SSFS Alumni & Friends Quarterly eNewsletter
Spring 2020
Table of Contents
Spring
2020
Features
- Building Community, Virtually
- Curt Moffatt Posthumously Awarded the Paul E. Nordstrom Service Award
- Chinese Student Affinity Group Drive for PPE
- Known by Heart, by Ellen Prentiss Campbell '71
Remembering Friends
- Sidney B. Hutton III '63
Join Us!
- Glowing Together: Spotlight on our Scholars PA Annual (Virtual) Auction
- Celebrating the Class of 2020
- Alumni Weekend
Around Campus
- Farewell, Bryan!
- Farewell, Tom!
- SSFS Dean of Boarding: Kwame Darko '98
- Upper School Rock Climbing Team Climbs to New Heights in 2019-20 Season
- Sixth Grade and Middle School Social Justice Diversity Committee Visit Annapolis
- Celebrating the 25th Annual Community Play, Matilda
- Upper School Students Compete in English-Speaking Union Shakespeare Competition
- SSFS Community Art Show 2020
- New US Building Art Installation Project Awarded to Hsu Studios
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Sandy Spring Friends School
Spring 2020
Dear Friends,
As you might imagine, the development of the quarterly newsletter is a lengthy process—and the creation of this Spring 2020 newsletter began back in January, in what feels like another time.
So much of our news feed lately is dominated by the things we need to know NOW: safety precautions, new guidance and regulations, ideas on how to connect, learn, and maintain some level of normalcy. Sandy Spring Friends School has some important items to contribute to that conversation, too! Our note on "Building Community, Virtually" below contains links to valuable resources and updates on Sandy Spring Friends School's current operating model, and under "Join Us!" you'll see updates on some of the events that would normally be held in the coming months.
But we also have things to share that remain marvelous, exciting, welcome respites from the world around us. Visit the "Features" section to read about a recognition of past Board Clerk extraordinaire Curt Moffatt, the newest work by Ellen Prentiss Campbell '71, and a wonderful initiative undertaken by our Upper School Chinese Students Affinity Group. Take a look at the "Around Campus" section for articles about beloved teachers, achievements in the classroom and on the climbing wall, celebrations of art (performance and studio!), and news about our new Upper School. (A project, I note, which continues to move forward—as you can see by looking at the live-streamed construction camera!)
I hope that everyone is doing well and staying healthy as we move through uncharted territory. Please take the time for self-care, remember that we can still connect with and provide support and assistance for one another virtually despite our current period of "social distancing," and reach out to me at tom.gibian@ssfs.org if I can be helpful in any way. In a moment of great uncertainty, it is reassuring to know that we are all holding each other—and the communities that surround us, near and far—in the Light.
In peace,
Tom Gibian
Head of School
Features
Remembering Friends
We are deeply saddened to report the passing of Sidney B. Hutton III ’63 on December 18, 2019 following a long illness.
Join Us!
May 25-30, 2020
Date TBD
June 13, 2020
Around Campus
The 2019-20 academic year marks Bryan Seith's 40th year at Sandy Spring Friends School, a wonderful milestone! And so it is with a deep sense of gratitude for not only the length but also the depth and breadth of his contributions to SSFS, and in recognition of his service, that we share with you that this will be Bryan’s final year as a faculty member.
We knew the day would eventually come that we would have to say goodbye to Tom Harrison who, after 26 years of service to Sandy Spring Friends School, will retire from the classroom at the end of the 2019-20 academic year.
Earlier this school year, SSFS began a search for a newly-designed position of Dean of Boarding. It is a pleasure to share that our very own Kwame Darko '98 was offered and has accepted the position of Dean of Boarding, to begin summer 2020.
Thanks to our many campus facilities, the SSFS athletics program supports cross-country, soccer, volleyball, basketball, baseball, softball, lacrosse, and track and field, as well as some less traditional sports like rock climbing!
On March 5, the sixth grade, along with seven members of the Middle School Social Justice Diversity Committee, traveled to the State House in Annapolis to meet with various representatives to discuss gun control and climate change.
Each year, the Community Play gives all members of the SSFS community—students of all ages, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, Trustees, and others who are closely tied to the School—the opportunity to work together to produce a play or musical. This year SSFS celebrated the 25th annual Community Play with a production of Matilda, a musical based on the children's novel by Roald Dahl.
On March 2, two Upper School students represented SSFS in the English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition Washington, D.C. Branch tournament at The Madeira School.
People are never just “one thing.” They are physicians but also writers, teachers but also illustrators, lawyers but also painters, steel workers but also potters, nurses but also poets.
This spring, we are celebrating the many gifted artists among us with the SSFS Community Art Show. The show opened in conjunction with the annual SSFS Community Play in March.
In January, with construction of the new Upper School well underway, SSFS reached out to its community with a request for artist proposals for a large-scale, permanent art piece to be displayed in the new building.