From the outside, Moorestown Friends School seems to be just like any other school. Sure the school has an excellent reputation, a beautiful campus, and a community centered around it’s Quaker values, but once you are on the inside and a member of the student body, you realize that MFS is much, much more than just your ordinary school.
From the moment I walked through the doors of Stokes Hall on my first day of MFS, I knew immediately that MFS was a special place. When I walk around the campus every morning since that first day, I see Lower School kids playing on the playground or taking photos with the Lower School hippo, an ongoing tradition in which the graduating class must choose a theme to paint onto the hippo for the school year, or middle schoolers hiking over to Hartman Hall for a math-filled morning.
On my first day at MFS, I was so excited when I had math class. I know this sounds odd, but hear me out. This was because it meant that I got to walk over to a completely different building on campus for class. As a new student, this was something that I had never experienced until now.
Having done this walk now through all of the fall season and half of winter, I’m just praying that it doesn’t get any colder and that it doesn’t rain, or as I’ve experienced twice so far, snow while I’m on the path. But then again, that is half of the fun of switching from building to building during the day.
Besides the walk to Hartman Hall, I also look forward to Meeting for Worship every Wednesday. Meeting for Worship is a time for the MFS community to come together at the school’s Meeting House for an hour of silent worship. This time is especially meaningful for me, because I had never had an experience like this before where I could let go of all of the stress and worries I had in my mind and just reflect and think about how I could better myself.
In addition to Meeting for Worship, MFS also holds a monthly Meeting for Worship for Business. From the first time I ever saw Meeting for Worship for business, I was hooked on the idea of it. It is structured in the same fashion as Meeting for Worship in that we all gather together in silence as a community, but what makes it different is that the student body and faculty address issues and ideas in the community such as club proposals, policy changes, etc..
What I found to be the best part of it all was that the entire community must come to agreement before we can move on to the next topic. This not only kept the Upper School Students in cohesion with one another, but it allowed everyone’s voices to be heard. To be able to have a voice in the MFS community after just joining was something I didn’t think was going to be possible when I first got to MFS, but that is just simply not the case.
I quickly learned that the MFS community comes together in multiple different ways, such as the much anticipated Spirit Week. I’ve experienced Spirit Week at previous schools, but I’ve never experienced a Spirit Week quite like the one at MFS. The atmosphere at MFS completely changes during Spirit Week. Students become uber competitive in competitions, they deck themselves out for theme days, but there is one night that really capture the passion students have for Spirit Week at MFS: Hallway night.
When I first heard about hallway night I was both curious and confused as to what this was. Students assured me that it was definitely worth going to, and they were not wrong. Hallway night is when all Upper School students stay after school until 10 o’clock at night and work together with their grades to decorate their hallways in specifically planned themes. This night helps create team bonding amongst the grades and helps build trust among one another.
Another great way to bond with other Upper School students is through MFS’ Intensive Learning program. The program allows students to go on service, educational, or cultural trips both internationally and locally. This was something I had never heard of a school doing before. I mean international field trips, WOW!
In all seriousness, these trips not only create great bonding moments among all Upper School students, but also teach students what it means to give back to others through their service trips, expands students learning on a specific subject through their educational trips, and help expand students knowledge of specific cultures through their culture/language trips, something that I have never seen a school do before.
Now you may be thinking that these unknown aspects are the main reasons why new students choose to come to MFS, but that isn’t the reason. These are just perks that come along with going to MFS. The real reason why students choose to go to MFS is for their great education, and their great community. The MFS community focuses on inclusion for all and embraces the ideas of their students. The MFS community creates an atmosphere that is welcoming. That is what makes MFS much, much more than your ordinary school.
