Earlier this month, teachers Courtney Miller, Lara Munch, and Rodri Saldana led 17 WFS upper school students on a trip to Panama as part of Vámonos Tours. Students spent time visiting with the indigenous people of the Emberá-Wounaan community, engaging in service work on the San Blas Islands, assisting older adults at Hogar Bolivar, exploring the Panama Canal, learning how to salsa dance, and touring the Sergio Perez Delgado Bilingual School.
Students enjoyed their time with the indigenous people of the Emberá-Wounaan community. They helped community members clean Lake Gatún as the Emberá people are part of efforts to keep Panama free and clean from the trash and plastic that lands in the water. They also danced, played football, and ate a traditional lunch with the Emberá people. The Emberá community leader also remarked that, while interacting with many American groups, they had never seen a group who spoke Spanish as well as this group of WFS upper school students.
During their time in the San Blas Islands, WFS students were led by their tour guide, Toto. Toto introduced them to his family, the village leader, and took them to their village meeting space. Speaking in Guna, the village leader informed students about their traditional land, its importance to their community, and why they do not wish to move to housing on the mainland, for it is where they belong. WFS students also helped Toto paint a school with the children. Afterward, they swam together in a natural swimming pool in the Guna Yala Archipelago and played volleyball on the beach. The archipelago consists of 365 islands, of which only 49 are inhabited.
Students enjoyed visiting the Sergio Perez Delgado Bilingual School in Monagrillo. They spoke Spanish, played various sports and games with the children, and helped clean the school. Afterward, students learned from two artisans. The first artisan created devil masks, which were used for specific dances. He demonstrated his mask-making process and explained how many hours it takes to create various types of masks. The second artisan they learned from made drums and walked them through the process of making one drum. After lunch, WFS students joined the locals and learned how to salsa dance.
WFS faculty and staff members traveled to Bryan Stevenson's Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, on Juneteenth to attend the unveiling of Freedom Memorial Sculpture Park. This new park uses art to honor and remember the ten million Black Americans who were enslaved in America.
In late June, 11 WFS upper school students traveled to Acadia National Park in Maine with teachers Kelley Cox and Sara Woodward for a QUEST service learning trip in partnership with Earthwatch.
Earlier this month, teachers Courtney Miller, Lara Munch, and Rodri Saldana led 17 WFS upper school students on a trip to Panama as part of Vámonos Tours. Students spent time visiting with the indigenous people of the Emberá-Wounaan community, engaging in service work on the San Blas Islands, assisting older adults at Hogar Bolivar, exploring the Panama Canal, learning how to salsa dance, and touring the Sergio Perez Delgado Bilingual School.
J.R. comes to us from The New School in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where he has served as Head of Upper School since 2020. Over his four years there, J.R. developed an interim term program consisting of 2-week experiential “mini” courses; created a seminar program for students with weekly sessions on topics such as wellness, study skills, and college counseling; and worked on setting up K-12 community group structures to facilitate better cross-divisional communication and understanding.
For the final event of our 275th anniversary celebration, WFS hosted a two-day workshop, in collaboration with the Delaware Association for the Education of Young Children (deaeyc), focused on equity in early education.
Service learning is a foundation of Quaker education, linking the classroom to the world and building our students’ sense of responsibility as members of communities, large and small.
Lower school students participated in Big Bang of the Books, a reading club shared across WFS, Tatnall, and Tower Hill that includes more than 170 students!
Celebrations for the Class of 2024 have begun, and last night was Senior Exploration Night, where members of the Class of 2024 presented the projects they've been working on for the last month.
Bravo to all who performed in last week's 275th Anniversary Band and Choral Concert at The Playhouse theater in downtown Wilmington, close to the School's original home at 4th and West.
Higher Level International Baccalaureate biology students recently visit the ChristianaCare Gene Editing Institute where they worked in the learning lab to perform a CRISPR experiment (a technology used for editing genes) and toured the gene editing lab!
We recently had a visit from former 5th grade teacher, Marcia Jones, pictured with her former colleague (Teal Rickerman) and former students who are now members of the WFS faculty and staff: Julia Morse Forester '00, Alex Mellow '01, Chris Loeffler '00, and Katie Wolf Martinenza '99!
Congratulations to our 7th and 8th grade band and choir who traveled to Hershey Park for the Music in the Parks Festival, where they both received a first place, excellent rating!
As part of our annual Wellness Day, organized by members of the Quaker Cares Committee, WFS middle and upper school students participated in various activities facilitated by faculty and staff members. Students enjoyed yoga, playing multiple sports, and jamming out in the band room.
Dr. Tracey Dennis-Tiwary, author of the book, Future Tense: Why Anxiety is Good for You (Even Though It Feels Bad) recently visited with WFS parents and faculty members. In her talk on anxiety in the context of education, Dr. Dennis-Tiwary, who is an anxiety researcher and bestselling author, discussed new perspectives on child anxiety.
The WFS boys’ lacrosse team defeated St. Andrew’s School on Saturday afternoon, 9-3! With their victory over the Saints, the Quakers finished undefeated in conference play and captured the DISC Championship for the second consecutive year.
Statement of Nondiscrimination as to Student Enrollment
Wilmington Friends School admits students of any race, color, gender, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students of these schools. Wilmington Friends School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, national and ethnic origin in administration of their educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school administered programs.