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Thank you for your Gift to the Scholarship Fund During Centre Gives
Your support during Centre Gives resulted in $13,600 for our student Scholarship Fund which allows us to offer flexible tuition. Thank you!
We wonder what you're doing since your graduation from Friends School - in your high school years, careers . . . in life, and how your experiences at State College Friends School have shaped those experiences.
We'd especially like you to know that we're holding you in the light of Friends School, during this time of uncertainty and strain. We hope you are safe and healthy. Please send a note in the space provided below to let us know where you are and how you've been. Or, email scfs@scfriends.org
We'd especially like you to know that we're holding you in the light of Friends School, during this time of uncertainty and strain. We hope you are safe and healthy. Please send a note in the space provided below to let us know where you are and how you've been. Or, email scfs@scfriends.org
August 2019:
Poetry by alum Grayson Ruble '18 has been published in Hedgerow: an online journal of poetry. Grayson, a freshman attending the Grier School in Tyrone, PA, is a participant in a creative writing program offered by author Anne Burgevin whose most recent work, Frozen Earth will be featured in an interactive program at 3 Dots Downtown in State College.
Poetry by alum Grayson Ruble '18 has been published in Hedgerow: an online journal of poetry. Grayson, a freshman attending the Grier School in Tyrone, PA, is a participant in a creative writing program offered by author Anne Burgevin whose most recent work, Frozen Earth will be featured in an interactive program at 3 Dots Downtown in State College.
News: Summer 2016
Alumna travels the globe, helping those in need, Lauren Schloss, 2002
by Sara LaJeunesse
From teaching kindergartners in Thailand to providing educational programs to under-served children in Costa Rica to working with asylum seekers in Cyprus, Lauren Schloss ’02 has traveled the globe with the singular goal of helping others. Her dedication, she says, stems from the values she acquired at the State College Friends School.
“The Friends School values have stayed with me; they have played an important role in the person I have become,” she says.
Lauren began her educational career at Friends School in 1995 as a kindergartner and stayed through the end of 6th grade, which was the highest grade available at the school at the time. She then attended a local public middle and high school. After graduation, Lauren enrolled at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, where she majored in sociology and anthropology and minored in art with a focus on oil painting. She graduated from Guilford in 2012.
Lauren says all of her educational experiences were valuable, but her seven years at Friends School affected her profoundly.
“I remember loving Meeting for Worship because it taught me how to be comfortable in silence and about the joy of joining in song as a community,” she says. “That experience was really powerful.”
In terms of classroom learning, Lauren says the project-based educational strategies used at the school enabled her to become immersed in the material and to remember it for the long term.
“We spent a significant amount of time on different themes,” she says. “This work included conducting research, working on group projects, and giving final presentations. Everything was a full-on experience. As a result, I remember those subjects in a different way than I would have had I been merely studying for a test. In fact, when I got to the public middle school, I was surprised that the kids had been taking tests their whole lives.”
When Lauren graduated from college, she worked briefly in the Greensboro area for a rural, state-funded after school program, but soon took a leap of faith and accepted a job as a kindergarten teacher in Chacheongsao, Thailand, a city to the east of Bangkok. “I thought I would be there only six months, but it turned into two and a half years,” she says. Beyond the teaching skills she acquired, Lauren also learned to speak Thai. “I speak Thai very well for a foreigner,” she says.
Lauren briefly returned home after her stay in Thailand and then quickly took a new job at a nonprofit organization in Costa Rica called Abriendo Mentes, which means “opening minds.” The organization provides educational and community development programs to rural Costa Ricans.
She then accepted an internship in Cyprus working with asylum seekers coming primarily from Syria and northern Africa. “I was working for a small organization, called Strengthening Asylum, helping people get in their process to become refugees,” says Lauren. “It was extremely meaningful for me to be able to speak with people (with the help of a translator) and to hear the stories about the hardships they had endured in their home countries.”
Currently, Lauren is visiting her family, who now lives in South Carolina. There, she is contemplating her next adventure. She says she would like to continue to work in the international social work field, perhaps with a larger organization such as the United Nations or Amnesty International.
Wherever she goes, Lauren is sure to succeed. “Friends School was like a family to me,” she says. “It’s special to grow up in a small community, where the people support not only your education, but also your social development. I take that loving kindness with me wherever I go and do my best to share it with others.”
by Sara LaJeunesse
From teaching kindergartners in Thailand to providing educational programs to under-served children in Costa Rica to working with asylum seekers in Cyprus, Lauren Schloss ’02 has traveled the globe with the singular goal of helping others. Her dedication, she says, stems from the values she acquired at the State College Friends School.
“The Friends School values have stayed with me; they have played an important role in the person I have become,” she says.
Lauren began her educational career at Friends School in 1995 as a kindergartner and stayed through the end of 6th grade, which was the highest grade available at the school at the time. She then attended a local public middle and high school. After graduation, Lauren enrolled at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, where she majored in sociology and anthropology and minored in art with a focus on oil painting. She graduated from Guilford in 2012.
Lauren says all of her educational experiences were valuable, but her seven years at Friends School affected her profoundly.
“I remember loving Meeting for Worship because it taught me how to be comfortable in silence and about the joy of joining in song as a community,” she says. “That experience was really powerful.”
In terms of classroom learning, Lauren says the project-based educational strategies used at the school enabled her to become immersed in the material and to remember it for the long term.
“We spent a significant amount of time on different themes,” she says. “This work included conducting research, working on group projects, and giving final presentations. Everything was a full-on experience. As a result, I remember those subjects in a different way than I would have had I been merely studying for a test. In fact, when I got to the public middle school, I was surprised that the kids had been taking tests their whole lives.”
When Lauren graduated from college, she worked briefly in the Greensboro area for a rural, state-funded after school program, but soon took a leap of faith and accepted a job as a kindergarten teacher in Chacheongsao, Thailand, a city to the east of Bangkok. “I thought I would be there only six months, but it turned into two and a half years,” she says. Beyond the teaching skills she acquired, Lauren also learned to speak Thai. “I speak Thai very well for a foreigner,” she says.
Lauren briefly returned home after her stay in Thailand and then quickly took a new job at a nonprofit organization in Costa Rica called Abriendo Mentes, which means “opening minds.” The organization provides educational and community development programs to rural Costa Ricans.
She then accepted an internship in Cyprus working with asylum seekers coming primarily from Syria and northern Africa. “I was working for a small organization, called Strengthening Asylum, helping people get in their process to become refugees,” says Lauren. “It was extremely meaningful for me to be able to speak with people (with the help of a translator) and to hear the stories about the hardships they had endured in their home countries.”
Currently, Lauren is visiting her family, who now lives in South Carolina. There, she is contemplating her next adventure. She says she would like to continue to work in the international social work field, perhaps with a larger organization such as the United Nations or Amnesty International.
Wherever she goes, Lauren is sure to succeed. “Friends School was like a family to me,” she says. “It’s special to grow up in a small community, where the people support not only your education, but also your social development. I take that loving kindness with me wherever I go and do my best to share it with others.”
News: Spring 2017
Catherine Coren's family reports that Catherine started a one-year Japanese language program at the Intercultural Institute of Japan in Tokyo on April 12, 2017. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Japanese from Elizabethtown College and had been dreaming of getting back to Japan. We hope to catch up with her to learn more about her world travels!
News: Alum, Kyle Hynes Wins $5000 Award in Redistricting Contest
News: Fall 2016
We're Happy to Hear from Kira Marshall-McKelvey:
I am currently a second-year Masters student in Rhetoric and Composition at Colorado State University, and am scheduled to graduate in May. I also teach college composition to undergraduate students, and apply many of the teachings I learned from truly exceptional and influential Friends School teachers such as teacher Christy, teacher Kathleen, teacher Lisa, and Teacher Laura. I also am the social media intern for Writing for Peace, which has been hugely influenced by my time at Friends School. In my program, there is a huge emphasis on peace literacy, and listening to the voices and experiences of others. I feel extremely grateful to have had these values instilled in me at such a young age at Friends. Upon entering a public middle school, I was shocked to learn that not everybody practiced peace literacy! I have happily told colleagues about Meeting for Worship, as I have fond memories of those Friday mornings. I frequently sing songs from Meeting for Worship in peace choir--just this past week, I belted out "what can one little person do?" in my apartment. I dearly miss Friends School, and hope to return soon for a visit!
I am currently a second-year Masters student in Rhetoric and Composition at Colorado State University, and am scheduled to graduate in May. I also teach college composition to undergraduate students, and apply many of the teachings I learned from truly exceptional and influential Friends School teachers such as teacher Christy, teacher Kathleen, teacher Lisa, and Teacher Laura. I also am the social media intern for Writing for Peace, which has been hugely influenced by my time at Friends School. In my program, there is a huge emphasis on peace literacy, and listening to the voices and experiences of others. I feel extremely grateful to have had these values instilled in me at such a young age at Friends. Upon entering a public middle school, I was shocked to learn that not everybody practiced peace literacy! I have happily told colleagues about Meeting for Worship, as I have fond memories of those Friday mornings. I frequently sing songs from Meeting for Worship in peace choir--just this past week, I belted out "what can one little person do?" in my apartment. I dearly miss Friends School, and hope to return soon for a visit!
News: Spring 2014
Alexandra Hay's father shares that Alexandra is living in Boulder, Colorado, where she is the senior marketing manager for Only Natural Pet Food company.
