"We prepare students to engage in the world that is and to help bring about a world that ought to be."
Friends Participates in 10th Annual F.L.I.N.G.
On Saturday, October 23, Grade 9 students and their parents participated in F.L.I.N.G. (Freshmen Lead in National Giving). This Upper School event is traditionally held on the National Day of Service and Remembrance and is designed to honor through acts of volunteerism those who lost their lives on 9/11, their families, the first responders, and the everyday citizens who, amongst the chaos, reached out to help their fellow citizens. However due to the closure of New York Harbor for the President’s arrival on 9/11, Friends was able to reschedule in October.
F.L.I.N.G. has also served through the years to provide an opportunity to connect new ninth graders and their parents to one another, and to orient them to our School’s foundational commitment to service and civic engagement.
This year, 74 Grade 9 students and vaccinated parents partnered with the nonprofit, Earth Matter on Governors Island. Earth Matter seeks to reduce the organic waste misdirected into the garbage stream by encouraging neighbor participation and leadership in composting. Their farm has won national acclaim for its compost learning center and zero-waste initiatives.
Friends is proud to celebrate their 10th year of F.L.I.N.G. safely in-person again. Last year, despite the challenges of holding the event virtually, the student Service Committee leaders facilitated breakout sessions and activities to connect Friends to four nonprofit organizations focused on a variety of topics—mental illness, mass incarceration, and female empowerment.
The Upper School event hallmarks the Friends community’s work toward the common goal of furthering peace, equity and justice.
Friends Seminary actively promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism in all its programs and operations, including admissions, financial aid, hiring, and all facets of the educational experience. To form a community which strives to reflect the world’s diversity, we do not discriminate on the basis of race or color, religion, nationality, ethnicity, economic background, physical ability, sex, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation. Friends Seminary is an equal opportunity employer.
Friends Seminary — the oldest continuously operated, coeducational school in NYC — serves college-bound day students in Kindergarten-Grade 12.
