In October, we launched Lighting the Way, a comprehensive campaign for Westtown. This campaign is the largest in the school’s history, and our goal is to raise $62 million.
The campaign will increase our endowment to help ensure that all students and their families have access to and the ability to afford a Westtown education, and that our faculty may continue to engage in professional development opportunities. The campaign will also help us provide thoughtful community spaces that align with the way we teach, learn, and live as a community and sustain our beloved campus.
But Lighting the Way is more than just a campaign—it is a call to action to sustain and amplify Westtown’s unique spirit. Please consider joining other Westonians in supporting this ambitious endeavor. For more information, please contact Dean of Advancement, Ellen Urbanski or call 610-399-7915.
Learn more about this campaign, our priority areas, see up-to-date details about our fundraising goals and the schedule Friends of Westtown events at our Lighting the Waywebsite.
On June 6, 5th graders, their families, and Lower School teachers gathered in the Meeting House for the Closing Meeting for Worship. Their transition was celebrated together by sharing reflections and fond memories from their time in Lower School. Congratulations, rising 6th graders! Enjoy the gallery of photos from their special day here!
On the evening of June 5, 2024, students, families, and faculty gathered in the Barton-Test theater for the 8th graduation. Recordings of each student’s reflections on their time in Middle School played as they crossed the stage to receive their certificates and jars filled with uplifting messages from family, friends, and teachers. Congratulations to our rising 9th graders! You can enjoy the entire gallery of photos here!
On a beautiful June 8, the Class of 2024 processed into the Greenwood to receive their diplomas. This class of 98 students joins an alum community that spans the years and the globe. We wish them well as they set off upon their next endeavors!
We have created a web page for the Class of 2024 where you can watch individual videos of our Commencement speakers, get links to the Commencement photo galleries, and see where some of our graduates are off to in the College Shirt Day gallery. We invite you to watch the Commencement in its entirety below!
Westtown School has crossed a significant milestone: 225 years of Quaker education! On May 6, 1799, Westtown opened its doors to an inaugural co-ed class of forty students with the intent of providing a “guarded religious education” for Quaker families in the Philadelphia area. The journey to this historic day started over thirty years before, when prominent Philadelphia Quakers such as George Churchman advocated for the establishment of a Friends boarding school. The idea gained support following the founding of Ackworth School by London Yearly Meeting in 1779 and the publication of Owen Biddle’s “A Plan for a School” in 1790. Finally, in 1794, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting formed a committee to consider the proposal. It was accepted, and in 1795 a tract of land was purchased in Chester County from the Gibbons family. It is on this same six hundred acres that Westtown School still operates today, with over two centuries of experience providing an education grounded in Quaker principles.
Divisionally appropriate celebrations took place in each division. In Lower School Gathering, the students presented Head of School Chris Benbow with a big signed birthday card. Middle School observed a special birthday Collection, and in the Upper School, advisory groups recognized the birthday together. Finally, faculty, staff, and Upper School students gathered in the South Room and after a reading from the Student Body Presidents and a word from Benbow, everyone enjoyed the birthday cake(s)!
In the fall, we will celebrate the 225th together in style at the all-school assembly at the opening of school, and at other events throughout the year, so stay tuned for more!
Congratulations to the Chinese Program! The Chinese Language Teachers Association (CLTA) just announced the 16 Chinese Programs awarded the “Distinguished K-12 Chinese Program in the United States” and Westtown School’s Chinese program is one of them. The Westtown School Chinese Program website captures some highlights of our Chinese program. We are excited that our program has received this honor and will be recognized nationally. Congratulations to teachers Bei Zhang, Nina Li, and Jie Song for their outstanding work!
The Award Ceremony to recognize the Distinguished K-12 Chinese Programs in the United States was held during the CLTA Annual Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, where Bei Zhang, Chair of the World Languages Department, accepted the award on behalf of the program.
Look for the latest issue of The Westonian in your mailbox! Remember that you can also always find digital versions of the magazinehere on our website.
If you’d like to contribute a note for Class Notes for an upcoming issue, you may submit your note (and photo!) on this page of the website, or email the Alums Engagement Office at alums@westtown.edu.
One last reminder: if your physical or email address changes, please be in touch with the Alums Engagement Office to update your contact information!
We are thrilled to share that our Dining Room has been re-certified as a 4-star Green Restaurant this year! Special thanks go to Chef Josh Jackson and the Green Coalition, our Upper School sustainability club. Some of the hard work that contributed to the re-certification includes:
🌱Removing single-use disposables from the Dining Room 🌱Returning to a no-plastic-water-bottle policy in the Upper School 🌱A roll-out of the Green Container Program (a check-out and return system for reusable to-go containers) 🌱Collecting and composting kitchen waste on site 🌱Removing single use sauce packets, switched to AWSM sauce condiments (co-founded by Westtown alum Paul Lehmann ’99) 🌱When possible, products are purchased from local sources first
Wow! We did it! Thanks to the generosity of 542 donors, we not only met our goal of $200,000 but also exceeded it by $91,824! This sets a new record as Westtown’s most successful day of giving.
Gifts to the Westtown Fund provide critical resources for our students, faculty, staff, and community, including financial aid, program support, and professional development. The Westtown Fund is an essential source of revenue, providing 5% of our operating budget.
In addition to the significant impact of the dollars raised, 1799 Day showcased the spirit of philanthropy from Westonians around the world! Thank you!
On Friday, November 3, 2023, members of the community—including classmates and friends of Barbara and Allan Staats ’56—gathered for the dedication and ribbon cutting for the newly renovated Barbara and Allan Staats House. After a welcome from Anne Roche, Clerk of the Board of Trustees, Head of School Chris Benbow and Dean of Advancement Ellen Urbanski addressed the gathering. Once Benbow cut the ribbon, the Advancement team hosted a reception and open house.
Formerly known as the Lane House, the building was completed in 1920 to be used as a faculty residence. It has remained primarily a space for faculty and staff housing, and most recently served as a second health center during the pandemic. “And now, friends,” shared Head of School Chris Benbow at the ceremony, “it is the Allan and Barbara Staats House! As many of you know, Allan attended Westtown from 1953 to 1956, and he and Barbara were active in the life of the school for decades, visiting campus regularly for class reunions and other events, including Commencent in the Greenwood…Allan described his deep appreciation for what Westtown taught him both as a student in the classroom and as a whole person. He noted that his years at Westtown were among his most memorable, and that he developed values and dispositions that grounded him throughout his life, including the critical importance of maintaining hope and positivity.”
The Staats have been tremendously generous to Westtown School over the years supporting the Westtown Fund, financial aid, capital projects, and several endowed funds. “Although we lost Allan in 2020 and Barbara in 2022, their legacy lives on,” shared Ellen Urbanski, Dean of Advancement. “Through their estate, the Staats’ generosity is now providing additional support to financial aid, the endowment, the Center for the Living Arts and the Staats House renovation. The Staats’ estate gift also provided resources for us to endow their annual Westtown Fund gift, which will support the Westtown community in perpetuity. Allan and Barbara understood the importance of community and took great pleasure in being with friends and family. In 2021, as we were preparing to honor his life during Alums Weekend, Barbara told me, ‘Allan loved Westtown and is smiling down on all of us knowing that his gifts bring joy to Westtown students, faculty and staff.’ While I do wish they were with us today, I imagine they are both smiling on us this afternoon and cheering on our work together on behalf of Westtown School.”
“Living and learning together—and from one another—is an essential ingredient of the Westtown experience,” continued Benbow. “The community we build here each and every year—each and every day, really—the life long connections we make, and the ways these experiences and relationships shape who we are and how we move through the world simply would not happen without the generosity and intention of people like Allan and Barbara. Financial support for our students and families remains one of our highest priorities, and as someone who has known some of the young people who have benefited directly from Allan and Barbara’s generosity, I also know how much Westtown has benefited from the gifts those young people bring, grow, and share with us daily. We are thrilled to have another welcoming community space on campus where we can connect alums, parents, guardians, grandparents, students, faculty, staff—all members of our community. When I look at this building, I will continue to think with gratitude of Allan and Barbara, of their generosity, and of the connections and community they continue to help make possible.” The Staats House will now serve as offices for the Advancement Department and as a welcoming entertainment and meeting space for the entire Westtown community. The next time you are on campus, we invite you to stop by the Staats House to see this wonderful space. Until then, enjoy the gallery of photos from the ribbon cutting!
