Religion teachers Lara Freeman and Jonathan Ogle combine art and spirituality in their Quakerism course in the Spiritual Journey Project. For this project, students create an artistic representation of their spiritual identity. In this Quakerism course—an Upper School requirement—students are asked to reflect on their own relationship with spirituality and religion and consider the influences on their lives that have shaped the identity and beliefs they claim or are exploring at this point in time. “We invite them to see themselves as more than just embracing or rejecting a particular label, but as a unique person engaged in figuring out what spirituality and religion mean to them and how they see the world,” shares Ogle. “There are so many pressures in our society that either dictate specific ways to talk about these things, or work against talking about our spiritual and religious lives at all. The collage project moves students out of the usual verbal modes of communication and forces them to engage with these questions in an unaccustomed way that is often unexpectedly revealing to them in their understanding of themselves, as well as creating interesting, varied visual expressions of parts of their inner lives that are often hidden.” 

For the Spiritual Journey Project (an idea first shared with Ogle by fellow religion teacher Tom Hoopes of George School), students create a 2D collage or 3D sculpture that depicts their spiritual identity at this moment of their journey thus far. Ogle and Freeman ask students to consider: Have your beliefs changed or what is your perspective on them? What do you focus on? What are your questions? What people and experiences have influenced your your journey?  At the conclusion of the project, students presented their art and shared their journeys with the class. “Another purpose of the project is to open a space of curiosity about the diversity of ways their peers have experienced and are thinking about these topics,” continues Ogle. “It’s much more comfortable to ask someone, ‘Can you explain what that green yarn in the corner represents?’ than to say, ‘Tell me what you believe.’ It’s more comfortable to answer, too. Through this, and other activities, we want students to develop more skill and comfort living in a world and in communities where people may openly have many different relationships with spirituality and religion. This project can set the stage for more open, authentic conversations in class as the year goes on. That skill and comfort can be transformative in the communities they will live and work in throughout their lives, including Westtown.” 

On Friday, December 6, Westtown’s Math Department hosted the Philly Math League Olympiad. This was the first time Westtown School has hosted the Math Olympiad. There were teams from George School, Hill, Penn Charter, Episcopal, Baldwin, Agnes Irwin, Haverford, Masterman (for the first time), Springside-Chestnut Hill, Shipley, and Friends Central.  

The olympiad is the culminating event of the Philly Math League season. Every team competes during every round of six questions, which could either be individual based (where the top five scores of a team are added together) or cooperative (where students work as a team to submit one solution set). It was a great opportunity for Westtown’s team to see the participants they’ve been competing against all fall. 

The energy in the Uptown Lounge was palpable as students spent the morning solving and discussing diverse math questions alone and working in teams of eight. The Westtown team finished in the top four schools in the competition, with a very close semifinal loss to Episcopal Academy, who eventually lost by one point to George School, the three-time defending champion. Math teacher Jake Norton and Math Department Chair Susan Waterhouse share, “Our young team has a lot of depth and we are looking forward to continuing to build strength in the coming year!” 

Congratulations to Westtown’s team: Tiantong Hu  ’26, Isabella Jin  ’27, Jamie Lee ’27, Jayden Qin ’28, Jerry Rao ’27, Bailey Tuckman ’25, Angela Wang ’26, and Max Zhang ’27! 

Enjoy other photos from the Olympiad here! 

In Other Math News: American Mathematics Competition

The American Mathematics Competition (AMC) is a series of math examinations designed to challenge middle and high school students with engaging problems, aiming to identify mathematical talent, foster a love of math, and develop critical problem-solving skills through friendly competition; essentially, it’s a national program focused on strengthening future generations of mathematicians by providing engaging math challenges across different levels of difficulty.

The top three AMC 10 (for 9th and 10th graders) scores were: 
1. Isabella Jin ’27
2. Jayden Qin ’28
3. Max Zhang ’27

The top three AMC 12 (for 10th and 12th graders) scores were: 
1. Jamie Lee ’27
2. Angela Wang ’26
3. Tiantong Hu ’26

Additionally, Jamie Lee ’27  received a Certificate of Achievement for his score on the AMC 12 as a 10th grader; received a Certificate of Distinction as a top 5% score in the country; and, qualified for the AIME (American Invitational Mathematics Examination). Junior Angela Wang qualified for the AIME (American Invitational Mathematics Examination) and sophomore Isabella Jin received a Certificate of Distinction as a top 5% score in the country; received an Honor Roll of Distinction as a top 1% score in the country; and qualified for the AIME (American Invitational Mathematics Examination). Congratulations to all!

This fall, teacher Ryan Black took Environmental Science students traveled to the North Brigantine Natural Area along the southern New Jersey coast. This area is a critical shorebird habitat, home to several rare and endangered species, and part of the longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island beach along the New Jersey coast. Students learned how to identify different species and estimate population sizes with the goal of reporting this data to state agencies and conservation groups. “They were able to identify seven shorebird species (including endangered red knots) and counted 1,810 birds over the course of our two surveys,” shared Black. “Combined with the data from Episcopal Academy and Haddonfield Memorial HS students, we have counted over 7,000 birds so far this migration season at the North Brigantine Natural Area.” They also documented human activity and other disturbances to investigate the impact on the shorebird species. The data collected (and data to be collected in the future) will be used for a lab report / field study assignment.

Students were on the move once again for a freshwater mussel survey of E. Chester Creek (on campus in the North Woods). Black says, “We have been unable to find any native freshwater mussels in the creek. This is unsurprising since mussels are missing from approximately 95% of regional streams surveyed. We compared the abundance of native mussel species (0) to invasive Asian clams (561). We also collected some water quality data and inspected some areas for macroinvertebrate life (picture of Dragonfly nymph on rock). It was the largest group I have ever had in waders at the same time and they did a great job!” 

Students also had a night field trip to Rushton Woods Preserve to observe Northern Saw-whet owl banding. The students were able to see the researchers collect data on one older female Saw-whet owl that was caught right at the last net check. Our students were hosted by the  Willistown Conservation Trust (WCT) who wanted to ensure that we share that, “All birds were handled for scientific purposes in the presence of Banders-In-Charge at a federally licensed banding station. Do not attempt to handle wild animals without the proper training and permits.”

Congratulations to these seniors on their National Merit Scholarship (NMS) achievements! Over 1.3 million juniors across the country entered the NMS program and only 16,000 qualify as semi-finalists. Kyle Cui (3rd from left) is a semi-finalist and will continue in the competition. Terry Ma, Steven Zhao, Jacob Liu, Liam Sellers-Johnston, Shawn Xu, Sophia Park, Aveline Heryer, and Katherine Graham (not pictured) have been named Commended Students by the Nation Merit Scholarship Corporation, which means they were in the top 50,000 scorers of students who took the PSAT last fall.

George Lakey gave a rousing presentaion at a recent Upper School Assembly. Lakey is an activist and author who has committed his life to fighting for social justice in many realms: racial justice, LGBTQ rights, and climate justice, among many others. As a Quaker, he has co-founded and led many organizations and campaigns focused on peace and justice. At the assembly, he spoke about his anti-war activism in Vietnam, his work in the civil rights movement, and his recent work fighting climate change. A sociologist and researcher by trade who has studied social movements across world and in Scandivia in particular, he addressed the extreme political polarization in the United States, reminding students that polarization very often precedes progress in societies; that it’s often this tension that propels movements forward. He reminded students that they can can be instrumental in change as well. The presentation was followed by a lively Q&A period. 

Upper School religion teacher Lara Freeman, who was instrumental in bringing George to campus, shares, “George visited one of the Environmental Justice classes for an open conversation about social change and his long history of working for a more just world. The students came prepared with questions they wanted to ask. The conversation was rich and could have lasted another hour. Following the presentation in assembly, George also met with students, staff, and faculty in a reception in the South Room. It was exciting to hear from adults who had participated in trainings with George in their youth as well as to see a new generation of people motivated by his joy, humor, and creative engagement in this world.” It is of note that Westtown students who have taken the Peace and Justice classes over the last few years have used the Global Nonviolent Action Database, which Lakey helped to create at Swarthmore College. 

Lakey is a member of the Earth Quaker Action Team and columnist for WagingNonviolence.org. You can learn more about Lakey and his work in the documentary film Citizen George, or through his books. He is the author of: Dancing with History: A Life for Peace and Justice; Facilitating Group Learning: Strategies for Success with Diverse Learners; Viking Economics: How the Scandinavians got it right and how we can, too; and HOW WE WIN: A Guide to Nonviolent Direct Action Campaigning. 

Angela Wang and Jerry Huynh competed in the 2024 USA Biolympiad National Exam, sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Education. Both Jerry and Angela participated in the first round of exams on February 12.  Angela qualified as a semi-finalist, the highest level that she was able to achieve (without being a US citizen).  

Here are the happy recipients of their award certificates, along with science teacher Leslie Barr!