, philosophy, and vision of the

[School]." ~ from the Board of Trustees Mission Statement

By Curt Moffatt, this year's Clerk of the Board of Trustees

The board's new Web page: http://www.ssfs.org/about/bot.htm

21Fall 2011

Meet the SSFS Board Of Trustees, 2011-2012

The Board at a Glance:

• The Board of Trustees is the governing body of Sandy Spring Friends School

• The Board is comprised of be-tween 20 and 30 members.

• The By-Laws require that a major-ity of the Board be members of the Religious Society of Friends.

• Eight members of the Board are appointed by the Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting of the Reli-gious Society of Friends and four members are appointed by the Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.

• The remaining members of the Board are appointed by the Board of Trustees.

• Members are appointed for terms of four years and may be reap-pointed for one additional term.

• The Board is organized with several officers including a Clerk, Assistant Clerk, Recording Clerk, and Treasurer.

• The Board also has several com-mittees who assist the Board in conducting its work.

Board members for 2011-2012:

• Elisabeth Benson "Ben" Booz• Amy Christianson '81 • Michael DeHart '71• Lin Delaney• Mochiko DeSilva• Steve Eller '87• Alan Fetter '80• Scott Henry• Anne Hirshfield

• Diane Hoffman• Rick Honn• Charles Horning '88• Terri Carmichael Jackson• Alkia Jones• Jim MacPherson• Tom McCabe

• Cynthia McKee• Deepika Mehta• Sandra Michaels• Curt Moffatt (Clerk)• Laurita Portee• Ellen Campbell Pskowski '71• Cynthia Terrell

B.O.T. Profile: Elisabeth Benson "Ben" Booz - former SSFS history teacher, parent of two alums, current grandparent of a Springer, and member of Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting.

Elisabeth Benson "Ben" Booz was born in London and lived in England to age 14. She finished high school and col-lege in the USA and received an M.A. in international studies at the University of Geneva, Switzerland.

She married an American economist who worked in Europe. His work for the U.N. and Harvard University took them to live in several Asian countries for more than 13 years. They had five children, each born in a different country. Ben taught in various overseas schools or served

on their boards as the children grew up. After her husband's death in Indonesia, she settled with the children near Sandy Spring, MD, where they had previously joined the monthly Meeting.

Her two youngest children graduated from SSFS in the 1970s, while Ben taught for six years in the SSFS history department. Her next teaching assignment lasted for three years at Yunnan University, in far western China, after the end of the Cultural Revolution.

Back in America, Ben worked in Washington, D.C., as a writer and researcher in the book division of the National Geographic Society. She has retired to Sandy Spring where her granddaughter attends SSFS middle school. Ben has published seven books, including in-depth guide books to Tibet and New Zealand, illustrated children's books, and two text books for college English in China. She is very happy to be serving on the SSFS school board.


Community News Query: "Why SSFS?"

When I first stepped onto the campus of Sandy Spring Friends School, I was fifteen and had reluctantly agreed to leave the familiarity of my public high school for this private school out in the country. When I arrived, I was most adept at knowing how to fade into the back of any classroom and hide the mixture of confusion and boredom that I had often felt in the eighth and ninth grades.

One of the first things I remember doing was looking for the back of the room in my Western Civilization class. Unfortunately for me, the room (which was in the ninth grade hall) had only two or three rows of seats, and I realized I had nowhere to hide. I soon discovered that I had no choice but to engage with the students around me and with the teach-ers sitting close by. Most amazingly, all of my teachers seemed inter-ested in what I had to say, my peers were open and friendly, homework assignments made sense, and suddenly, I looked forward to going to school everyday.

By my senior year, I had become a member of a community who accepted me for who I was, but who also pushed me to realize that I was an individual who was smart and capable of making a difference in the world. I had learned to believe in myself while participating in the learning process, reading and writing and feeling the thrill of thinking new thoughts in my rapidly-expanding brain.

When I left the campus after graduation, I never considered that I would be here again, but the academic and spiritual foundation I received as a high school student eventually brought me back to the campus. Although my memories of stu-dent life are often eclipsed by my experiences here as a teacher, and the apple orchards across from the entrance have long since been replaced by houses, the spirit that Brook Moore often spoke about flows throughout all of my years.

Every day I look forward to hearing what my students have to say as they begin to develop their own points of view, just as I was able to do back in another decade, all within the wide embrace of Sandy Spring Friends School.

Each of us in our community is a thread in a 50-year history of parents and students, faculty and staff, board members and other volunteers who have chosen to spend their time, energy, and money at Sandy Spring.

So, why Sandy Spring Friends School? What is it about this community that makes it so special to so many different people?

Judy (Slayton) Shefchik ’63, one of the first students enrolled in SSFS, came

Lisa Penkowsky '83SSFS alumna, MS English teacher

back to campus recently with some of her classmates to speak to our students about her experiences here 50 years ago. A lot has changed since Judy was a student here, but not everything. Judy came back to campus expecting to find that SSFS had become a "regular school," but instead was “impressed to see the spirit that I still find in this school... You can still feel the community spirit, you can feel a reverence …it’s the spirit that is Sandy Spring. It’s incredible.”

We asked three individual community members, with the perspectives between them of student, alumni, teacher, and coach, to share in 200 words or less what they found at the core of Sandy Spring that spoke intrinsically to them.

We open the query to others in the community, and hope to include responses in future issues of the Commnunity News. ~ Johanna Cowie

23Fall 2011

I believe in SSFS because when I came here in 6th grade I felt like a wreck. I didn’t know who I was, I was terribly self-conscious, and I felt very alone. I was lost. SSFS gave me wonderful teachers who showed me everything that the world has to offer, while supporting me and let-ting me know that it is OK to make mistakes.

But, the most important lesson that SSFS has given me didn’t come from the classroom, or from Meeting for Worship, or from any one place. It came from the environment that the school creates. The lesson was that it is OK and wonderful to be yourself, to be yourself with all your imperfections and quirks, and that is all that you need to be.

I believe in SSFS because any school that can show a kid as lost as I was that being yourself is all you need to be, and that whoever you are is wonderful, is an amazing school. SSFS gives students lessons that can-not be learned in a classroom, lessons that can only be learned through the creative, supportive, nurturing environment that SSFS creates which allows the students to prosper. This is my seventh and final year at SSFS, and looking back at the lost girl who wandered in on her first day in sixth grade and the person I am today, I cannot thank my teachers and SSFS enough for letting me find myself.

I believe in Sandy Spring Friends School because of its ability to renew itself.

As an alum (2002) and former faculty member (Middle School Span-ish), I think this is best exemplified by the "boomerang phenomena" amongst graduates. No fewer than 12 of my peers have returned to SSFS after college to teach, coach or ply their trade to support the current generation of students. In an age when most young adults roll their eyes at the mention of high school, I find it refreshing that so many SSFS alumni are not only enthused about their adolescent education, but even go so far as to include the school in their profes-sional pursuits and passions.

In speaking with my fellow “boomerangers,” I find that we are each compelled by a duty to give back to the community from which we have taken much. We are not motivated by a feeling of obligation, but rather one of hope that we can create experiences for the current students that equal or surpass our own fond memories. Perhaps nothing better demonstrates the tacit quality that makes Sandy Spring Friends special than the youth's desire to further its mission.

Grace Hanson '12SSFS student since 2005

Kip Kelley '02SSFS alumnus and former faculty member and coach


Snapshots from Sandy Spring, Fall 2011Photos from this fall's Community Day, Friends Day, Seniors meeting their LS buddies, the 2nd Annual Laps for Lexi, and the Hartshorne ribbon-cutting. To see more photos, please go to www.ssfs.org/galleries/

25Fall 2011

For fifty years, the spirit of philanthropy has moved our community to make gen-erous donations that directly benefit students and strengthen the school.

Your gift to the Annual Fund helps to provide new technologies, resources for class-rooms, professional development for teachers, enhancements and upgrades to our 140 acre campus, financial aid, community service, athletic facilities, equipment and uniforms, art supplies, drama productions, and so much more.

Together we raised over $580,000 last year. Thank you!

As we celebrate the school’s 50th year, please be a part of the tradition by making your gift to the 2011-12 Annual Fund. Gifts of all sizes truly make an impact.

Please respond to the recent appeal mailing, or make your pledge/gift online by visiting http://alumni.ssfs.org/donations/ or scanning the QR code at the left with your smartphone.

Thank you for your support!

The Annual Fund at Sandy Spring Friends School


The Class of 2011: Our Most Recent Alums!

Academy of Art UniversityAlbright CollegeAllegheny CollegeAmerican Musical and Dramatic AcademyAmerican UniversityAppalachian State UniversityBard CollegeBates CollegeBeloit CollegeBirmingham-Southern CollegeBoston CollegeBoston UniversityBowie State UniversityBridgewater CollegeBryn Mawr CollegeCarnegie Mellon UniversityCase Western Reserve UniversityCatholic UniversityCedar Crest CollegeCerro Cuso Community CollegeChristopher Newport UniversityCity University of New YorkClark UniversityColgate UniversityCollege of CharlestonCollege of WoosterDePaul UniversityDickinson CollegeDrew UniversityDrexel UniversityEarlham CollegeEast Carolina UniversityEckerd CollegeElizabethtown College Emory UniversityFlorida Southern UniversityFordham UniversityFranklin & Marshall CollegeFrostburg State UniversityFurman UniversityGainesville State College

George Mason UniversityGeorge Washington UniversityGeorgia Institute of TechnologyGonzaga UniversityGoucher CollegeGrinnell College Hamden-Sydney CollegeHamilton CollegeHampshire CollegeHaverford CollegeHighpoint UniversityHobart & William Smith CollegesHofstra UniversityHoward County Community CollegeHoward UniversityIndiana University, BloomingtonIthaca CollegeJuniata CollegeKean State CollegeKean University Kenyon CollegeLafayette UniversityLycoming CollegeMacalaster CollegeMaryland Institute College of ArtMarymount Manhattan College McDaniel CollegeMcGill UniversityMontgomery CollegeMount Saint Mary's CollegeMulenburg CollegeNew England CollegeNew York UniversityNortheastern UniversityNorthwestern UniversityNova Southeastern UniversityOberlin CollegeOhio State UniversityOhio UniversityOld Dominion UniversityPace University

Parsons, The New School for DesignPenn State UniversityPhiladelphia UniversityPitzer CollegePoint Park UniversityPurdue UniversityRensselaer Polytech InstituteRochester Institute of TechnologyRosemont CollegeSalisbury UniversitySmith CollegeSt. John's UniversitySt. Louis UniversitySt. Mary's College of MarylandStanford UniversitySUNY, AlbanySUNY, Buffalo Syracuse UniversityTemple UniversityTexas A&M UniversityTowson UniversityTrinity UniversityTulane UniversityTuskagee UniversityUniversity of Aberdeen, U.K.University of Birmingham, U.K.University of British ColumbiaUniversity of California, DavisUniversity of California, San DiagoUniversity of CincinattiUniversity of DaytonUniversity of DenverUniversity of Edinburgh, U.K.University of FloridaUniversity of Glasgow, U.K.University of HartfordUniversity of Illinois, Urbana-ChampaignUniversity of KentuckyUniversity of Maine, OrenoUniversity of Mary WashingtonUniversity of Maryland, Baltimore CountyUniversity of Maryland, College ParkUniversity of Massachusetts, AmherstUniversity of MemphisUniversity of MiamiUniversity of MichiganUniversity of Minnesota, Twin CitiesUniversity of New HampshireUniversity of North Carolina, AshevilleUniversity of PittsburghUniversity of Rhode IslandUniversity of RochesterUniversity of San FranciscoUniversity of St. Andrew's , U.K.University of TampaUniversity of TennesseeUniversity of Texas, AustinUniversity of the RedlandsUniversity of the South, SewaneeUniversity of Toronto, CANUniversity of TulsaUniversity of VermontUniversity of VirginiaUniversity of WashingtonUniversity of Wisconsin, MadisonUrsinus CollegeVirginia Polytechnic Inst. & State UniversityWagner CollegeWashington & Lee UniversityWashington CollegeWashington University, St. LouisWhittenburg UniversityWofford CollegeWorcester Polytechnic InstituteYork College of Pennsylvania

Congratulations to SSFS's most recent graduates! The 76 members of last year's senior class were accepted at 158 colleges and universities here and abroad (listed below). We wish them all the best in their future endeavors, and we hope that they will come back to visit us often!

27Fall 2011

Alumni Notes

Alumni Notes are just a snapshot of what’s happening with your fellow alums!

For more updates from alumni written in their own words, log in to our Web site:http://alumni.ssfs.org.

If you have a milestone in your life, please send in photos! We want to share special moments.

1965Joan Colman Bruck (Trexlor) says, “I am most happily retired after a career as a physician’s assistant in emergency medicine.” She graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 1974 and is married to Edward Bruck, a retired Orthopedic Surgeon. Her son, William Brooke, is entering a Pharm-D pro-gram.

1966Rich Aldred writes, “I've had good things and bad things this year. My first granddaughter was born on Sep-tember 14th to my daughter, my son got married in June, but all joy tem-pered by the loss of my wife of almost 21 years to pancreatic cancer in March.”

1967Masumi Akaishi is a professor in Modern Social and Cultural Studies at Kobe Shinwa Women’s University in Kobe-city, Japan. She also works as a coordinator to help Japanese students study abroad.

1969Carl Becker received a B.A. from New York Institute of Technology in 1973, a Masters Degree in Education from New York University in 1975, and com-pleted law school with a J.D. degree in1984. He practiced law for 25 years before being diagnosed with Parkin-son’s disease. He and his wife, Jill, have been happily married for 26 years.

alumni notes...

Alumni notes are compiled by Mary Mazzuca, Director of Advancement,

Sandy Spring Friends School reserves the right to edit Alumni Note submissions. Editors strive to ensure that the content of the edited submission retains the key points of the original message. Alumni Notes are submitted to Sandy Spring Friends School from various sources. While Sandy Spring Friends School strives to ensure the accuracy of Alumni Notes, the School is not liable for false or incorrect submissions.

On September 27th, 2011, alumni from the classes of 1963 and 1964 came back to help us celebrate the 50th Anniver-sary of the first day of school. Bar-bara (Cheeseman) Bason ’64, Martha (Sharpe) Menestrina ’64, Karl Rich-mond ’64, Philip Schwarz ’63, Judy (Slayton) Shefchik ’64, Steven L. Solo-mon ’64, and Andrea Taylor ’64 joined us to talk with students about what the early days of Sandy Spring Friends School were like. A special thanks to Phil Schwarz for organizing his fellow alumni for this special day.

1963 -1964: Alumni Return to SSFS to Help Celebrate 50th Anniversary


Alumni Notes

1970Krisitin Stroad Moore is now living in Baku, Azerbaijan. (She wants everyone to know that she had to look at a map too!)

1971Ellen Prentiss Campbell recently read her short stories at the Vis Arts Center in Rockville, MD, at a HearArts event that included other writers and musi-cians.

Kathy Sheridan still lives in Westmin-ster after all these years and works at an architectural firm. Her daughter, Ellin, graduated from Carleton Col-lege and has moved to NYC to work for Common Ground, a non-profit addressing homelessness in NYC. Her son, Joe, is getting his undergradu-ate degree and is a varsity wrestling heavyweight at McDaniel College.

1975Louise Tate Hood recently accepted the position of Assistant Vice Presi-dent of Development at Barnard College in New York, NY. She and her husband, Murray, welcomed their sec-ond grandchild, Mannix Aaron Hood, the second son of their son, Andrew, and his wife, Jesse.

1977Toure Clark has ended a long journey after 32 years of Military Service in support of our country. He has retired from the U.S. Army and says that he used many of the skills and values that he learned at SSFS as he traveled to many different places including Europe and Japan. He made friends by playing basketball, roller skating and learning from the people in the community.

1978Janet Westervelt is still living in the north Georgia mountains and contin-ues to work in a Montessori school. Her son, Evan, graduated from SSFS in 2011. He is studying Engineering at Gainesville State College. Janet writes, “I am so thankful that we both were able to experience a life-forming edu-cation at SSFS.”

1979Rick Koplowitz’s son, Ian, is 18 and just started UMBC. Rick is working as a government contractor at Fort Det-rick. He still plays guitar whenever he can. Fellow Springers can search his name on YouTube to see him playing with a friend’s band.

1981Lee Connah, a self-employed carpen-ter, lives in Baltimore with longtime girlfriend, Katie Scott. He enjoys playing music, building guitars, play-ing Ultimate Frisbee, and following Ravens football.

1989Kip Rupp’s job as VP of Investor Rela-tions for Quanta Services is taking him to Houston after living in Atlanta for the past 17 years. He is looking for-ward to “lots of change and the start of a new adventure in a new city.”

1990Photographer Maureen Drennan was recently featured for her work in the New York Times Lensblog. To read about her work, please visit:http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/on-a-california-farm-where-marijuana-grows/

1991Carrie Ann Mallino is “keeping the Light shining in the Rockies” as she goes on 15 years of living in Missoula, Montana. After a successful run of directing Little Shop of Horrors, she is next slated to direct A Christmas Story. “Life is full of friendships, fam-ily, laughter and a really great dog, Max!”

1992Peggy Busker, who teaches Environ-mental Science at Buchtel High School in Akron, Ohio, recently presented a unit she created on drinking water and water quality at the National Science Teacher Association’s (NSTA) national conference.

1996David Ayala and his wife, Colleen, just celebrated their fifth anniversary in August. They live in Mayo, MD with their two awesome boys, James and Miles. Both David and Colleen enjoy their careers in public education.

2000Jocelyn Arem is enjoying life and music in North Carolina with her part-ner and good friends. She continues work on her documentary project to preserve the history of Caffé Lena, the country’s oldest continuously-running folk music coffeehouse. The project just received a GRAMMY Foundation grant, and Jocelyn had the privilege of interviewing Pete Seeger and Dr. Ber-

Louise Tate Hood's grandson Oscar welcomes his new brother, Mannix.

29Fall 2011

nice Johnson Reagon (whose daugh-ter, Toshi, is an SSFS alum), among others. She invites fellow Springers to follow her blog and visit her Facebook page and website, www.caffelenahis-tory.org. Also, hear Jocelyn on Blues singer, Danielle Miraglia’s new album Box of Troubles, where she contributed back-up vocals.

2001Nathan Harrington was recently hon-ored by Oxon Hill High School for his teaching accomplishments.

2002Kamissa Mort married Elizabeth Edwards on August 20, 2011, in Port Clyde, ME. Alums in attendance included Kamissa’s brother, Jon Mort ’02, Hannah Austin ’03, Lauren Bland ’01, Meghan Cassidy ’03, Sarah Evans ’03, Mauriana Fury ’10, Colin Hannon ’03, Luke Hannon ’13, Bonnie Imlay ’03, Liza Moran ’03, Sam Schneider ’09, Tommie Schneider ’06, Karissa Seltz (former student), Erin Stevens ’08, and Derek Turner ’98.

2005Jill Hayes married Andrew Orr on September 17, 2011, on a rooftop terrace in Greensboro, NC. She met Andrew when he helped her move into her freshman dorm at Guilford College. Jill is the Assistant Director

of Annual Giving at Guilford College, and Andrew is a Personal Banker at Wells Fargo.

2009David Dean, currently a student at Dickinson University, has helped spearhead a youth empowerment pro-gram called Unity Hoops Basketball. It integrates basketball training with an original life concepts curriculum founded in social justice. During a recent trip to the Crow Indian Reser-vation in southern Montana, David writes, "As the trip went on, I progres-sively realized that almost all of the philosophies, values and teachings that are at the essence of this empow-erment program came directly from

SSFS - all of which relate back to the simple idea of working hard for the person at your side." To learn more about Unity Hoops basketball visit www.unityhoops basketball.org.

Faculty and StaffBill Moody and Janet Cline-Moody took up their extended stay at Incline Village, NV, from June to October. “It sure beats the heat and humidity of the D.C. area!”

Jon and Kim Saderholm’s sons are beginning and ending at Grinnell College. Ian starts as a freshman this fall and Ben will be a graduating senior.

Jill Hayes '05 and new husband Andrew Orr.Kamissa Mort '02 celebrates her marriage to Elizabeth Edwards.

David Dean '09 (pictured far left) helped to create Unity Hoops Basketball, a youth empowerment program.


Upcoming Alumni Get-Togethers

Alumni News

Date: October 19, 2011Event: Atlanta Alumni and Family Dinner

Date: October 20, 2011Event: Baltimore Alumni and Family Reception

Date: October 28, 2011Event: Beijing Alumni and Family Reception

Date: November 5, 2011Event: Seoul Alumni and Family Reception

Date: November 15, 2011Event: Rededication of Scott House

Date: November 25, 2011Event: Alumni Soccer Game

Date: December 3, 2011Event: Winterfest

Date: January 4, 2012Event: Young Alumni Luncheon

Date: February 2012 (dates TBD)Event: Los Angeles & Seattle Alumni and Family Dinners

Date: February 26, 2012Event: Empty Bowl Dinner

Date: March 1-4, 2012Event: Community Play

Date: March 4, 2012Event: Parents of Alumni Reception

Date: April 19, 2012Event: Earth Stewardship Day

Date: June 1-2, 2012Event: Alumni Weekend

Reprinted from the Alumni Council Newsletterby Bonnie Imlay ’03

The Alumni Council has teamed up with the William Penn House in an effort to let our lives speak through stewardship and service to the greater local community. The Alumni Council will be setting up day-long service projects such as glean-ing farms in the fall and winterizing homes of those in need in the winter. We hope alumni of all ages will get involved in these opportunities. This is a great chance to meet new alums, network, and make a difference.

If you’re interested in more information when the projects are established, please e-mail us at [email protected]. Visit the William Penn House website at www.williampennhouse.org for more information about their programs.

Alumni Service Opportunities

Please save the dates for the following alumni and SSFS events during 2011-2012!

31Fall 2011

Those old folks you see going into the Middle School at 7:15 on Wednesday nights are not another, older cleaning crew. Those are parents, alumni, and

AP ("Aged Parent") British Lit Class with David Kahn

Alumni News

plain old "friends of the school" who have signed up to take David Kahn’s British Literature class - the Parents' Version.

“I offered a Rus-sian Lit. class last year that paral-leled the class the kids were taking during the day. It

seemed to be a success; people said they had a good time, so I thought I’d do it again,” said Kahn. This year, though, instead of Russian literature

it’s British lit that’s being offered.

“My original intent was to offer a class for parents whose kids were in the regular class. I think all the cre-ative new schedules, all the techno-logical wizardry, all the edge-cutting educationism in the world can’t take the place of sitting at the dinner table - or somewhere else - and talking with your kids about the books they are reading. Last year I had a couple of parents whose kids were in the class; this year we’ve got even more.” This year's AP (aged parents) British Literature class numbers about 20, made up of parents of present stu-dents, parents of past students, and one alum. Apparently, too, there are two alumni parents - one in London and one in Amsterdam - who claim to be keeping up with the readings from 3000 miles away.

The class meets Wednesday eve-nings from 7:30 until 9:00, and parallels the AP British Literature course being taught during the day. Parents, alumni, and friends cover in an evening a week’s worth of readings - or try to. “I give them the option of writing a paper,” David said. “Last year only one person took advantage of that option.” The course is scheduled to run only the first semester; “last year I had planned to do only one semester, too - but people in the class talked me into continuing into term II. We’ll have to see about this year.”

SSFS Goes On the Road!We are excited to announce that the Maryland Vehicle Administration (MVA) will be issuing organizational plates for Sandy Spring Friends School. Plates are $25, and checks should be made out to the MVA. If you would like to receive an application, please contact Mary Mazzuca at [email protected] or 301-774-7455, ext. 107.

Parents, alum, and parents of alum in David Kahn's Brit Lit class.

by David Kahn, Upper School English Teacher


In Memoriam - SSFS Board Member Pat MolesPat and Ollie Moles and their children, Betsy and Stephen, were early members of Lang-ley Hill Friends Meeting in McLean, VA. They attended the Ann Arbor, Michigan Meeting in the early 1960s and moved to the DC area in 1964. Pat ma-jored in religion and sociology at Ohio Wesleyan University, and worked to develop the spiritual and intellectual life of youth throughout her life.

From 1964-68 Pat organized seminars on international affairs and public policy-making for visiting college and high school youth at the newly opened William Penn House on Capitol Hill. She was a teacher in the First Day School at Langley Hill and coor-dinated arrangements for visiting students during the Vietnam War demonstrations.

During the 1970s, Pat was a research assistant at the Friends Committee on National Legislation working with founder Raymond Wilson on the national defense budget. Pat was also a leader in supervising programs of the Mid-Atlantic Region of the American Friends Service Committee, and worked for the

Montgomery County Public Schools as an appraisal specialist. In recent years she led workshops for AARP on questioning the concept of private accounts for Social Security and on adapting one’s home for retirement needs. Pat made many close friends in all these organizations.

Pat and Ollie continued their activity at Langley Hill until Pat’s untimely death in July 2011. In recent years Pat served actively on the Board of Sandy Spring Friends School and its Diversity Committee. She was also active on the Baltimore Yearly Meeting and the Langley Hill Working Groups on Racism. For the last ten or more years Pat and Ollie regularly attended the annual Friends General Conference Gatherings where they nourished old friendships and sought spiritual renewal.

After Pat learned that she had ALS in early 2010, she delivered a series of very moving messages in Meet-ings for Worship, sharing the benefits of a life’s inward seeking. As the disease progressed, Friends met with Pat for Meeting for Worship every week at her home, until two days before her death at age 77. Her mes-sages continue to inspire.

Alumni News

New for 2011: Alumni Council NewsletterAs part of the Alumni Council's ongoing outreach and communication ef-forts, an Alumni Council Newsletter is being sent to all SSFS alums. The first newsletter was sent out in early October. If you are an SSFS alum and did not receive the newsletter, please contact [email protected] to ensure that we have your current mailing address. The newsletter features articles about SSFS events, upcoming alumni get-togethers, and more. The Alumni Council wants to engage SSFS alums and remind you that even after graduation, you remain a valuable member of the SSFS community. Let us know your thoughts, con-cerns, and ideas! Email us at [email protected].

From the Archives More photos from the first years of SSFS...

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Sandy Spring Friends School Community News: Fall 2011