Coordinates: 40.03278° N 75.17167° W Germantown Friends School (GFS) is a co-educational K-12 school in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA under the supervision of Germantown Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). It is governed by a School Committee whose members are drawn mainly from the membership of the Meeting and the School's alumni. The School's current Head is Richard "Dick" L. Wade. Image File history File links Germantown Friends School Seal File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... 1845 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Germantown was originally the Borough of Germantown, a town in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania and is today a neighborhood in Philadelphia, about six miles northwest from the center of the city. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ... K-12 (Pronounced Kay through twelve or just Kay twelve) is the North American designation for primary and secondary education. ... Germantown was originally the Borough of Germantown, a town in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania and is today a neighborhood in Philadelphia, about six miles northwest from the center of the city. ... Nickname: City of Brotherly Love, Philly, the Quaker City Motto: Philadelphia maneto (Let brotherly love continue) Location in Pennsylvania Coordinates: Country United States State Pennsylvania County Philadelphia Founded October 27, 1682 Incorporated October 25, 1701 Mayor John F. Street (D) Area    - City 369. ... Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Area  Ranked 33rd  - Total 46,055 sq mi (119,283 km²)  - Width 280 miles (455 km)  - Length 160 miles (255 km)  - % water 2. ... -1...

Since the 1930s, Germantown Friends has been a respected and influential private day school, educating students in traditional humanistic studies in the light of the Quaker tradition. Many graduates have gone on to leading colleges and universities in the United States, including Ivy League institutions. In 1925, admission statistics at the University of Pennsylvania showed that 10-20% of the Germantown Friends School graduating class matriculated at the University. Due to the strong academic preparation of the school, the percentage of Germantown Friends graduates who matriculate at Penn remains about 10-20%. Other popular college destinations include Princeton University, Dartmouth College, Haverford College, Brown University, Trinity College, and the University of Chicago. Present Germantown Friends students generally have a reputation for community service, intellectual boldness, and broad artistic interests. For the record label, see Ivy League Records. ... This article is about the private Ivy League university in Philadelphia. ... Princeton University is a private coeducational research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States of America. ... Dartmouth College is a private, coeducational university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, in the United States. ... Haverford College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Haverford, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. ... Brown University is a private university located in Providence, Rhode Island. ... Trinity College is a private liberal arts college in Hartford, Connecticut. ... The University of Chicago is a private university located principally in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. ...

History

Germantown Friends School was founded in 1845 by Germantown Monthly Meeting which had grown in size and stature in the Philadelphia Quaker community during the previous several decades. The school was founded in response to a request of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting which like all Friends Meetings valued an equal education for boys and girls. Until some time in the early 20th century, Germantown Friends was a "select" school, meaning that only the children of Quaker parents were admitted. The school in the early 20th century was a cheerful but proper place. Germantown Monthly Meeting was an Orthodox meeting (see Quakerism and Quaker history) and thus valued classical education, but athletics and the arts were still considered, as they had been since the founding of the Society of Friends in the 17th century, a diversion from the essentials needed by a young person growing up in a complex world. Esther Greenleaf Mürer has collected some relevant sources on this issue. [1]. The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, or Friends, is a religious community founded in England in the 17th century. ... The Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, is a movement that began in England in the 17th century. ...

Attitudes were softening toward athletics at Germantown Friends, however. Baseball games against Chestnut Hill Academy and Penn Charter became regular events by about 1910. Nevertheless, the fine arts still were considered spiritually suspect. Irvin C. Poley, Class of 1908, however was not convinced that Quaker belief was inconsistent with a love of drama and music. Before and after his graduation from Germantown Friends, he attended concerts and plays in Philadelphia and New York, collecting a scrapbook of programs and reviews that is one of the archival treasures of GFS's Friends Free Library. He also studied drama seriously from a literary perspective. During his years as a teacher and administrator at GFS, Poley began to introduce drama gradually, first as an academic pursuit and later in performance. As a convinced Quaker, he also convinced Germantown Monthly Meeting to reflect seriously on traditional theological objections to the arts. In the larger Quaker world, others were apparently encouraging similar reflection. Poley eventually was successful, building a foundation for the tradition of excellent training in the visual arts, creative exploration in the literary arts, and especially expansive intracurricular and extracurricular activities in drama and music, which became an increasingly important focus within the larger mission of the school. A view of the playing field at Busch Memorial Stadium, St. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... The William Penn Charter School, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was established in 1689 by William Penn as a day school and is the oldest Quaker school in the world. ... Fine art is a term used to refer to fields traditionally considered to be artistic. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... Theology is literally rational discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, rational discourse). By extension, it also refers to the study of other religious topics. ... // Music is an art form consisting of sound and silence expressed through time. ...

During the 1920s, Germantown Friends underwent a transformation. The Meeting decided it was inappropriate to continue as a Select school, since so many non-Quakers could benefit from the School's approach to education. Under the leadership of Headmaster Stanley R. Yarnall during the 1930s, Germantown Friends School emphasized academic excellence, and it was considered among the top ten private day schools in the nation, nearly rivaling boarding schools such as St. Paul's and Groton in prominence. The admission of non-Quaker students from wealthy and socially prominent families, however, may have compromised the commitment of the school to Quaker ethics of social justice. It also has been argued that the membership of Germantown Monthly Meeting from 1680-1950 cannot be characterized as of one mind concerning racial equality. On one hand, some of the earliest abolitionists were among its membership. On the other hand, Germantown Friends School for the first half of the 20th century resisted attempts at racial integration. In the early 1940s, for instance, two prominent African-American lawyers in Philadelphia sought admission of their daughter to Germantown Friends. The girl certainly was qualified for admission to elementary school, having excellent recommendations from her kindergarten teachers, and in addition, her aunt was a Quaker. The school admissions committee, however, concerned that parents would withdraw their children if the girl was admitted, rejected her for admission. In the UK and elsewhere, a head teacher is the most senior teacher in a school. ... Languages Predominantly American English Religions Protestantism (chiefly Baptist and Methodist); Roman Catholicism; Islam Related ethnic groups Sub-Saharan Africans and other African groups, some with Native American groups. ... For information on the type of fish called Lawyer, see the article on Burbot. ...

Strangely, it may have been the pacifism of Friends that forced their moral courage concerning racism to return. After President Roosevelt ordered the internment of Japanese-Americans on the West Coast, the American Friends Service Committee convinced interned families to send high school-age children to Quaker schools in the East. It was these students who first "integrated" Germantown Friends, apparently causing some tension but generally not leading to the withdrawals that had been feared. This effort also may have provided one important seed of the reconstruction of Japan after World War II. In 1947, Elizabeth Gray Vining, an alumna of Germantown Friends and Bryn Mawr College and member of Germantown Monthly Meeting (and winner of the Newbery Medal for Adam of the Road), was asked by the Imperial Household of Japan to come to Japan to tutor the children of Emperor Hirohito, including Prince Tsugo (the present Emperor Akihito). The strong relationship between Japan and Germantown Friends continued. When future Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka was working in the United States after the fall of the government of Nobusuke Kishi in which he had been Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, he sent his daughter Makiko Tanaka to Germantown Friends, from which she graduated in 1963. Makiko later became Foreign Minister in 2001 under the government of Junichiro Koizumi until her resignation in 2002. During an official visit to the United States in June 2001, she visited Germantown Friends. Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes or gaining advantage. ... Racism is a belief or concept that inherent differences between people (such as those upon which the concept of race is based) determine cultural or individual achievement, and may involve the idea that ones own race is superior. ... President Roosevelt can refer to two different people who were President of the United States: Theodore Roosevelt Franklin D. Roosevelt It may also refer to the President Roosevelt ship, involved in a 1926 martime disaster. ... American Friends Service Committee logo The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) affiliated organization which works for social justice, peace and reconciliation, abolition of the death penalty, and human rights, and provides humanitarian relief. ... Elizabeth Janet Gray Vining (October 6, 1902 - November 27, 1999) tutored Emperor Akihito in English. ... “Bryn Mawr” redirects here. ... Emperor Shōwa ) (April 29, 1901 – January 7, 1989) was the 124th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from December 25, 1926 until his death in 1989. ... Akihito () (born December 23, 1933) is the current Emperor ) of Japan, the 125th sovereign to hold that title, according to the traditional order of succession. ... Kakuei Tanaka (田中 角栄 Tanaka Kakuei May 4, 1918–December 16, 1993) was a Japanese politician and the 64th and 65th Prime Minister of Japan from July 7, 1972 to December 22, 1972 and from December 22, 1972 to December 9, 1974 respectively. ... Nobusuke Kishi Nobusuke Kishi (岸 信介 Kishi Nobusuke, November 13, 1896–August 7, 1987) was a Japanese politician and the 56th and 57th Prime Minister of Japan from February 25, 1957 to June 12, 1958 and from then to July 19, 1960. ... Makiko Tanaka (田中 真紀子 Tanaka Makiko, born in Nishiyama, Niigata,January 14, 1944) is a Japanese politician, the daughter of former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka. ... Junichiro Koizumi , born January 8, 1942) is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006. ...

Admission of African-Americans to Germantown Friends began in 1948. The Germantown Friends' Community Scholars Program, which provides full tuition and the payment of other expenses to qualified low-income students from the neighborhoods surrounding Germantown Friends, has done a great deal to increase and maintain the school's racial and economic diversity despite the school's great popularity among a wealthier and less diverse population in other parts of Philadelphia and the Main Line suburbs. The GFS Craft Show is the primary fundraiser for the Community Scholars Program, and it is one of the most prominent juried craft shows on the East Coast. It also should be noted that the Meeting, led by its commitment to the community, declined to move the school elsewhere in the area, despite a change in the racial and economic makeup of Germantown and a generous offer of land in the Philadelphia suburbs. Other schools in the area, such as Germantown Academy, have not made the same choice. For the New Jersey Transit (formerly Erie Railroad) Main Line, see Main Line (NJ Transit). ... Germantown Academy is Americas oldest nonsectarian day school, founded on December 6, 1759 (originally named the Germantown Union School). Germantown Academy (also referred to as GA) is now a K-12 school in the Fort Washington suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, having moved from its original Germantown campus in...

Athletic traditions

Germantown Friends School teams are nicknamed "The Tigers." A charter member of the Friends Schools League (FSL) [2], its teams are almost always competitive within the League and sometimes are well-known in the Philadelphia area. A friendly rivalry exists between GFS and Friends' Central School, who compete with each other for possession of the Felsen Cup, named after an administrator who has worked at and given much to both schools. Another rival is Penn Charter School, whose campus is adjacent to Germantown Friends' athletic fields. However, Penn Charter is a member of the Inter-Academic League, de-intensifying this rivalry. One interesting tradition of Germantown Friends School basketball teams is never to play full-court defense if leading by 20 points or more. GFS also excels in other athletic activities as well, for instance teaching students rock-climbing. There is no Germantown Friends School fight song. Further, the school guidelines on spectator-conduct encourage cheering in favor of the GFS teams, forbid cheering against the opposing team, and are enforced by all faculty and staff present at athletic contests. Friends Central School (FCS) is a Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) school located in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, a section of Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania. ... Penn Charter, located in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, was established in 1689 by William Penn as an all male college-preparatory day school and is the oldest Quaker School in the world. ...

Academic and extracurricular traditions

Since 1993, Germantown Friends has been divided into three divisions, the Lower School (K-5), the Middle School (6-8) (later named after former teacher, administrator, and Quaker, Eric W. Johnson), and the Upper School (9-12). First among the traditions of the school is weekly Meeting for Worship of each division. Meeting for Worship gives students the opportunity for introspection and discussion of spirituality. The weekly Meeting of each division have rather different characters. The Lower School Meeting is generally quite active with many short messages from students because elementary school children tend to appreciate the chance to be heard. The Middle School Meeting often is a very silent meeting, only punctuated by the occasional spiritual stirring of a faculty member. The Upper School Meeting is often focused on current events and fundamental issues of young adults. Seniors tend to speak, knowing that they will soon graduate and depart into the hopeful but complex world. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Other notable traditions include concerts by the GFS Choir under the direction of Mary Brewer and Lawrence Hoenig. Choir tours have visited London (UK), Falaise (France), Cracow (Poland) and Copenhagen (Denmark), among other locales. In March of 2005, the GFS Choir traveled to China, where it performed in conservatories, concert halls, and in the occasional impromptu street performance. Other traditions include the 9th Grade Musical (traditionally a work by Gilbert & Sullivan), the Dionysia (an Ancient Greek dramatic festival performed by 10th grade Ancient History classes), the Latin III Debates during an annual "Classics Day," and the Chorus Show.

One unusual graduation requirement at Germantown Friends School is the requirement that each junior complete an independent project, known as a "Junior Project." During this project, students have the opportunity to pursue some independent but intellectually rigorous activity in the local community or elsewhere in the world. If completed in January, students are given the month off to pursue the project, although they must go through a proposal process and present written and oral accounts of their work afterwards. Students must pay for at least half of all project expenses out of money the student earned through work (rather than by means of a parental allowance).

For many years, Germantown Friends gave academic awards to its students. During the 1990s, there arose concerns that the tradition might contain an underlying negative effect on the broader school community. After five years of faculty discussion and four years of student and alumni surveys, in 2002 the school discontinued its practice of making academic awards. In announcing this decision to the school community, the head of school noted that there were long-standing concerns about the detrimental effect of elevating a select few students above others in a ceremony with clear winners and losers, and how the practice stood in contrast to Friends' beliefs in honoring every person. He further noted that when surveyed, "students opposed any practice that created incentive to compete for grades rather than for learning's sake." While athletic awards are still given at Germantown Friends, the academic awards have been replaced with more opportunities for all students to showcase their work.

Commencement in recent decades has taken place at Arch Street Meetinghouse in Philadelphia. The ceremony begins with an instruction concerning Meeting for Worship by a Quaker member of the graduating class, followed by a meeting. At present, GFS does not calculate GPA for purposes of class ranking, and therefore no Valedictorians or Salutatorians are selected. Instead, the graduating class elects one faculty member and one member of its own ranks to give addresses after the conclusion of the meeting. Following the addresses, the Head of School speaks and then awards diplomas to each member of the graduating class.

Selected alumni

• John "Skip" Barber: Racing Instructor.
• Eric Bazilian: Musician and songwriter of the band The Hooters.
• Sandra Boynton: Cartoonist, songwriter, and best-selling author.
• Steven G. Cary: Commissioner for European Relief of the American Friends Service Committee after World War II (during this time the American Friends Service Committee was awarded Nobel Prize for Peace)
• Owen Chamberlain: Discoverer of the antiproton and Nobel Laureate in Physics for 1959.
• Sarah Chang: Violinist.
• C. West Churchman: Philosopher, System Theorist and a founding father of Management Science.
• Joan Countryman 1958: Acting Head, Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. She was a teacher and administrator at GFS and the Lincoln School, Rhode Island and the first African-American graduate of GFS.^[1]
• Walter Cope: Architect known for academic buildings.
• Kathryn Davis 1964: Novelist.
• Garrett Dutton (also known as "G. Love"): Musician.
• Nathaniel Kahn 1981: Filmmaker.
• Scott Pagano 1996: Video artist.
• David Relman: Infectious disease researcher.
• Thomas Kite Sharpless: A designer of the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) and other early computers.
• Sam Smith: Author, editor, journalist.
• Makiko Tanaka: Japanese Foreign Minister, 2001-2002.
• Kara Vallow: Executive Producer of the Fox TV show Family Guy.
• Elizabeth Gray Vining: Newbery Medal winner and English tutor to Emperor Akihito of Japan during his early adolescence.

Skip Barber (born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 16, 1936) was a Formula One driver from the United States. ... Eric Bazilian is an American musician and member of The Hooters. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... Sandra Keith Boynton (born April 3, 1953) is a popular American humorist, songwriter, childrens author and illustrator. ... American Friends Service Committee logo The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) affiliated organization which works for social justice, peace and reconciliation, abolition of the death penalty, and human rights, and provides humanitarian relief. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The Nobel Peace Prize (where Nobel is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable) is one of five Nobel Prizes bequested by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. ... Owen Chamberlain Owen Chamberlain (July 10, 1920 – February 28, 2006) was a prominent American physicist. ... The antiproton (aka pbar) is the antiparticle of the proton. ... The Nobel Prizes (pronounced no-BELL or no-bell) are awarded annually to people who have done outstanding research, invented groundbreaking techniques or equipment, or made outstanding contributions to society. ... Sarah Chang (born December 10, 1980) is an American violinist. ... Charles West Churchman (born August 29, 1913 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, died March 21, 2004 Bolinas, California) was an American philospher in the field of management science, operations research and systems theory. ... Management science, or MS, is the discipline of using mathematics, and other analytical methods, to help make better business decisions. ... The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls is a girls-only boarding school that officially opened in January 2007 at Henley-on-Klip in Meyerton, south of Johannesburg, South Africa. ... Lincoln School is a college preparatory day school for girls nursery through twelfth grade, located in Providence, Rhode Island. ... Image:Cope. ... Kathryn Davis is an award-winning American novelist. ... Garrett Dutton III (born October 3, 1972), better known as G. Love, is the front man for the band, G. Love & Special Sauce. ... Nathaniel Kahn is an American documentary filmmaker. ... Scott Pagano is an American video artist and designer. ... ENIAC ENIAC, short for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer,[1] was the first large-scale, electronic, digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems,[2] although earlier computers had been built with some of these properties. ... Sam Smith (born 1937) is an American journalist and political activist who was an early pioneer in alternative media. ... Makiko Tanaka (田中 真紀子 Tanaka Makiko, born in Nishiyama, Niigata,January 14, 1944) is a Japanese politician, the daughter of former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka. ... The Fox Broadcasting Company, usually referred to as just Fox (the company itself prefers the capitalized version FOX), is a television network in the United States. ... Family Guy is an Emmy award winning American animated television series about a nuclear family in the fictional town of Quahog (IPA or ), Rhode Island. ... Elizabeth Janet Gray Vining (October 6, 1902 - November 27, 1999) tutored Emperor Akihito in English. ... The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children of the American Library Association (ALA) to the author of the outstanding American book for children. ... Emperor Akihito reads the Speech from the Throne to the Japanese Diet His Imperial Majesty Akihito (明仁) (born December 23, 1933) is the current and 125th Emperor of Japan. ...

Entertainment

• The main character from the TV series Twin Peaks, FBI Agent Dale Cooper, supposedly grew up in Germantown and attended Germantown Friends School (as created by director David Lynch, who spent many years in Philadelphia).^[2]

Twin Peaks is an American Emmy Award-nominated, Peabody and Golden Globe-winning television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, which first aired in the United States on April 8, 1990 and ended on June 10, 1991. ... Information Gender Male Age 35 Occupation FBI Agent Religion Catholic FBI Special Agent Dale Bartholomew Coop Cooper was the lead fictional character in the influential television series Twin Peaks (1990-1991), created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. ... David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946, in Missoula, Montana) is an American filmmaker. ...

External links

• Germantown Friends School

Notes