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October 18, 2010

Happy 20th Anniversary By Gavin Sultan and Tori Lane

Photos by Jonah Wexler and Nina Saligman

Did you know this is the 20th anniversary of the Lower School mov-ing to this campus? Before we moved here the Lower School was where the Middle School is now, on the other campus. “I think it’s terrific. We moved here exactly 20 years ago in 1990,” said Mr. Ludwig. “The reason we moved was that the school grew and we didn’t have enough space. It was really too small.” At first they were going to build a new Lower School on the girl’s athletic field at the other campus. “Then all of a sudden, just at the right time, this space became available and we were the first to find out,” said Mr. Ludwig. The Montgomery Day School was here on Old Gulph Road. Dr. Tom Wood, the previous headmaster, and the Board of Trustees found out that the property was available. They made the decision to buy it and move to this campus. The Montgomery Day School was very expensive. It cost between two and three million dollars. We renovated and added on a new build-ing using money that the school had saved and some money that they bor-rowed. They built the new part where PreK, Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade and 4A are now. The old building was built 115 years ago in 1895. It was a home called the Pennhurst Estate.

We have 18 acres of land and if Friends’ Central hadn’t moved here, this land would have probably been used for building houses. “By being a school here, we saved this area and kept it green, which I think is great,” said Mr. Ludwig,

Mr. Ludwig says he likes being principal because he loves watching the kids grow up and helping them in school. He also said, “I love the fact that we are one Friends’ Central with two campuses.”

Mr. Ludwig is standing next to a plaque outside near the flagpole that commemorates the celebra-tion of the Lower School’s move to this campus.

Here is a close-up of the plaque near the flagpole. See if you can find it the next time you are outside. It is a dedication to our new home on October 13th, 1990, exactly 20 years ago.

Mr. Ludwig has an old map in his office from 1913. It shows our campus when it was a home to the Hopper Family, called Pennhurst Estate. After that it became a school called The Montgomery Day School. We bought it in 1990.

Now it is FRIENDS’ CENTRAL LOWER SCHOOL!

Notice the document right outside of the cafeteria. It is signed by everyone who witnessed our celebration 20 years ago.

Can you find people that you know?

October 18, 2010 One Step At A ...TIMES FCS Lower School

Teachers Take A Journey By Juliet Callahan and Noah Stern

Photos by Hannah Benjet, Jackson Forrest and Julia Nierenberg

“Hi Ho! Hi Ho! To the post office we will go!” said Mr. Grove, the postman in the faculty play on Friday, October 1st. You should have seen it and most of you did. The teachers were making fools of themselves. Now you can see it in words by read-ing this article. Mr. Grove’s costume had a really big belly! He was on a mission to deliver post cards all over the world. Mrs. Caldwell, the little girl, Mr. Wilson, the little boy, and Ms. Sheldon, the mom, went with him. They visited the Land of Oz, the Air and Space Museum, Australia, Greece, the Amazon Rain Forest, Prospero’s Island and Indonesia. In the Land of Oz they saw Dorothy and the Munch-kins. Dorothy was surprised to be over the rainbow and she wanted to go home. In the Air and Space Museum, pilots had an argument about who was more important in the history of flight. At the end of the argument, Hano the elephant went to Rome in KB’s hot air balloon. In Australia they helped out two kangaroos that had koalas in their pouches instead of baby kangaroos. In Greece, three goddesses, Aphrodite, Athena and Hera, had a fight about who was more beautiful. Who-ever was more beautiful got a golden apple. In the end Percy Jackson sorted it out. In the Amazon Rainforest they helped two butterfly catchers catch a very rare butterfly.

On Prospero’s island, people came to visit. Prospero was very happy because he hadn’t had visitors in years. Then Ibn Battuta came and said he was very hungry. They took a journey together to Indonesia. In Indonesia they saw a shadow puppet show. After a while Prospero got annoyed with Ibn Battuta because he kept on asking for food and presents. So he threw a pie in his face.

What a great story! In the end they sang a sing-along-song about journeys and everybody clapped along. It was the best faculty play we’ve ever seen.

Welcome to the Annual Harvest Show Photos by Natalie Giresi and Nathan Levitties

This year’s annual harvest show was a great success thanks to all the students and faculty who brought their beautiful flowers, fruits and vegetables. Thank you Mr. Grove!