Abington Friends School: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox school

| name = Abington Friends School

| image = Abington Friends School Logo.jpg

| image_size = 250px

| motto =

| established = {{start date and age|1697}}

| type = [[Private school|Private]]

| religion = Quaker

| head_name = Head of School

| head = Dr. Nicole Hood

| ___location = 575 Washington Lane<br />[[Jenkintown, Pennsylvania|Jenkintown]] postal address, PA 19046

| country = United States

| coordinates = {{coord|40.0949|-75.1205|type:edu_region:US-PA|display=inline,title}}

| faculty =

| students = roughly 600 annually

| colors = Blue and white

| mascot = Kangaroos

| conference = Friends Schools League

| homepage = {{URL|https://www.abingtonfriends.net|abingtonfriends.net}}

}}

'''Abington Friends School''' is a private, [[Quaker]] secondary school in [[Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania|Abington Township]], [[Montgomery County, Pennsylvania|Montgomery County]], [[Pennsylvania]], United States,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abingtonpa.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/17241/637853658910900000|title=Zoning|publisher=[[Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania|Abington Township]]|access-date=2024-03-11}} - School is at F5, indicated with "▲1"</ref> with a [[Jenkintown, Pennsylvania|Jenkintown]] postal address.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abingtonfriends.net/|title=Home|publisher=Abington Friends School|access-date=2024-03-11|quote=575 Washington Lane, Jenkintown, PA 19046}} - Despite the Jenkintown postal address, the school is outside of the borough limits.</ref> Serving students from age 3 to grade 12, Abington Friends School has stood on its original campus since 1697, and is the oldest primary and secondary educational institution in the United States to operate continuously at the same ___location under the same management.<ref>From Abington Friends [https://archive.today/20070502073353/http://abingtonfriends.net/Library/InfoManage/Guide.asp?FolderID=210& Facts & Figures]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abingtonfriends.net/about-us/fast-facts/|title=Fast Facts|website=Abington Friends School}}</ref> The school draws students from approximately 75 [[ZIP code]]s around the greater [[Philadelphia]] area, as well as international students from many regions of China.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.abingtonfriends.net/AboutUs/AbFrom|title=Abington Friends}}</ref>

==Campus==

Founded in [[1697]], Abington Friends School is the oldest primary and secondary educational institution in the United States to operate continuously at the same ___location under the same management<ref>{{cite web | title=Facts and Figures | work=AFS Because - Facts and Figures |year=2006|month=July| url="http://abingtonfriends.net/Library/InfoManage/Guide.asp?FolderID=210&" | accessdate=2006-07-24}}</ref>. Based in [[Jenkintown]], [[PA]] it is surrounded by both Meetinghouse Road and [[Washington]] Lane with a great deal of history. The still-standing school was in existence for about 79 years when [[George Washington]] marched his toops down Washington Lane.

Abington Friends School sits on a {{convert|50|acre|ha|adj=on|spell=in}} campus which includes a meadow, [[Abington Friends Meeting House|Quaker meeting house]], a portion of Jenkintown Creek, and extensive playing fields. Lower, middle, and upper school buildings and athletic facilities sit at the center of the campus.

Campus facilities include:

[[AFS]] is a K-12 school based on the [[Quaker]] [[philosophy]], and its attendance of a weekly Quaker meeting by its students is compulsory.

* The Faulkner Library and Learning Center, a dramatic space which is home to a collection of over 25,000 print volumes, special collections including a peace collection and a leadership collection

* The AFS Outside Classroom, the first nature playground and outdoor classroom in Pennsylvania to be accredited by the [[National Arbor Day Foundation]]

==Curriculum==

* A media and design lab, home to computer assisted design and engineering software workstations

The [[Curriculum|academic curriculum]] at the Abington Friends Upper School consists of five mandatory courses each year (math, science, english, history, and foreign language), as well as up to two electives. Additionally, freshmen and sophomores are required to take various introductory courses. The number of students enrolled at the school is very low; generally each grade will have approximately 60 students enrolled. However, the lower school classes are often much smaller. The classroom size is on average 13~15 students<ref>{{cite web | title=Facts and Figures | work=AFS Because - Facts and Figures |year=2006|month=July| url="http://abingtonfriends.net/FolderID/210/SessionID/%7B8B1C62FD-FF7C-4039-8B7A-052892387D58%7D/PageVars/Library/InfoManage/Guide.htm" | accessdate=2006-07-24}}</ref>.

* The Wilf Center, which provides resources to enrich skills of active engagement, discernment, collaboration leadership, and continual learning

* The Josephine Muller Auditorium, a fully equipped professional theatre

* The Black Box Theatre, a flexible space for student-produced performances, cabarets, and open mic nights

* Art, Ceramics and Photography Studios, housing multiple potters wheels, five kilns, and a fully furnished dark room and lab

* Choral, instrumental and music classrooms and an electronic music studio, featuring Apple and Roland recording software and hardware, [[baby grand piano]]s, and a full instrumental backline

* Athletic Facilities that include the Berman Athletics Center, the Thode Fitness Center, four soccer fields, six tennis courts, and several baseball and softball diamonds<ref name="issuu">{{Cite web|url=https://issuu.com/abingtonfriends/docs/afsviewbook|title=Abington Friends School Viewbook|website=Issuu|date=January 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |date=2014-02-02 |title=Philadelphia Friends Schools (Campus History)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rj7PPQkTt6sC&q=Abington+Friends+School+news&pg=PA15 |___location=google |publisher= Arcadia Publishing (SC) |isbn= 9780738562421|access-date=2014-02-02 }}</ref>

== Academic program ==

''The Early Childhood and Lower School Program'' at AFS serves students age 3 to 4th grade, the ''Middle School'' program 5th through 8th grade, and the ''Upper School'' program 9th through 12th grade.<ref name="issuu"/>

==History==

Abington Friends School was founded in March 1697, when John Barnes, a wealthy tailor who belonged to the [[Abington Friends Meeting House|Abington Monthly Meeting]] of the Religious Society of Friends, donated {{convert|120|acre|ha}} of his estate "for and towards erecting a meetinghouse for Friends and toward the maintenance of a school under the direction of Friends." The school has been continuously operated on the same plot of land since its founding in that year, making it the oldest school in the [[Commonwealth of Pennsylvania]] with such a claim. AFS operates under the care of Abington Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.

In its earliest days the school was located in one large room in the Friends' meeting house, with the principles of the Religious Society of Friends dominating virtually every aspect of school life. In the 1780s the school moved to a structure of its own, the present day caretaker’s house adjacent to the meeting house on Greenwood Avenue. Boys occupied the first floor room, while girls were instructed in the upstairs room. Boys were responsible for supplying firewood for the stoves in each room and the girls collected drinking water from the Jenkintown Creek behind the meeting house.

Coeducation was not the only way in which the School observed the Quaker testimony of equality. By the mid-18th century, Abington Friends School admitted [[African American]] students too. Throughout the 18th century, AFS provided an education for the primary grades only, with enrollment fluctuating between 20 and 40 students, most of whom were Quaker.

The foundations for the modern school we know today were laid in the 1880s, when the school was transformed from an ungraded primary day school with around 90 students and two teachers to a boarding school that served kindergarten through twelfth grade. The new school was opened in 1887 on the triangular property bordered by present-day Greenwood Avenue, Jenkintown Road, and Meetinghouse Road.

By 1931, the school had become an all-girls college preparatory school, which offered a more [[progressive education]] than many of the all-girls schools by including exchange programs with European schools, mandatory community service and greater diversity in student enrollment.

The School Committee of Abington Monthly Meeting decided to return to coeducation in 1966. By 1975 all grades, kindergarten through twelfth, contained both boys and girls. Under the leadership of headmaster Adelbert Mason, the school's facilities expanded, with new buildings for the Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools. Growth continued in the late 1980s with a new science and arts wing in the Lower School.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abingtonfriends.net/about-us/history/|title=History|website=Abington Friends School}}</ref>

==Athletics==

AFS offers sports including [[soccer]], [[basketball]], [[baseball]], [[cross country running|cross country]], [[wrestling]], [[swimming (sport)|swimming]], [[tennis]], [[softball]], and [[women's lacrosse]]. The current{{when|date=November 2021}} [[athletic director]] is Jeff Bond, who was a two-sport player (baseball and basketball) at [[Williams College]].

The boys basketball team has been the school's most successful team, winning numerous Friends School League titles under the coaching of [[National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum]] selection Steve Chadwin. Chadwin has coached an array of players at AFS who have gone on to have very strong college careers. [[Jabril Trawick]] was on the [[Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball]] team.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.guhoyas.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/trawick_jabril00.html |title=Player Bio: Jabril Trawick - GUHoyas.com |website=www.guhoyas.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927010719/http://www.guhoyas.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/trawick_jabril00.html |archive-date=2011-09-27}} </ref> His classmate Kenneth Johnson transferred in 2014 to [[MacEwan University]] in [[Edmonton, Alberta]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thegriff.ca/2014/09/started-bottom/ |title=Started from the bottom - the griff |access-date=2014-10-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006143402/http://thegriff.ca/2014/09/started-bottom/ |archive-date=2014-10-06 }}</ref> In the 2013-2014 season, AFS produced two 1,000 point scorers, Joe Robinson and Jordan Greene, at 20.7 and 22.3 points per game respectively. They are the highest-scoring duo in Friends School League history.

==Notable alumni==

{{Alumni|date=June 2025}}

*[[Joey Lawrence]] (1994), actor and singer

*[[Hal Lublin]] (1995), actor and podcaster

*[[Mike Jordan (basketball, born 1977)|Mike Jordan]] (1996), basketball player who played overseas

*[[Matthew Lawrence]] (1998), actor and singer

*[[Jason Love (basketball)|Jason Love]] (2006), assistant coach for the [[Milwaukee Bucks]], played overseas<ref>{{cite web |title=Jason Love Player Profile, Xavier - RealGM |url=https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Jason-Love/Summary/10159 |website=basketball.realgm.com |language=en}}</ref>

*[[Bryan Cohen]] (2008), basketball player who played overseas<ref>{{cite web |last1=Genova |first1=Ryan |title=Bryan Cohen: A Huntingdon Valley native, Abington Friends grad, gold medalist and Hall of Famer |url=https://glensidelocal.com/bryan-cohen-a-huntingdon-valley-native-abington-friends-grad-gold-medalist-and-hall-of-famer/ |website=Glenside Local |date=11 October 2023}}</ref>

*[[Jabril Trawick]] (2011), basketball player who played overseas<ref>{{cite web |title=Jabril Trawick College Stats |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/jabril-trawick-1.html |website=College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref>

==References==

{{Reflist|2}}

<references />

==External linklinks==

* [http://www.abingtonfriends.net/ Abington Friends School Websitewebsite]

{{Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania}}

{{Education in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania}}

{{Montgomery County, Pennsylvania School Districts}}

{{authority control}}

{{[[Category:Quaker schools in Pennsylvania-school-stub}}]]

[[Category:Jenkintown, Pennsylvania]]<!--Associated with Jenkintown, but not in the borough limits-->

{{quaker-stub}}

[[Category:Private K–12 schools in Pennsylvania]]

[[Category:1697 establishments in Pennsylvania]]

[[Category:Educational institutions established in the 1690s]]

[[Category:Schools in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania]]

[[Category:Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania]]