Studies in Education

Summer 2012 Issue

• How Could This Happen?

  Teresa Maebori, Former Teacher, Third-Fourth Grades

  We are occasionally re-printing articles from the past fifty years of Studies in Education that we believe are as relevant today as when initially published. This article by Teresa Maebori originally appeared in the Fall, 1985 issue and describes the background and creation of the Germantown Friends School-Home of the Merciful Saviour musical play. It’s a moving story, as is the epilogue printed at the end. In 2012 GFS celebrated both the thirtieth year of the GFS-HMS musical play and the completion of Teresa’s thirty-sixth and final year as a teacher in the GFS lower school.

  Wiping tears from my eyes as the song concluded, I too wondered, “How Could This Happen?” We were in the midst of a rehearsal for a musical play involving twenty Germantown Friends School third-fourth graders and twenty cerebral-palsy students from the Home of the Merciful Savior. As we sang the lyrics, acted out the words, and then joined hands to show our unity and affection for one another, a lump in my throat grew.

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• "Take It to the Limit One More Time": My Two Years in the Peace Corps, Jordan

  Lydia McCloskey ’64

  Envision standing in front of the GFS main building, on the stairs in front of the pillars. I can picture myself with my left hand on my hip and my right hand shaking my fingers at the “open” door, rudely pointing and saying,” It’s all your fault, this wanderlust I have. You taught me to leave my home and serve people around the world.”
  Really, it’s true. The motivation that pushed me to join the Peace Corps at age sixty-four began with the ideals taught at GFS and were made definite after my junior year at GFS when I went to France and England with an American Friends Service Committee work camp. It is a natural culmination of this beginning that, after a full life including marriage, children, and work, I joined Peace Corps and was sent to Jordan to serve.

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• At a Philadelphia School, Independence Is a Requirement—and a Learned Skill

  Sarah Buttenwieser ’81

  Sarah Buttenwieser wrote this article for the blog Teenlife.com. Sarah is a freelance writer and has a personal blog, Standing in the Shadows.

  At Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia, a long-standing tradition is the Junior Project. Each January since 1977, juniors have stepped away from their course work and engaged in an independent project. This is not an added frill or even optional: Successful completion of the Junior Project is a requirement for graduation.

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