Friends Seminary
| Friends Seminary | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Address | |
|
222 East 16th Street New York City, New York 10003 United States |
|
| Coordinates | 40°44′04″N 73°59′09″W / 40.734572°N 73.985776°WCoordinates: 40°44′04″N 73°59′09″W / 40.734572°N 73.985776°W |
| Information | |
| School type | Independent |
| Religious affiliation(s) | Quaker |
| Denomination | Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) |
| Founded | 1786 |
| Principal | Robert "Bo" Lauder |
| Faculty | 147 |
| Grades | K–12 |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Age range | 5-19 |
| Enrollment | 754 (2013-2014) 261 Upper School 216 Middle School 277 Lower School |
| Average class size | 17 students |
| Campus type | Urban |
| Colour(s) | Red and White |
| Song | "Alma Mater" |
| Athletics | 18 teams |
| Mascot | Owl |
| Rival | Packer |
| Publication | The Magpie |
| Newspaper | The Insight |
| Tuition | U.S.$41,750.00 |
| Alumni | Natt a wolf |
| Former name | Founded as Friends Institute (1786-1860) |
| Website | http://www.friendsseminary.org |
Friends Seminary is a private day school in Manhattan. The school, the oldest continuously coeducational school in New York City, serves 761 college-bound day students in Kindergarten through Grade 12. The school's mission is to prepare students "not only for the world that is, but to help them bring about the world that ought to be." It is guided by a service mission statement and a diversity mission statement. Friends is a member of New York's Independent School Diversity Network, and diversity is a key part of its educational philosophy.
Currently, Robert "Bo" Lauder is principal, the school's 35th. Lauder came to Friends in the fall of 2002 after serving as Upper School Head at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C.
Friends Seminary, established by members of the Religious Society of Friends, whose members are known as Quakers, was founded in 1786 as Friends' Institute through a $10,000 bequest of Robert Murray, a wealthy New York merchant. It was located on Pearl Street in Manhattan and strived to provide Quaker children with a "guarded education." In 1826, the school was moved to a larger campus on Elizabeth Street. Tuition in that year was $10 or less per annum, except for the oldest students, whose families paid $20. (By 1915, tuition had risen to $250.) The school again moved in 1860 to its current location and changed its name to Friends Seminary.
In 1878, Friends Seminary was one of the earliest of schools to establish a Kindergarten. In 1925, it was the first private co-educational school to hire a full-time psychologist.M. Scott Peck, who transferred to Friends from Phillips Exeter in late 1952, praised the school's diversity and nurturing atmosphere. "While at Friends," he wrote, "I awoke each morning eager for the day ahead ... [A]t Exeter, I could barely crawl out of bed."
In recent years, the school has made an effort to increase its endowment and has engaged in an ambitious and controversial renovation of its buildings. In 2015, based on recommendations made in 2005 by the Trustees of the New York Quarterly Meeting after completion of a study, the New York Quarterly Meeting reached consensus on the issue of incorporating the school and the New York Quarterly Meeting separately. Under the agreement, Friends Seminary will pay the New York Quarterly Meeting $775,000 annually, and both sides will contribute an additional $175,000 to a capital fund to preserve the historic buildings. The Quakers will continue naming half the members of the school’s governing board, and the agreement establishes a six-person committee to foster the school’s commitment to Quaker values.
...
Wikipedia