Congratulations to the Penn Charter Class of 2026! The celebration commenced in the Graham Athletics & Wellness Center, as our graduating seniors, surrounded by family, friends, faculty and staff, celebrated their Penn Charter journey.

Paul Hough OPC '77, clerk of the Board of Trustees, led a scripture reading followed by silent worship in the manner of Friends. Student speakers followed, including Rainer Malhotra and Mireille Ohemeng.

Jack Kraemer, senior class clerk, presented the Senior Gift. Head of School Karen Warren Coleman presented the Phi Beta Kappa Award to Jack Kraemer and Rainer Malhotra (given to the student outstanding in scholarship in the graduating class), and Alumni Society President Edward Morris III OPC '94 presented the PC Alumni Society Senior Award to Rainer Malhotra (given to a senior who on qualification of scholarship, character, leadership and athletic ability exemplifies the best PC type).

After the presentation of diplomas, the ceremony ended with Quakers Dozen performing "In My Life" by Lennon and McCartney, followed by the Penn Charter alma mater performed by the Quakers Dozen and Penn Charter Commencement Band.

Congratulations, Class of 2026! We are so proud of you!

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Students, families, friends, faculty and staff gathered in the Kurtz Center of the Performing Arts to celebrate fifth grade students at their Moving-Up Ceremony on Thursday, June 4, 2026.

The event began with the Handbell Choir performing "Festival Fanfare," directed by music teacher Jaysen Rosario. Head of School Karen Warren Coleman greeted the audience, followed by remarks from Director of Lower School Thu-Nga Morris.

Fifth grade students, including Anna Barsanti, Madeleine Cohen, Cora Sangobowale, Saya Shah, Aryana Adappa, Thomas Jackson V, Malcolm Sullivan, Leo Serventi, Leia Gannone, Emery Distel-Wherley and Zena Kapust St. Fort, offered inspirational words for their classmates and shared reflections on their experiences in Lower School.

Emma Milner, Maeve Cunningham, Henry Grinwis and Ava Mondrosch introduced the video presentation of the fifth grade, which featured photographs of the students through the years.

Thu-Nga Morris awarded each fifth grader a certificate, and Director of Middle School Kathleen Clinchy welcomed them to the Middle School. 

The Penn Pals sang "Blessing," followed by the entire fifth grade performing the Penn Charter Alma Mater, and finally "As We Leave This Friendly Place," a long-standing Lower School tradition.

Congratulations to the Class of 2033! 

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On Thursday, June 4, 2026, the eighth grade class concluded their middle school journey with a beautiful moving-up ceremony.

The Graham Athletics & Wellness Center was filled with family, friends, faculty, staff and fellow middle school students to celebrate the eighth graders who will be moving on to Upper School this fall. Eighth graders Graham Sala and Nabil Mustapha welcomed their classmates and introduced Head of School Karen Warren Coleman, who addressed the audience and shared reflections on the past school year. Inés Sheer and Sophia Balin remarked on their eighth grade experiences and initiated a call to gathering as the ceremony held a short Meeting for Worship.

The program featured speeches from six students: Paul Mazur, sixth grade; Nicky Howe, seventh grade; and Emerson Walsh, Mallory Michener, Simone Borish and Andie Shaginaw, eighth grade. Eighth graders Leela Vedanthan and Bianca Jones gave the teacher acknowledgment speech. Eighth Grade Choir performed "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" by Billy Joel, accompanied and directed by Choral Director Tony Yoo. Special awards and presentations for the graduates followed.

Director of Middle School Kathleen Clinchy led the Moving-Up ceremony and Director of Upper School Kim Berndt welcomed the eighth graders to Upper School.

Award Winners

Hal Commons Memorial Award
Presented by Kathleen Clinchy, this award is given to a Middle School student who best exemplifies the qualities of caring, sharing and responsibility.

• Rex Bremner, Lena Polite

Richard Mott Jones Memorial Award
Presented by Kerry Howard, assistant director of the Middle School, this award is given to an outstanding member of the eighth grade class who excels in academics, athletics, the fine and performing arts, and contributes positively to the social environment in our Middle School.

• Delilah Halcomb

Antonios S. Thomas Memorial Award
Presented by Karen Warren Coleman, this award is given to a Middle School student who best embodies the spirit, energy and enthusiasm of Middle School and has earned the respect of students and teachers alike. The recipient's presence in Middle School has made our community better.

• Juliette Torrisi

Congratulations to the Class of 2030!

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On May 22, Upper School students at Penn Charter were honored with various year-end awards during the annual Upper School Prize Assembly.

Faculty, staff, classmates, and family gathered to celebrate their achievements. Additionally, 37 students received recognition for completing Penn Charter certificate programs in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice, Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability, and Global Culture and Language. The ceremony concluded with the naming of this year's Commencement speakers, Rainer Malhotra and Mimi Ohemeng, and the formal dedication of the 2026 Class Record (yearbook) to teachers Charlie Brown and Susan Ahrenholdt.

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View the range of awards and the recipients below. Congratulations to all!

This year’s Color Day competition brought crowds of parents, family members and alumni to enjoy the friendly rivalry between the Blue and the Yellow teams. The Penn Charter Family Association provided the volunteers and the treats, from burgers to popcorn to ice cream, donuts, hot dogs and tomato pie. 

Congratulations to the Yellow team, winner of the 2026 Color Day! This year marks the 134th year of Color Day - it's a tradition that dates back to 1892.

Thank you to all the people who made this joyful day possible, from the PCFA parent volunteers to the band, faculty and staff, and of course Penn Charter students across every division. You left it all on the field, and we're so proud of you! Check out more photos.

During the month of May each year, eighth grade science students immerse themselves in their annual physics project, the Physics 500, where they brainstorm, design, construct and race a cardboard car.

Using their understanding of forces, energy, torque, simple machines and more, they work in groups of four to brainstorm ideas, draw preliminary designs in their “race journals,” decide on a team name, logo, and slogan, and engineer their cardboard car. In the classroom, they study simple machines. As the project rolls on, students are assigned a “pit” space in the IdeaLab to construct their cars. After receiving their first distribution of cardboard, they move on to making measurements, hypotheses and detailed sketches. Teams build cars using cardboard, glue, and PVC pipes that carry a 25-pound weight with a mannequin driver.

The cars then compete in a gravity-powered distance race where teams face off in elimination rounds until the ultimate winner gets crowned. The goal is to see how far the cars can travel rather than how fast they can go. This year several Upper School students kicked off the event by racing two electric cars they had built from the ground up under the guidance of physics teacher Tim Clarke.

Congratulations to “Space Jam” on winning this year’s Physics 500!

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Open to 11th and 12th graders, teacher Sharon Ahram’s Peace, Justice and Social Change class explores the history of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement within the broader landscape of 20th century social movements. The course emphasizes the ways the African American Freedom Movement has shaped—and continues to shape—national conversations about equality, democracy and social justice.

Peace, Justice and Social Change has evolved over decades. Retired Penn Charter teacher Jim Ballengee Hon. 1689 traces its roots back 37 years, noting that when he arrived at PC in 1991, religion teacher Bill Kashatus had introduced a series of courses known as Art of Caring. “The whole idea was to get kids out of the classroom,” Ballengee recalled. “While learning about issues connected to the curriculum, they were also working directly with individuals in the community. For a Quaker school, that was so natural—extending outward into the community is right in our wheelhouse.”

In earlier years, the course centered on urban issues and poverty. In Philadelphia, students volunteered in public schools, maintained food banks at St. James School, and partnered with St. Francis Inn Ministries in Kensington. In 2003, Ballengee’s third year teaching Peace, Justice and Social Change, he brought students to the South Bronx in New York to visit a homeless shelter and public housing project. The work culminated in 2015 with the founding of Penn Charter’s Center for Public Purpose, launched under then-Head of School Darryl J. Ford Hon. 1689. With expanded resources and staffing, the center wove service learning into every grade level and strengthened partnerships with local organizations and marginalized communities.

As the course has grown and transformed, so too has its focus. Ahram, who took the reins from Ballengee in 2016, has reshaped the curriculum in response to student interests. “Year after year, students became really interested in the justice system—justice reform and mass incarceration,” she explained. “That’s where I started bringing in Bryan Stevenson’s work, along with research and advocacy from the Juvenile Law Center and the Innocence Project. I want students to know the history but also to see how we got here, what’s happening now and how they can be voices for change.”

Through guest speakers, site visits and case studies, Ahram encourages students to confront their own assumptions about the justice system, including stereotypes about people who are or have been incarcerated. “Ideally,” she said, “students begin to grasp the why behind problems in our justice system. These issues aren't isolated. They're rooted in deeper systems and histories that shape people's lives.”

For many students, Peace, Justice and Social Change becomes a springboard to independent projects. Inspired by guest speaker Judge Chelsey Lightsey, Zahir Kalam Id-Din OPC ’25 interned with her last year for his Senior Project. Reflecting on his experience, he said: “Many offenders were young adults not that much older than myself. I couldn’t stop asking: How do we prevent our youth from ending up in jail and becoming another statistic?”

Dean and Wills Kaiser, both OPC ’25, found a similar calling after learning about the case of Tyree Wallace, a man who served 26 years of a life sentence without parole for a second-degree felony murder conviction. After Wallace’s life sentence was vacated in November 2024, the brothers, then seniors, brought his story to Ahram’s class. Wills explained: “I realized one of the best ways to fight a wrongful conviction is to raise awareness—as loudly as possible.”

“Having a chance to participate in the movement for Tyree's rightful release, including speaking to him while he was incarcerated months before the hearing, has been one of the most impactful experiences of my life,” Dean said.

Their advocacy soon extended beyond the classroom. On Jan. 16, 2025, Wallace spoke at Penn Charter about his life in prison and his fight for reform. Addressing students and faculty, he credited their voices with helping to win his freedom. “The only reason I am here is because of people such as Dean, Wills and the other students who said, ‘We don’t care about procedure, we don’t care about technicality—he didn’t commit the crime, let him out.’ It was those voices—rallying, signing petitions, demanding better—that made the difference.”

Ballengee noted that Peace, Justice and Social Change not only inspires school projects and service but also has long-lasting impacts. “I still have kids who write to me and talk about the impact on the rest of their life from that,” he said. “It's really rewarding when you hear: ‘That really made a difference for me, that I confronted those issues and dealt with them in my own mind in my high school years.’”

Boys track and girls track and wrestling had a lot to brag about during Penn Charter's winter athletics season. Read on for details of the whole slate of teams.

GIRLS INDOOR TRACK

It was a season for the ages for the Quakers, who repeated as both Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association (PAISAA) and Pennsylvania Track & Field Coaches Association (PTFCA) champions. School records fell like dominoes throughout the season—Marlie Klein broke the PC record for the indoor one-mile run in late January, only for Mackenzie Skelly to break that mark two weeks later at the PAISAA Championships. Skelly also broke the school record in the two-mile run the same day with the fastest time in the event’s history. Additional records set at the PAISAA event came from Keagan Seth (meet and school records, high jump); Zsuzsi Pollock (school record, shot put); and Logan Lloyd (meet record, 200-meter run). 

The team’s excellence was not limited to one or two meets. Michaela Poland broke the school record in the 400-meter indoor run early in the season. On the relay side, the distance medley quartet of Skelly, Klein, Lloyd and Gwen Hamilton recorded the fastest time for a Pennsylvania relay team, as well as the second-fastest time nationally, at the Virginia Showcase in mid-January. Two weeks later, the 4x800 team of Skelly, Klein, Hamilton and Abby Downin set a Pennsylvania state record at the 118th Millrose Games in New York City. At the PTFCA Indoor State Championship on March 1, Hamilton became a two-time state champion, winning the 800-meter run and joining Downin, Tisa Edwards and Beatrice O’Connell on the victorious distance medley relay team.

BOYS INDOOR TRACK

The boys indoor team also enjoyed an outstanding winter, with a definitive highlight being the school record in the 4x400 relay event being broken five separate times. First, Lamir Calloway, Nate Keller, Matthew Furda and Ethan Leggett ran a 3:34.71 in January. Two weeks later, Calloway, Kevin White, Ryan Musial and Benny Hsu took the record down for the second time with a mark of 3:33.90. White, Hsu, Keller and Christian Downs then ran a 3:33.52 at a meet the first week of February, only for the record to fall a fourth time a mere 10 minutes later when Musial, Calloway, Furda and Elijah Kalam Id-Din shaved the time down to 3:33.20. Finally, it was the quartet of Keller, Calloway, Furda and Leggett that smashed the record  for a fifth and final occurrence, this time by nearly six seconds with a posted time of 3:27.63 on Feb. 6.

It wasn’t only 4x400 relay combinations that achieved success, as the 4x200 team of Kalam Id-Din, Keller, Furda and Leggett set a school record with a time of 1:29.06, also on Feb. 6. Individually, Dunn set a new program record in the 3000-meter run in February before following that up with a third-place finish in the two-mile run at the Eastern State Championships in New York City on March 3.

WRESTLING

Penn Charter also enjoyed big success on the wrestling mat, finishing 20-4 overall and 3-2 in the Inter-Ac League, good for a third place finish. The Quakers captured first place at the Griffin-Panther Duals in December as well as the Pequea Valley Duals in late January. The team defended its home turf on Jan. 17 when PC won the Penn Charter Invitational, an on-campus event featuring 14 other schools. Other strong showings included third-place finishes at both the 16-team Tommy Legge Memorial in Virginia to ring in the New Year, as well as at PA Prep States along with 18 other schools in mid-February. Senior Simon Bethea had the best individual finish at PA Prep States, placing third at 175 pounds, while five other Quakers nabbed fourth-place finishes. 

Bethea (175), along with fellow seniors Augie Turner (190) and Tristen Padget (215) and sophomore Matteo Pritchett (144) were all named to the all-league second team, with Padget finishing his career four wins shy of 100. Senior Izzy Steinbock wrestled to a fourth-place finish at National Girls Preps in late February, making her Penn Charter’s first female All-American wrestler. The future of the program certainly looks bright too, with eighth grader Ryan Filoon leading the team with 42 wins, while freshman Parker Band won 31 matches.

BOYS BASKETBALL

The 2025-26 season marked the first time in five years that Penn Charter did not win an Inter-Ac championship, though there were still significant victories claimed during a 15-win season that saw a younger Quakers group finish tied for third in the Inter-Ac. The team advanced to the PAISAA Tournament quarterfinals before falling to Westtown School in the final game of the season. Sophomore Carter Smith was a first team all-league selection after averaging 19.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.9 steals per game. Smith enjoyed a historic triple-double performance of 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a January game against Hun School. Kasey Fleming also had a senior season to remember, averaging 17.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game while recording the 1,000th point of his career in a win over Kiski School. 

GIRLS BASKETBALL

The girls basketball squad finished the season with 11 wins, finishing fifth in a very strong Inter-Ac while also making it to the PAISAA Tournament quarterfinals, where the Quakers endured a hard-fought five-point loss to league rival Notre Dame. One year after earning second team honors at the league level, senior Marleigh Jackson this time cracked the first team as PC’s sole all-league honoree. Molly Dougherty, Aubrei Smith and Laila Sharp also enjoyed strong offensive seasons for the Quakers.

BOYS SQUASH

Penn Charter finished with a 9-10 overall record, including a third-place standing in the Inter-Ac League. The Quakers enjoyed a particularly strong showing in their final event of the season at the 2026 U.S. High School Team Championships, a three-day event in Philadelphia at the end of February, also known as Nationals. As the No. 3 seed in the Boys’ IV bracket, PC reeled off three consecutive victories over Trinity-Pawling School (NY), Walt Whitman High School (MD) and Brookline High School (MA) before falling short against top-seeded Crystal Springs Upland School (CA) in the final. James Killinger and Ramzi Wilkins were both named to the all-league second team for a job well done this season. 

GIRLS SQUASH

The PC girls’ squash squad finished with a winning record of 8-7 overall, which also included a fourth place finish in the Inter-Ac. The Quakers also enjoyed a strong showing at Nationals, finishing 2-2 for the weekend as the No. 8 seed in the Girls’ II bracket. They earned hard-fought 4-3 victories over both Middlesex School (MA) and Taft School (CT) while coming up just short against local rival Conestoga and top-seeded Sacred Heart Greenwich (CT). Junior Paige Taub was the program’s lone all-league selection, as she was named to the second team.

GIRLS SWIMMING

While countless PC student-athletes enjoyed immense success in their sport of choice last winter, sophomore Eila Spaman was the only Quaker to win a league MVP this past winter, or in her case, the Most Valuable Swimmer award. Spaman broke school records in both the 50- and 100-meter freestyle events at the Inter-Ac Invitational on January 31, then broke her own record again in the 50 free two weeks later at the Eastern Prep Championships at Franklin & Marshall College (the Quakers placed third as a team at both events). Also at Easterns, the 200- and 400-meter relay teams of Spaman, Cate DeMartinis, Lili DeMartinis and Nola Waldbuesser set meet records in both events. All four of those swimmers were named to the Inter-Ac’s all-league team, with Spaman’s MVP leading the way, following a 3-3 overall finish in dual meets that landed them in fourth place in the Inter-Ac.

BOYS SWIMMING

The Quakers picked up their lone victory of the season on January 28, a 104-79 decision against the Hill School. The program finished fifth at the Inter-Ac Invitational with 138 team points before swimming to a 17th-place finish at the Eastern Prep Championships for the second consecutive season. Sophomore Owen Trostle was Penn Charter’s lone male swimmer to be selected to the all-league team. 

— Ed Morrone

See photos by Zamani Feelings.

Penn Charter Summer Camps, on a 47-acre campus, offer engaging, active, creative and fun summers for children 3-17. Day Camp is packed with classic activities that both children and counselors love.

Daily swimming, a talent show for all ages, a cookout, an end-of-summer camp fair, the traditional yellow vs. red rope pull, and making friends in a nurturing environment let children grow and thrive. Sports Camp keeps campers active with varied contests, archery, swimming and day trips. One-week specialty camps offer something for everyone: Perform a musical, fly a drone, build a robot, learn to skateboard, learn to debate with a philosophy professor, improve your Minecraft game, and more. Varsity Camps hone skills in basketball, squash, soccer, baseball and – new this year! – football. And don't miss the Phillies and 76ers Camps. See all the camps!

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