A Warm Welcome Back
January Term (aka J-Term) is an exciting time at Germantown Friends School; regular classes pause for the entire month to allow students and faculty the chance to explore passions, interests, and interdisciplinary learning through workshops, mini-courses, and travel programs. This year, a new component was Young Alumni J-Term Shadow Day, when everyone from the GFS classes of 2015-2024 were invited back to campus to participate in courses and reconnect with friends and teachers.
GFS Director of Alumni Relations, Heeseung Lee '91, noted that there were a number of factors in the decision to launch this program this year.
“As 2025 marks the ten-year anniversary of January Term at GFS, we wanted to celebrate that milestone by inviting young alumni to campus for a day,” said Lee. “We’re also so excited to share the new All School Commons and Dining Hall with our alumni, and of course want recent GFS grads to know that they are always welcome to come back!”
On Thursday, January 9, the 20 young alumni who signed up for Young Alumni J-Term Shadow Day spent the day at GFS. Ahead of time, they were provided with a selection of J-Term courses to sit in on; topics ranged from modern politics (“The Current Supreme Court Term”) to sustainable crafting (“Scavenge, Salvage, Reimagine, Repair”) to a blend of science and art (“Figure Drawing and Artistic Anatomy”).
Some young alumni sat in on the "Code Blue, Paging You: Intro to Healthcare Professions" course led by Grayson Graham ’25 and Caroline Fosnot
Lunch in the Dining Hall, tours of the All School Commons and Abigail R. Cohen Center for the Arts, and an afternoon reception rounded out the day with opportunities to spend time together and explore GFS’ growing campus.
Eliza Macneal '16 ran into GFS math teacher Jared Lazorko '16 in the Servery
Revisiting and Remembering
Faruq Adger ’21, still on winter break from his senior year at the University of Pennsylvania, said that part of his impetus for attending the Shadow Day was a desire to get back in touch with his roots, both to see what’s going on at GFS and to see how much he’s grown since graduation.
“This goes back to what I’m studying at Penn, which is linguistics and anthropology; I’m interested in the study of culture and the study of people,” Adger said. “I really like getting to see what the human experience can be, and part of that is being able to go back, retrace your steps, and reflect on that."
Faruq Adger '21 (right) chatted with fellow alumni in the Dining Hall
A highlight of Adger’s day was catching up with his former track and field coach, who introduced him to the current student who’d broken the indoor track record that Adger set in 2020.
“Today, I got to meet the individual who broke my track record, and I’m proud to congratulate him and celebrate him,” he noted. “I know what it’s like when someone gives you your flowers and says, ‘You did your thing here,’ and ‘I know you put a lot of effort’—those moments boost you.”
Two of the J-Term classes that Adger was able to join were Adam Hotek and Alexander Guevarez’s “Understanding Hitchcock: ‘Master of Suspense’" class, and “Introduction to Poetry: A Workshop,” led by Emi Wong-Shing ’27 and Sam Sullivan.
In the Hitchcock class, Adger enjoyed participating in the group discussion, especially because his last English classes at GFS were during the pandemic and couldn’t have the same communal format. He also made a point to attend Sullivan’s class, one of his beloved teachers from his time at GFS.
“Sam always told us to keep writing poetry and I wanted to tell him that that’s what I’ve been doing,” Adger noted. “It was great.”
Finding the Familiar and the New
Another GFS young alum who visited campus on January 9 was Eve Lukens-Day ’17, who currently lives in Philly and works as a grants projects officer for the Environmental Protection Agency. January Term at GFS started when Lukens-Day was a sophomore, and she was excited to come back and see what it’s like for students these days.
“It was my first time back inside a classroom at GFS since I graduated eight years ago,” she said. “It felt very cool to be a fly on the wall and observe the students who are now in Upper School doing their thing.”
Lukens-Day went to two classes: Devra Ramsey’s “Jantangle” course, and “Scavenge, Salvage, Reimagine, Repair,” led by Chelsea Koehler and Lilly Greene ’13.
GFS math teacher Devra Ramsey (left) with Eve Lukens-Day ’17
“I chose this morning’s class because of Devra—I really loved having her as a math teacher and I haven’t seen her in a long time. That was really lovely,” she said.
Ramsey, who said she always enjoys seeing former students, appreciated the chance to catch up with the young alumni during the more flexible time-frame of J-Term.
“The nature and pace of January Term gave me a little more space to visit with alumni who return, during the longer classes that have a less rigorous agenda, and during more open times like lunch and after school,” Ramsey reflected. “It’s great to be able to hear what they are doing, how they are doing, and what reflections they have on their time at GFS now that they are not here daily.”
Dan Mateffy '23 (left) enjoyed lunch with GFS faculty Bob Wein and Devra Ramsey
Bernie Mattson '22 (center) and Cory Molenaar '23 (right) with GFS Theatre Department Chair, Jake Miller
GFS history teacher John Ceccatti (center) with Luca Capecchi '24 (left) and Joshua Matthews '24 (right)
Lukens-Day also went on one of the scheduled tours of the new All School Commons and Abigail R. Cohen Center for the Arts. On that tour, and across campus, the blend of the familiar with the new was striking.
“We walked through the Loeb and the West Room, which haven’t changed, then into the new building that’s so different,” she said. “Throughout the day, I kept bumping into old teachers, and everyone still remembers me … the closeness that students have with teachers here feels the same as when I was here.”
Adger also noted the familiar feeling of community that he felt stepping back onto his alma mater’s campus.
“I kind of forgot how much love I felt here from people who want me to succeed,” he said. “Coming back to GFS today helped me see that my support system is even bigger than I imagined.”