Clubs & Activities

Asian Students Association (ASA)

Asian Students Association is a group for students of Asian heritage and their allies, providing opportunities for leadership, discussion, support and personal growth.

Black Student Union (BSU)

The Black students of Germantown Friends School have created this organization in order to promote a better atmosphere for Black students through unity, collaboration, and communication. We feel this club will help us in achieving the unity that we all desire because the unity, collaboration and communication between B.A.S.E and Sistahs has been limited. We believe that with the creation of the B.S.U, more unity, collaboration, and communication will exist among the Black females and males of Germantown Friends School.

Brothers for Academic and Social Enrichment (BASE)

A support group for male students of color in the Upper School. BASE fosters a sense of brotherhood and family by creating an environment where minority students can share their unique life experiences, views, ideas and culture with other students who are similar to them. It's a stimulating club, well worth the lunch period you spend. You will leave with more friends and a greater sense of belonging in the GFS community.

Chaverim

Chaverim is a support and discussion group for issues related to Judaism for Jews and non-Jews alike. Anyone who is interested in finding out more about Judaism or discussing the many issues surrounding it and the state of Israel is encouraged to join.

Empowerment Club

Our mission is to create an environment empowering all women through dialogue and education about our personal experiences and the experiences of other women in the world. We aim to be a group of women who are able to project our positive empowerment to create a feminist presence at GFS and in the broader culture.

Focus

Fellowship of students and faculty interested in Christian spirituality and how it relates to life, culture and relationships. Conversation is facilitated from a Judeo-Christian perspective, but viewpoints represented within the club are diverse and much appreciated. Pizza lunch is provided with sodas and occasional pastries.

Multiracial Affinity Group

This is a space for biracial/multiracial students at GFS to talk about campus life for us and to spend more time as a defined group. We as multiracial people are generally underrepresented because there are so many different mixes of races but we thought it would be a good thing for the community to create a definitive group of multiracial students.

Pride Club

This club is an affinity group for LGBTQ and questioning people. This group is a safe space for LGBTQ voices to be honored, and for people to feel safe expressing themselves in ways they may not be comfortable outside of the group; therefore, there will be a rule not repeat what was said in the club outside of it. We discuss our own experiences being LGBTQ both in school and out, and provide support for each other when needed. In addition, the club can work with the school and other groups of students to educate and create change within the school.

SAGA (Sexuality And Gender Alliance)

SAGA's mission is to provide support for students of all sexual orientations and gender identities. The group meets weekly to discuss questions or concerns pertaining to sexuality, gender, and associated issues. It also meets outside school for social occasions, sometimes with groups from other schools. Attendees agree to confidentiality. No serious issue is out of bounds.

Sistahs

An affinity group for female students of color from various backgrounds in grades 9-12 providing opportunities for leadership, discussion, support and personal growth.

Support for Positive Body Image

Student-initiated support group for young women concerned about promoting healthy attitudes about body image within themselves, within the group, and within the greater community.

Admission Office Student Guides

Student tour guides lead visiting parents on a tour of the school during the academic day and at Open Houses. This group is comprised of 10th, 11th and 12th grade volunteers who have agreed to assist the school in this facet of the application process.

Big Sibs (Directed Independent Study Minor)

Big Sibs work one period a week in Lower School classrooms. Each Big Sib is paired with a Lower School student and acts as an emotional mentor, tutor, small group teacher in reading or math, or as a general assistant in the whole classroom. Some Big Sibs also may teach specific lessons, in dance or environmental projects. Big Sibs earn a Directed Independent Study minor credit for their work in the classroom.

Classics Club

Students of the Classics deepen their understanding of the languages and culture of the ancient world through discussion, games, contests, trips, and other related activities. Decisions are made by a Roman-style senatorial committee. The club is also responsible for the editing and upkeep of Libellum, the GFS Classics literary blog. Featuring student translations, poetry and prose compositions, and artwork in Classical subjects.

Community Action Committee

The Community Action Committee is a group that seeks to increase GFS's involvement in the neighborhood, and the neighborhood's involvement with GFS.

Drama Club

Through drama classes and plays in fall, winter and spring, students can experience a variety of dramatic opportunities. It is not necessary to be taking a drama class in order to audition for a play. Students who are interested in stagecraft (lighting, set design, and multimedia) work on drama productions and assembly setup.

Eco-Bricks

Our mission is to create a healthier environment through eco-bricks. Eco-bricks are stuffed plastic bottles such as water bottles. The bottles are stuffed with cleaned trash which eliminates trash. These eco-bricks can actually be used as real bricks which lessens the amount of cement needed to build things like benches. We are planning to build a bench at Wissahickon Charter School in the spring out of eco-bricks.

Education Justice

In Education Justice, we learn about the challenges that Philadelphia public schools face and organize to take action to create change. We support a first grade classroom at the Kelly school through literacy tutoring, drives for classroom materials and occasional reading workshops. Some of our other work includes an ongoing partnership with the Philadelphia Student Union as well as a classroom of newly arrived immigrant students at Franklin Learning Center.

Environmental Action Club

We work to improve the environmental sustainability of the GFS community and educate the students and faculty to promote positive, sustainable change at the family, community, and city-wide level.

Ethics Club

Students will gather to to prepare for the Ethics Bowl, a collaborative yet competitive event in which teams analyze a series of wide-ranging ethical dilemmas.

Friends for Face to Face (FFF)

The mission of FFF is to help our neighbors face to face by providing food for the days they work as a soup kitchen.

Germantown Community Gardeners

This is a Germantown-based gardening club set in rough trimesters. Fall trimester will be reaching out to the Philadelphia government and Philly based environmental organizations to discern private land from government property. For Fun Day, we raise money to buy plants and gardening necessities. In winter, we cultivate seeds into small plants in the Sharpless greenhouse and plan our gardens and finish up plans and agreements from fall trimester. In spring, we plant!

Global Current Affairs

Global Current Affairs club aims to be very interactive, encouraging members to find articles and videos from international media outlets about current affairs of which they were previously uninformed. Members could take it upon themselves to share the information with the group or send it to the leaders to present to the group as a whole. The club also encourages taking a more analytical view by comparing news sources to expose biases and understand how language can be used as a tool by these media outlets. These analyses, ideally, would take place once the group has shown interest in a specific issue. We have a list of trusted international media associations that will be shared with the prospective members and will begin with a list of issues if people do not know where to start.

Human Rights Group

A group that educates and raises awareness regarding human rights and human rights abuses locally, nationally and internationally.

Knit a Square

We knit 8” by 8” squares to send to a program in Africa who sews these squares into quilts for AIDS orphans.

Medicine and Disease Awareness (MADA)

A fun way for medically-interested students to gather and learn about both widespread diseases like heart disease and obesity, and also more rare diseases like dwarfism. Each week, there is information shared on a specific disease via videos and medical databases and project these facts to others in the club. The group will discuss exactly how the disease works and how it is treated (or not treated).

Mock Trial

Mock Trial is an inter-scholastic competition in legal rhetoric and argument coordinated by the Pennsylvania Bar Association. As witnesses and attorneys in a fictional civil or criminal case, students will learn about the American justice system and the conventions of legal thought while building public speaking and persuasive writing skills.

Model UN

Model UN (MUN) is a club at GFS that fits in with the established activity that is MUN; participating in MUN conferences with MUN clubs at other schools. As the name suggests, at Model UN conferences, often focusing on a specific issue, usually individuals or sometimes pairs represent countries and they act as those countries in a meeting of the UN general assembly, ending in the passage of a resolution.

Outing Club

The purpose of this club is to gather together people of the GFS community who enjoy spending time outside. This includes hiking, camping, backpacking, canoeing, biking etc. As a club, we organize small weekend trips to go on that would be open to anyone such as short hikes nearby or exploring places farther away. It is a good opportunity to bring together people of different ages and experience to share stories and enjoy nature together.

Peer Tutoring

Peer tutoring is an organization that provides students who are in need of help in certain subjects with peers who are experienced in those subjects.

Religion and Philosophy (RAP)

In Religion and Philosophy Club, we strive for our school to be a place where students and teachers of diverse religious and philosophical backgrounds feel free to explore religious, philosophical, and spiritual questions with each other and to express fully who they are in the context of this Quaker school. We are students of diverse religious, philosophical, and spiritual backgrounds--including atheists and agnostics--who want to work with students and faculty to make GFS a place that's conducive to religious/philosophical/spiritual exploration and self-expression.

Save Outstanding Species (S.O.S)

Do you love animals? Do you want to protect all endangered species from extinction? In this club, we will work to help animals. We will send letters to companies that are ruining the habitats of animals, raise money to send to programs helping to save endangered species, and learn cool facts about animals of our choice. Together we will spread the word about animals and the destruction of their homes in creative ways.

Speech and Debate

Speech and Debate will help students to gain public speaking and critical thinking skills, and will be a way to meet others interested in Speech and Debate.

Student Advisory Council (SAC)

The Student Advisory Council is composed of four elected representatives from each upper school grade. Our mission is to serve as liaison between the student body and administration. We relay students' ideas, opinions and needs to the faculty and administration in an effort to improve the quality of student life. We also frequently sponsor fun events such as fall and spring jams to generate excitement and school spirit.

Student Beekeeping

The mission of Student Beekeeping is to maintain a hive on campus and use that hive to increase community awareness and involvement with beekeeping, both within the GFS community and the general Philadelphia area. In addition, the club aims to raise consciousness of the environmental role of bees in our ecosystem.

Tech Theater

Tech theatre focuses on all aspects of the production of shows for the drama department. We build, paint and assemble the sets for all the shows. We also do lighting and sound for all performances.

Tigers Against Alzheimers

We aim to raise awareness of the immense effect of Alzheimer’s in the US through study and patient interactions, and join the fight against the mass epidemic by contributing to the search for a cure.

Upper School Math League

Math league team.

Writing Advisors

The GFS Writing Center at the Library is a resource for students in grades 8-12 who are looking for trained peer feedback on their analytical or creative writing.

Xploring Sustainable Farming (Aquaponics Club)

The GFS Aquaponics Club will maintain the aquaponic system by taking samples of the water, harvesting and preparing vegetables, and decorating the system.

Animanga Club

The goal in the animanga club is to watch anime, read manga and review them, as well as look at the creative process of manga and anime and the industry. The club also uses drawing tablets to have different artists collaborate and create an artbook, and take a trip to Sakura Sunday, a popular Japanese festival in our area.

Art Club

Art Club leads GFS's participation in the annual Sketchbook Project in conjunction with the Brooklyn Art Library and is a place to exercise the love of creating through various independent art projects. We work on expanding and improving art skills.

Brainstorm

Brainstorm is a neuroscience club in which we explore and study the enticing world of the brain. For each meeting, we focus on a certain topic and talk about questions members have they want answered about the brain. In addition, we discuss and read multiple scientific studies. Overall, this club is a place to cultivate questions and wonder people have about any topic regarding the brain.

Bridge Club

We play bridge.

Chess Club

Chess Club is intended for anyone who wants to have fun playing chess. It is not required to know how to play, anyone can come. It's a relaxed environment where friends get together and play a calm game of chess over lunch.

Coffeehouse

Coffeehouse is a casual, open venue for any type of performance. An open-mic night that takes place three weekend evenings a year, Coffeehouse showcases the best of the student body's diverse array of talents. All students are invited to sing, play music, read poetry or display any other talents.

Comedy Writing Club

We watch and dissect popular sitcoms and comedy TV shows. We'll write an add-on episode for an existing show, then write our own original show as a group, and we can get our own members to perform it, or the drama class, and we could perform it at Poley Fest.

Cooking Club

Cooking Club offers students a chance to explore the culinary world and learn more about how to cook. Each week, students choose a menu for the next week, and students provide the ingredients and recipes. Students of all levels of culinary experience are welcome.

Dungeons and Dragons Club

We play Dungeons and Dragons. 

Fashionistas

The goal of the Fashionistas is to educate our members about what it truly means to be a fashionista. This does not consist of buying pre-made outfits out of magazines. A true fashionista is someone who has the freedom and courage to express herself/himself. Our group will deeply explore the fashion world by holding fashion debates, discussing fashion finds and spunky DIYs. These discussions will then be recorded in our blog at the end of the month. Together our club will experiment on how to reflect individual personality in daily outfits, and we will take trips to thrift stores, help at the Salvation Army, and hold clothing drives.

Film Club

Our goal is to learn more about filmmaking and make films, both short and long. For our long-term project, we first will begin by focusing on prisoner rights.

Game Club

Play games for fun.

Jam Club

This is a club for Germantown Friends School’s musicians to congregate for a period every week and play whatever kind of music they feel like. This club will provide a space for musicians and maybe even non-musicians to learn more about interaction with each other in terms of musicality and improvisation. This is less a performance-oriented club and more focused on understanding how fluid music can be.

Jane Austen Club

We'll read one of Jane Austen's classic novels every semester. As we read, we'll also watch film adaptations of the novels and compare their interpretations. Tea and cookies will be provided every week.

Jeopardy Club

Jeopardy Club will provide an inclusive environment that allows students to test their knowledge in various categories. Most importantly, Jeopardy Club will engage students in an enjoyable lunch period, hopefully releasing stress levels within the student body.

Music Performance Club

The mission of the club is to bring unique, student-led, student-designed performances to the GFS and local community. We aim to enhance student confidence in musical performances. We may also fundraise through benefit concerts and donate the proceeds to appropriate causes.

Post Modern Languages: Esperanto Club

The club is centered around learning and understanding the history/language behind Esperanto and variation of it and we hope to create our own version by the end of next year or at least get started on it. The club will go into depth on Esperanto and we will learn how to speak it and be able to have conversation in it. Esperanto is the most widely spoken constructed language in the world. It was created in the late 19th century by a Polish-Jewish ophthalmologist named Zamenhof. More than 2-3 million people speak Esperanto!

Puzzle Club

We want to spread our love of jigsaw puzzles and create an environment for many puzzle lovers to come together, have fun, de­-stress, and eat lunch.

The Stick Up Club

This will be a digital comedic publication, open to submissions from across the entire student body.

Tiger$ Investing League

During our club meeting, we will basically discuss about world finance, investing techniques, current political and social issues, U.S. market, etc. Club members will share their ideas and opinions on a specific Wall Street news or information they found and we will have discussion about one certain issue as a group per week. At the meantime, we will invite GFS alumni, stock analysts, or parents of GFS students to come, give a speech, and talk about their experience. We could also schedule an assembly period for the speaker to come and share his/her experience to the whole Upper School.

Anno

The Upper School annual student yearbook. Students learn management and production skills, and work to produce a high quality product at the end of each year.

Classics Club/Literary Journal (Libellum)

Students of the Classics deepen their understanding of the languages and culture of the ancient world through discussion, games, contests, trips, and other related activities. Decisions are made by a Roman-style senatorial committee. The club is also responsible for the editing and upkeep of Libellum, the GFS Classics literary blog. Featuring student translations, poetry and prose compositions, and artwork in Classical subjects.

Earthquake

Earthquake is a quarterly news magazine distributed free in the Front Hall and mailed home to Upper School parents and recent alumni. Articles with more timely content will be posted on the Earthquake website. Earthquake sponsors the annual High School Journalism Conference to bring together editors, staff and advisors of high school papers from Philadelphia-area schools to discuss their newspapers and learn from local and national journalists.

Polyphony

The annual GFS art and literary magazine provides a creative forum for student poetry, prose, short stories, visual arts, and audio arts.

Tiger News

We record all of the major events at GFS in the month, and create a 5-10 minute newscast. The newscast resembles a standard newscast that you would see on a local news channel.