We invite ALL ALUMS to a weekend designed to bridge our storied history with a vibrant present through connection, conversation, and discovery.
Experience the campus today through our brand-new Explore Westtown sessions, engage with the Deep Dive Incubator (details coming soon on the registration page), or share your own history at the Alums Storytelling Booth. The schedule features a mix of tradition and newer options, including the Alums Annual Meeting, an Alums Panel, kids activities, and the Alums Field Hockey and Soccer Games.
In addition to reunion plans, gatherings throughout the weekend offer something for everyone, from the Belonging is Sweet social to the G.O.L.D. (Graduates of the Last Decade) meetup in the West Chester Borough. Whether you’re here for the milestones or the memories, we look forward to seeing you!
We were thrilled to welcome Sapphira Cristál to Westtown as our Shoemaker Visiting Lecturer! A classically trained musician with a six-octave range, fourteen drag pageant titles, and international recognition as runner-up and Miss Congeniality on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16, Sapphira dazzled our community with an aria, a lecture focused on self-love and acceptance, and a show-stopping lip-sync. The next day, she met with our theater students as well as students from the Westtown Affinity Group for Gender and Sexuality (WAGGS).
As Quakers, we’re called to see the Light in every person, with particular attention to those whose identities have been historically marginalized. Guided by educator Elyssa Maxx Goodman’s definition of drag as “performance of the gender spectrum on and off stage,” we’re reminded that the ways we dress, the personas we inhabit, and the ways we show up in the world make drag a deeply human art form—one we all participate in.
It was a strong winter sports season for our student athletes. In addition to our varsity basketball teams bringing home the FSL championship, indoor track athlete Ajana Patton ’28 was the state champion in the long jump! Ryder Tookes ’27 and Miguel Wenderoth Bachiller ’26 both qualified for wrestling National Preps, and five swimmers placed in the top 25 at Easterns. Additionally, seventeen student athletes at were named to the Friends Schools League All League and Honorable Mention teams. We recently celebrated all of our talented and hard-working student athletes at the Winter Varsity Awards Ceremony. You can enjoy photos of all the awardees here!
Both our girls and boys varsity basketball teams won Friends Schools League Championship Tournaments at LaSalle University this winter. It is only the second time in school history that both teams have won on the same night. Congratulations to these two tenacious teams! See more of the girls team in action here, and the boys team here.
Elements Dance Company and the Winter Dance Ensemble (along with some special guests!) presented Hallway Hustle, this winter’s Upper School Dance Concert. The show took a glimpse at a typical day in the life of a Westtown School student through altered forms of various social dances in this lively performance. Well done, dancers!
The Middle School presented James and the Giant Peach, a production based on Roald Dahl’s “masterpeach” of a tale with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. When James is sent by his conniving aunts to chop down their old fruit tree, he discovers a magic potion that grows a tremendous peach, rolls into the ocean and launches a journey of enormous proportions. James befriends a collection of singing insects that ride the giant piece of fruit across the ocean, facing hunger, sharks and plenty of disagreements along the way.
Congratulations to the cast and crew of this excellent production and thank you to theater teacher Jack McManus who directed!
In February, six students from fifth and sixth grades were selected to perform in this year’s Chesco Band Fest: Jonathan D’Alessandro ’32, Lucas Donatelli ’32, Hugo Charriez ’32, Charlie Maloney ’33, Jackson Silva ’32, and Alex Wahlen ’33. The festival hosted over 100 fifth and sixth grade band students from around Chester County representing 25 schools. Students spent the day rehearsing with a guest conductor in preparation for an evening concert the same day. This year students worked with Mr. Ryan Fegley, a longtime educator from the Unionville/Chadds Ford School District. Congratulations to our talented musicians and our thanks to music teacher Jason Wu for facilitating this opportunity for our student musicians!
From left: Teacher Jason Wu, Charlie Maloney (5th), Alex Wahlen (5th), Lucas Donatelli (6th), Jackson Silva (6th), Hugo Charriez (6th), Jonathan D’Alessandro (6th)
Congratulations to our fifth graders, who wrote and performed their food-themed adaptation of Aesop’s Fables—Aesop’s Tables! Their performances included clever characters and delicious baked goods, and meaningful lessons were woven into every tale. Their performances were a true delight. Bravo, students!
Congratulations to the five Middle Schoolers who were featured in this year’s PAEA Youth Art Month Exhibition—Keira Bartholomae ’30, Jena Farhan ’30, Annsley Frazier ’31, Pedro Giraldo Lozano ’30, and Sam Lehmann ’31! This statewide virtual exhibition is organized by the Pennsylvania Art Educators Association as part of Youth Art Month (March) as part of the annual nationwide celebration administered by The Council for Art Education and The National Art Educators Association. Youth Art Month recognizes and applauds the power of visual arts education and the skills student artists develop through problem-solving, creativity, observation, and visual communication. A special congratulations to Keira, whose ink drawing “Old Shack” (using black walnut ink from our local trees) was selected by a jury of professional working artists as this year’s PAEA Youth Art Month Middle School Division Award! Well done, artists!
Sam Lehmann ’31, DisguiseKeira Bartholomae ’30, Old ShackPedro Giraldo Lozano ’30, PerspectiveJena Farhan ’30, ChiaroscuroAnnsley Frazier ’31, Small Friends
An important aspect of both Westtown’s team and FIRST Robotics is service and community outreach. In addition to designing and building a robot each year, Westtown’s Team 1391, the Metal Moose, engages in service projects and outreach to promote STEM and to compete for the Impact Award, the most prestigious award in the FIRST robotics competition league.
Over the years, this outreach has included running a TechGirlz workshop for girls in STEM; teaching LEGO robotics sessions at Camp Dreamcatcher; doing LEGO robotics and Kendal Crosslands communities; restarting and mentoring a FIRST LEGO League team at The School in Rose Valley; demonstrations at Westtown second graders’ Space Day, and much more. This year, they have been building a relationship with the American Helicopter Museum & Education Center in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The American Helicopter Museum & Education Center staff reached out to Westtown’s team and invited them to do a robot demonstration on their annual family day. This demonstration was such a hit that the museum staff invited the team back to do another demonstration in their summer program. The Metal Moose then proposed a five-week LEGO robotics camp, which they began this past fall. Fifteen youngsters enrolled, and in their two-hour weekly sessions, Team 1391 taught students how to build, program, test, and demonstrate mini robots, and to learn the principles of teamwork. They worked with FIRST LEGO League EV3 which uses LEGO Technic pieces. The camp was so impactful on the young students that a few reached out to Metal Moose team members to inquire about finding a FIRST LEGO team that they could join.
The Metal Moose team members enjoy this added dimension to being on the robotics team. “All of the service and STEM outreach we’ve done as a team has been really inspiring to me,” shared Maitreyi Vadigepalli ’27. “Whenever we organize a demonstration, summer camp, or learning session, seeing the kids so excited is always heartwarming. I am always reminded of how excited I would be at these opportunities when I was younger! One thing I particularly like about our outreach work is how student-led it is. I used to attend the School in Rose Valley, and was on their FIRST LEGO League Challenge team for 4th and 5th grade. This team is what ultimately motivated me to pursue engineering in life. Now, as a member of the Metal Moose, I’ve been able to lead the re-establishment of this team by conducting robotics demos, mentoring the team, and attending their scrimmage. This initiative really felt like a full-circle moment for me, and it was really empowering.”
