History & Mission

Our Mission

State College Friends School provides an academically vigorous education in a nurturing environment that inspires a love of learning and prepares students to meet challenges with confidence and compassion. Guided by the Quaker testimonies of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship, we support the social, emotional, physical, and intellectual development of each child.

Our History

SCFS was founded by members of the State College Friends Meeting in 1980. In the fall of that year, Friends School opened with 12 students in kindergarten through third grade in a specially-renovated classroom in the Meeting House. In 1988, four additional classrooms were leased at University Baptist and Brethren Church.

We began the 1998-99 school year in our new facility on University Drive, offering kindergarten through 6th grade. The following year the middle school was added. In the fall of 2010, an early learning program for children ages 3 - 5 was developed. Friends Pre-K program met in the annex wing of the meetinghouse until moving to the main school in 2018. From our simple beginnings, State College Friends School continues to be an integral educational alternative in the community.

IRS notice for 501 C3 non-profit organizations: State College Friends School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.

1900 University Drive
State College, PA 16801
814-237-8386
scfs@scfriends.org