QUAKER LIFE IN MOTION: MIDDLE SCHOOL
Quakerism is practiced in three concrete ways at the Middle School. The first is through Meeting for Worship, held each week on Thursdays. Meeting for Worship is a core part of how the Middle School community sees itself. Parents are always invited, and there were two great occasions where visitors (grandparents, parents, students) were a part of worship. Also, most classes, faculty meetings, and assemblies start with a moment of silence, which, in the manner of Friends, allows for silent centering.

The next way this approach is developed, from the faculty and staff point of view, is through frequent philosophical reference to the understanding that there is that of God in everyone. In the Middle School, this concept often serves as an underpinning in many contexts in developing students’ certain habits of mind. Colleagues make reference to looking for that of God in everyone, and the faculty embraces stewardship as a point of references for community-wide conversations that address that there is that of God in everything.

The second aspect of Quaker education occurs academically. The Quads Course, which is short for Quakerism/Art/Design/Service, provides an interdisciplinary approach. It is taught by Assistant Head of School Stephanie Judson and Ruth McGee-Barrett, of the visual arts department. The course, which all seventh graders take, covers Quaker history as well as the biography of a famous Quaker. Quaker thought and practice is interwoven throughout the course, and is integrated into the other components such as the art, which may, for example, include an assignment for designing a movie poster of the historic Quaker students are researching.

Third and finally, service is an intrinsic and essential component of Quaker belief. It is about our Quaker identity, and is done in a variety of settings, both Quaker and non-Quaker. Through Quads Service Learning, the students work at Stapley, a retirement community in Germantown. There is the Annual Middle School Day of Service with visible displays following, such as the student-made banners that are hung in the Middle School lobby. In 2008, the students visited personal care homes, cleaned up neighborhood parks, volunteered at food distribution centers, and worked with young children at area schools. Sites of service include Wissahickon Charter School, Northern Home, Taylor School and KenCrest, Cloverly Park and Laurel Hill Cemetery, Kaysim Court and Ohana House, McMichael Park in East Falls, Tindley Soup Kitchen on Broad Street, Aid for Friends and SHARE, Widener Memorial School, and the Greene Street Friends School Tree Lab.

Every Friday, each homeroom has its own service day with parents invited, and every other Friday in the winter during intramural time, the students play games or choose a sport, so that one quarter of the students do service through the winter. Every student has performed service in three or four capacities by the end of the year.