King, Donations, and Two of A Kind

MLK Celebration – How could I not lead with this event? As always, our school’s celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. King was special. Our upper school students did a wonderful job of adapting the original play and the Peace Choir lent their voices to the songs. A big thank you goes out to this year’s director, Pam Monk, Choir director Will Hancock and musician Celia Millington-Wyckoff for their hard work. Also, the school would like to thank all those who volunteered their time and talents to making this production a success. Without your efforts and voices, this performance would never be heard. And that would be a tragedy.

Did you know that our school’s celebration does not start and end with the play? In the morning we brought the entire school to the Friends Meeting House for silent worship and reflection. Following Meeting, we watched a few of Dr. King’s speeches together. In the classrooms, teachers led activities to help their students understand the Reverend’s life, words and actions.

Haitian Relief Efforts – The school’s collection has yielded over $300 so far for relief efforts in Haiti. We will be forwarding this money to the American Friends Service Committee (www.afsc.org) who is already in the country and providing medical supplies and food to victims. More donations are needed and we ask you to consider making further donations to the charity of your choice.

It Happened Again – Once more, we received donations for our scholarship fund from Pennsylvania businesses through the Education Income Tax Credit Program. Universal Health Services and Universal Health Services of Pennsylvania combined to provide our school with a $15,000 donation to our scholarship fund. We are very grateful that they thought highly of our program and decided to support us in our education efforts.

Reminders

Move Up Night – Parents are encouraged to attend Move Up Night on Thursday January 28th from 7:00–8:00 p.m. Although we cannot make definite class assignments until families make their re-enrollment commitments, we do know that first graders will move to 2nd grade and 3rd graders will move up to fourth grade and the fourth graders will move up to fifth next fall. This is your opportunity to meet teachers, ask questions, and get information on the curriculum, program and activities in the next grade.

Open House and Winter Play Day - The Friends School is hosting a Saturday Play Day and Open House for children and parents on Saturday, February 20th, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. The school’s community room and k/1 classroom will be open for supervised active and imaginative play and staff will be available to provide tours and answer questions. The event is free and all are welcome. Your assistance in spreading the word is invaluable. Please help if you can.

Two of a Kind Concert - An award-winning husband-wife duo will perform a free concert for families and children of all ages on Saturday, February 13th, at 11:00 a.m. in the Community Room. Two of Kind (www.twoofakind.com) performances feature songs, puppets, movement, and stories. All are welcome. Donations of food or funds for the State College Food Bank will be accepted.

See us on C-Net - The Friends School Performance of King in Montgomery will be broadcast by C-Net at the following dates and times (Comcast Channel 7):
Jan 24 1:00 p.m.
Jan 25 2:00 p.m.
Jan 26 7:00 a.m.
Jan 29 9:00 p.m.
Jan 30 11:00 a.m.

Have a safe and healthy weekend.
Dan