Upper School history teacher Joseph Daniels was named the 2024 Pennsylvania Gilder-Lehrman History Teacher of the Year! Joseph was chosen by a panel of teachers, administrators, and scholars for his achievements in American history education. In addition to this state-level honor, he was in the running with 53 other teachers across the country for National History Teacher of the Year.
Joseph Daniels is the Chair of the History and Religion Department. Over the last 20 years, he has taught World History, U.S. History, U.S. Government, and several electives including Modern Asia, Modern Africa, Genocide Studies, and US-China Relations, among others. Additionally, he has led student experiential learning tours to Israel and Palestine as well as Central Europe. He is an active member of several organizations, including the Gilder Lehrman Institute, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia. Please join us in congratulating Joseph!
As part of our Identity, Values, and Politics series Katina Bays ’01 spoke at an Upper School Assembly this fall. This series, organized and hosted by Dean of Equity, Justice, and Belonging Louisa Egan Brad, brings speakers to Westtown to talk about their work and life experiences especially as they relate to these topics. Bays is Deputy Director of Outreach and Engagement at the Ohio Department of Children and Youth,serving under a Republican governor, Mike DeWine. Originally from New Jersey, Bays enrolled at Westtown in ninth grade. She was a two-season athlete and was involved in Service Network. After Westtown, she earned a B.A. from Spelman College, then went on to earn a Master of Science in Social Administration from Case Western Reserve University. She is also a licensed independent social worker.
Bays presented an engaging assembly and Q&A session where she described her roles, what inspired her to pursue work in social service, and both her positive and negative experiences at Westtown. She noted that regardless of the political party in office, the issues remain and their department’s mission is to serve the children and families of Ohio. “I think that red, blue, independent aside, many of us in helping professions, get into it because we want to make a difference and help families thrive…And when we put the politics aside and look at the fact that African American babies in the state of Ohio are dying at two times greater rates than their white counterparts, that has absolutely nothing to do with politics and everything to do with the social determinants of health. And so I think that it is very important that as we are having these discussions and that we are starting to frame them in a different way.”
Bays also visited the Peace and Justice class and hosted a drop-in session in the South Room where a steady stream of students talked with her individually. She says that she was impressed by the students. “In both Jonathan’s [Ogle] classroom and as well as my time in the South Room with students, I just felt like [students] were wise beyond their years,” she shared. Some of the questions they were asking were very forward-thinking, and oftentimes I think that we sometimes have misconceptions of who and what teens are. But these students were ones that you knew were going to go out and do great things. For me, it was energizing, it was invigorating, and it was a reminder of how much Westtown pours into students… I left thinking that there are so many budding leaders that I was able to engage with that I know will make a difference in many of the professions that they choose. I felt excited to be a part of the Westtown family and the legacy that Westtown is continuing to make.”
After her visit, Bays and Egan Brad spoke more extensively. Bays says being back at Westtown made her feel nostalgic and like “coming home in many ways. While it was great to see some of those same things, it was also so encouraging to see the increased diversity in the student body and staff population, much of which I had not experienced, at least to that level, during my time.”
Egan Brad asked Bays what major points she wanted to students to take away from her talk. “That everyone’s journey is unique,” she replied. “The time you have at Westtown is a special time to find yourself, and you have the ability to explore who you are and who you aspire to become. It was my hope that individuals would take away that not only was my experience unique as is everyone else’s, but it was also important for me to use that time at Westtown to explore who I was as a young African-American woman. I also wanted people to take away that it wasn’t always rainbows and butterflies, and that there were some challenges that I experienced. I don’t think that my challenges were abnormal, but I also wanted to make sure that I was telling a very accurate story. Despite the highs and lows, Westtown helped me be very intentional in my decision for my next phase in life, which was college. I made the decision to attend a historically Black college because I knew that for some of those pieces that I had not yet fine-tuned at Westtown, I needed to be in an environment in which I would be able to cultivate those and grow. I really do hope that students took away that you can still have a great experience that may have some valleys that are a part of it, but that it is important to take away all that Westtown has to offer and use that as you are making your next steps into adulthood.”
Finally, Egan Brad asked Bays how she felt her Westtown education set the stage for her subsequent education and career. Bays says that there were so many ways that Westtown prepared her for her future, noting discipline first. “If I think back to study halls from the age of 14, I got used to having the discipline to study at my own pace and make sure that I was prepared,” she says. “The other piece is just the level of independence. I was active on campus at Westtown, so it was a lot of me having to put myself out there, and also go into places and spaces where it may have been a little bit uncomfortable. I think that played a huge role in my life because now, oftentimes, I am the only one that looks like me in a room. I also know from Westtown that although I may be the only one in the room that looks like me, I’m in that room for a reason, and so my value is the same as everyone else that’s in the room. I think that Westtown also allowed me to speak up for marginalized groups. Westtown made me confident and made me feel like the sky was the limit. The other piece is how important community is, and how important having a firm foundation is. As I just noted, after my visit I went back to my closest Westtown friends, and we’ve been together since our time at Westtown. In many ways, those ladies have grounded me and have kept me sane through highs and lows in life. But all of that began on what was then Girls Third [dorm]. We were all just young girls from New York and New Jersey and we needed each other throughout our time there. Westtown gave me so very much and I am eternally grateful for the opportunity. At 14, when my mom told me I was going to apply to the Wight Foundation, it was met with apprehension. I wanted to stay home, I wanted to stay in a world that I knew well. But going to Westtown completely set me on the trajectory of where I am in life, and I am forever grateful for everything that I received from Westtown. Even the lows, because I think it helped to shape me into who I am today.”
Westtown School Dining Services has earned 4-Star Certified Green Restaurant Ⓡ recertification from the Green Restaurant Association (GRA)! Dining Services at Westtown first earned a 4-Star rating back in 2019. The GRA’s standards “reflect over 30 years of research in the field of restaurants and the environment. Thousands of restaurants and hundreds of thousands of restaurant personnel have provided the living laboratory for the continued evolution of the GRA Standards. The purpose of the GRA standards is to provide a transparent way to measure each restaurant’s environmental accomplishments, while providing a pathway for the next steps they can take to increase their environmental sustainability.”
Restuarants are evaluated in several categories such as: energy and water use, recycling, reusable disposables, chemicals and pollution, food, buildings, and education transparency. This 4-Star designation by the Green Restaurant Association—an honor rarely given to a school dining facility—was awarded to our Dining Services after being evaluated in six categories: energy, water, waste, food, disposables, and chemical use. Thirty seven percent of all food served in our Dining Room is locally sourced. Our Dining Room serves produce from the student farm year round, as well as produce from 80 area farms through Philadelphia’s Common Market.
Westtown’s Dining Services team has also been awarded The Slow Food Snail of Approval by the Slow Food organization. “The Slow Food Snail of Approval award is a recognition given to food and beverage establishments that are pursuing and practicing Slow Food values in their business. This is more than about making good food — it’s about making commitments to the environment, local communities, employees and purveyors, and our core values of antiracism and anti-oppression.” The Snail of Approval is awarded based on evaluations focused on the following six areas: sourcing, environmental impact, cultural connection, community involvement, staff support, and business values.
Congratulations to our Dining Services Team on these recognitions!
Over the summer, we were thrilled to welcome Francine Locke to our community as the new Director of Sustainability. She also serves as the Director of Sustainability for Germantown Friends School (GFS). Through an innovative partnership, Westtown and GFS created this shared role that offers both school communities the benefit of an experienced Director of Sustainability. This cross-school collaboration is generating energy and innovative ideas and already students from both schools have visited each other’s campuses to find creative and effective ways to collaborate.
Locke brings a wealth of experience and knowledge. She has a Master’s in Environmental Health from Temple University, and previously served as Chief Sustainability Officer for Delaware County and as the Director of Sustainability and Green Schools for the School District of Philadelphia. About her new position she shared, “Everyone at Westtown and GFS gets it, and that’s a beautiful thing to inherit in this position. There is already a ton of interest and wonderful people leading this work. I am working with generous, kind communities at schools that value Quakerism and sustainability. This mindset is expressed through meaningful actions that are the norm at both schools.”
Locke says she is highly impressed with the sustainability practices already in place at Westtown, noting many examples from implementing green stormwater management practices, to composting, eliminating single-use plastics, and procuring locally grown produce in the Dining Room. “From a sustainable campus perspective, Westtown is a leader in operationalizing sustainability into its facilities management program. The school’s state-of-the art building automation system allows for an efficient way to control HVAC systems within historic facilities. All of the facilities’ lights have been converted to high efficient LEDs. From a renewable energy perspective, the school purchases 100% of its electricity through renewable energy credits sourced from wind farms. There is much to be said about the sustainable campus operations at Westtown,” she says.
She also notes that, “Westtown is a true leader in education for sustainability. The campus is a living laboratory, and an outdoor classroom, and the curriculum reflects the abundance of natural resources present at the school. Teachers and students at Westtown experience education in a way that allows them to find their own connections with the natural world and sustainability, while also applying their understanding of math, science, religion, art, and other areas of study. This is an interdisciplinary approach that is not limited by subject area.”
One of Locke’s first projects is to create a sustainability plan for Westtown along with members of the Sustainability Committee—a group comprising faculty, administrators, staff, and students. “The sustainability plan will include input from the entire school community so that it becomes a product of the school’s collective thinking rather than a document that is delivered to the community for implementation,” she shares. “Communities tend to support a plan that they help create, and we want this to be a living plan that delivers measurable outcomes and reflects the Quaker values of the community. My hope is that we will develop a holistic, whole-school sustainability plan that connects education, physical spaces, and organizational culture as a sustainable system. We want to consider economic, social, and environmental issues in an interconnected way rather than as separate issues. For example, we will work towards balancing economic growth with equity to ensure that everyone is uplifted on the journey towards sustainability. Through a robust outreach and engagement process, we will identify baseline data for energy, waste, water, emissions, food, and much more. We want to then develop manageable sections or focus areas of the plan such as education, energy, zero waste, and health and wellbeing. When this framework is created, we can identify measurable targets and the actions needed to attain them. Threaded throughout the plan will also be inspiring stories of the work currently taking place at the school, including highlights of programs, practices, and people. It’s an exciting time to be here and I’m looking forward to growing more sustainability initiatives from the seeds that have been planted by my predecessors.”
Locke is also very excited about the upcoming construction of a 2.1 MW solar array. “This infrastructure will support the school’s goal of working towards a carbon-neutral campus. There is a potential to calculate carbon sequestration of the 600-acres of natural land, accompanied by the offset of carbon emissions from the new solar array and together, with reduced waste from the campus, highly sustainable procurement practices, and changes in human behavior, the school has the potential to lead the way in a more sustainable environmental footprint. This will also be a powerful educational tool for students who may be able to study the system, once again demonstrating Westtown’s campus as an innovative laboratory.”
Energized by this community and the work already underway, Locke says she looks forward to bringing her prior experience to bear in this role. “I am so grateful to be at Westtown leading the sustainability efforts of this extraordinary school. My past work involved crafting successful sustainability solutions with limited resources. As the Sustainability and Green Schools Director for the School District of Philadelphia, and the Chief Sustainability Officer for the County of Delaware, PA, I found that the development of a community-created, highly organized and results-driven plan allowed for these institutions to connect resources to prescribed actions. This led to measurable progress that could be shared out with the larger community, inspiring hope and optimism for a better world. I would like to bring this approach to Westtown, creating limitless possibilities with the vast 600-acres of mature, beautiful, preserved land, and the already-existing foundation created by my predecessors. Students are our purpose at Westtown, and I look forward to supporting their journeys to become global sustainability leaders. They will be the changemakers who crack the code to climate change and an equitable, kinder world.”
Many have given to the Westtown Fund and to the Lighting the Way campaign already and we are so grateful for the generosity of this community. During our recent annual “thank-a-thon,” 28 Upper School students staffed the phones to call nearly 300 donors to show appreciation! We know the Westonians who spoke to students were happy to receive their calls, and we extend our thanks to our students as well for sharing their time!
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!
