Pictured above: Quaker Life Committee and seventh and eighth-grade students thinking around three of the Quaker values, as we sat with elevating a pair this school year.
The Quaker Life Committee (QLC) is a small group of board members, faculty, and staff that meet monthly to support Quakerism at Friends School. Among many aspects of Quakerism at FSP, the committee discusses ways to support and scaffold weekly all-school Meeting for Worship.
It is a common practice at Friends Schools across the world to choose a testimony a year to lift up. Last year, the QLC recommended that we try choosing a Quaker testimony pairing to delve into, school-wide. This year, the QLC has brought forward a new testimony pairing through a slightly different process.
At times, the QLC has had students be a part of the committee. To include student voices in the process this year, seventh and eighth-grade students were invited to join the testimony planning conversation. Stewardship had risen as a value to elevate during faculty conversations. This year, there is a new faculty Environmental Action Committee and we are in the second year of a planned shift from Physical Education to Physical and Stewardship Education. With the hiring of a new (first-ever) Facilities Director, David Mahaney, stewardship is indeed top of mind at FSP.
As we ponder how to teach about stewardship beyond picking up belongings and trash (which in itself is valuable too!), seventh and eighth-grade students were invited to consider another testimony to pair with stewardship. Equality and Peace both rose in exciting ways to think about Stewardship as not just picking up trash when you see it. Over more than one conversation, many students began to think of Equality and Peace as two very important values and that it might be too hard to choose between them. It took multiple conversations to deliberate on what we might want to elevate and to remind ourselves that choosing to elevate one value does not discount another. Ultimately, members of the QLC were trusted to think through and make a decision.
The testimonies that rose were Equality and Stewardship.
Two queries that resonate with this pairing as we begin the school year are:
Do my actions help to create a world where everyone is treated with dignity?
How do I balance my individual needs with the needs of the world around me?