Dear Readers,

As we approach the end of a turbulent school year, The Falcon would like to pause and appreciate a positive take away from our last nine months together: the revival of an active school newspaper in the Friends Select community. This return owes a great deal to an engaged and inquisitive school community, as well as a passionate and talented team of writers and editors.

Even the ambitious Falcon staff could not have predicted our growth in the 2019-20 school year. Over 10% of the student body published an article in The Falcon at some point this year. Our Instagram account gained 330 followers in its first year and grew by over 200% after the introduction of our live interview series, Quakers in Quarantine. Our website (fssfalcon.org) received over 500 page views per day on multiple occasions, and we had the privilege of breaking multiple important administrative announcements to the student body.

Our reporters were diligent and swift in reporting the effects of COVID-19 on Friends Select. From the cancellation of the Ireland trip in February to the final decision to close school for the year, The Falcon kept the student body informed in a timely manner. Along with our news reporting, we published opinion articles on mental health and student life that reflected the student experience during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Although we only had three-quarters of a year together at school, there were plenty of impressive athletic and artistic accomplishments to cover. Our sports section saw contributions from a number of writers, and our arts section covered a number of mediums and community events. Our feature pieces sought to lift up under-appreciated members of the FSS community, covering students, teachers, coaches, and others. Some of the most popular profiles were our pieces on Poli Sotnik-Platt ‘20, Chris Willis, and Ralph Reinwald. 

Looking ahead to next year, we hope to build upon our success in the 2019-2020 school year. We are looking to the student body to increase readership and writer participation, as well as spark a dialogue around opinion pieces.  

In these troubling times, we wish FSS community members a safe summer. We look forward to continuing to serve you in fall 2020.