Dear Falcon readers, Thank you for another wonderful year. From breaking countless COVID-related administrative updates to the FSS community, to profiling many of our beloved teachers like Cynthia...

After missing the entirety of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Friends Select Baseball team returned to the diamond this Spring, posting a 2-7 record with a league victory over Academy...

On Wednesday night, Friends Select will hold its annual Upper School Awards Ceremony via Zoom. Such academic awards ceremonies are frequent subjects of criticism and consideration at high schools across...

This summer, Friends Select’s SummerSessions programs will include more enrichment and advancement classes than ever before. These classes, which are free for Friends Select families (aside from advancement...

In 1967, Head of Upper School Dick Hoffman stood at the corner of 16th and Cherry St and photographed the construction of the current Friends Select School building. 54 years later, as the school’s...

On Thursday, April 15th, Friends Select School’s official Instagram account posted an impact font meme picturing the school’s Falcon mascot with text reading: “The feeling when your PA state taxes...

When Philadelphians head to their polling places on Tuesday, May 18th to vote in the city’s primary elections, media coverage will center around the city’s Democratic primary for District Attorney....

A female house sparrow entered the school building via the Race Street Circle and remained there for about twenty minutes before Lower School science teacher Anna Grant caught it at approximately 8:25...

The Friends Select Class of 2021 will visit the Philadelphia Zoo on Monday, May 17th for the first of two senior class days, announced senior class officers on Monday morning. The second senior day, scheduled...

At 8:00 a.m. every morning at Friends Select School, approximately eight Upper School students arrive via skateboard. Once they enter the building, they store their boards in the Upper School hallway...

Malik Mubashshir’s senior advisory and Jack Kessler ‘23 constructed the tallest towers in the 2021 Math Science Symposium FSS Build-a-Thing-Hope-it-Works Invitational, which asked students to make...

On Tuesday, Friends Select's Development Office shared an architect's rendering of ongoing renovations to the front door area of the first floor in the main school building at 1751 Benjamin Franklin Parkway....

Chris Crisden ‘22, Henry Planet ‘23, and Hayden Wiltshire ‘24 recently launched a weekly Instagram Live talkshow titled “Controversial Corners.” The show, which airs every Friday night at 9:00...

On Thursday, Friends Select’s College Planning Office published a list of college acceptances for the class of 2021 in the weekly school bulletin. The list includes 214 acceptances to 99 colleges and...

The Friends Select School class of 2021 will graduate on the evening of June 5th at the Mann Center in Fairmount Park, said Upper School Director Chris Singler in an email sent to senior families on Thursday...

Due to test-optional applications, unusually high deferral rates, and an overall increase in applications from the nationwide high school class of 2021, acceptance rates at highly selective colleges around...

Friends Select students ages 16 and older can receive the first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Centennial Pharmacy between Monday, April 19th and Friday, April 30th, according to an email sent...

Saturday, April 10th marks the 50th anniversary of the Philadelphia Phillies’ first game at Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia’s premier outdoor sports and entertainment from 1971-2003. The stadium, located...

There are few figures in the past couple of decades that have garnered as much attention as Taylor Swift. From the Nashville-twang of her self-titled debut to the unabashed pop of 1989 to the indie-folk...

Georgia’s new voting law, which includes a number of updated rules and regulations for municipal, county, and statewide elections, has received major national attention over the past two weeks. Critics...

Friends Select School will replace its annual graduation ceremony with a homecoming dance in the basketball gym, said Dean of Students Norman Bayard in an email to families on Friday, April 9th.  “Although...

Due to limitations imposed by renovation construction in the front lobby, several Upper School classes will relocate to the building at 1700 Race Street during the fourth quarter of the 2020-21 school...

Peter - Whole Milk The ideal type of milk varies depending on the consumer’s criteria, but judging by conventional factors such as taste, health benefits, and versatility, whole milk is the best...

In an email sent to students and parents earlier today, Upper School Director Chris Singler announced a number of action steps in response to recent conversations surrounding misogyny and sexism in the...

For the fourth time in five years, several students and teachers at Friends Select submitted brackets to the FSS Bracket Challenge.  In any March Madness competition, participants make predictions...

In a typical Upper School devotions at Friends Select during hybrid-learning, the first page of Zoom squares is filled with active listeners, primarily teachers. Similarly, the second page displays...

Kipper (Annie Rupertus '21, Lucy Rupertus '23, and Mihretu Rupertus '26)Liam (Margot Schneider '22 and Scarlett Schneider '24)Nyla (Deneen Young)Cynnamon (Deneen Young)Ezra (Margaret Smith)Felix...

Friends Select will begin exploring measures to bring back “as many students as possible” to four days per week in-person learning after Spring Break, announced Upper School Director Chris Singler...

After dropping two surprise indie records -- folklore and evermore -- in 2020, pop star Taylor Swift kickstarted her 2021 promotion by announcing the release of a rerecording of her 2008 platinum album....

On Thursday, March 12th, 2020, a handful of juniors periodically exited the Upper School STEAM lab with drained faces and pale eyes. Inside was the single most scary thing a teenager could encounter during...

South Philadelphia-based Latinx human rights advocacy organization Juntos met with members of the Philadelphia School Board on Thursday, March 3rd to lobby for a number of policies protecting immigrant...

Pennsylvania will elect a new United States senator in 2022 on account of current junior Senator Pat Toomey’s decision not to seek a third term.  Although Pennsylvania has had at least one Republican...

Upper School administrators and Department Chairs are leaning toward canceling final exams for the 2020-21 school year, says Upper School Director Chris Singler. Last week, Chris sent a survey to Upper...

Seniors at Friends Select School will have the option to attend in-person school on all four synchronous learning days beginning on March 8th and lasting until Spring Break, said Upper School Director...

Fifteen Upper School students at Friends Select received Scholastic Regional Art and Writing Awards for the 2020-21 academic year. The award-winning pieces spanned various media, including drawing, painting,...

The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and published in 1925, is widely considered one of the greatest novels ever written. Its complex and thought-provoking depiction of New York City in the...

The death of prominent radical conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday, February 17th drew polarized responses across the United States. People and organizations affiliated with the alt-right...

Friends Select School received the Governor's Civic Engagement Award on May 29, 2020, for its student voter registration efforts this year. 100% of eligible Friends Select students registered to vote...

Friends Select School has purchased a building at 1520 Race Street to convert to Upper School classroom space by the beginning of the 2022-23 academic year, announced Head of School Michael Gary at Wednesday’s...

Chances are, you’ll hear Mia Cohen ‘21 before you see her. Standing exactly five feet tall, Friends Select’s napoleonic softball and field hockey captain is not an obvious choice as a major presence...

The Senior Portfolio Exhibition, an annual art show at Friends Select displaying work from the Portfolio Preparation class, has been moved online due to limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Portfolio...

A special investigation conducted by Friends Select School and outside counsel confirmed that former P.E. teacher Ken Bailey committed multiple acts of sexual misconduct during his time as a faculty member,...

On Thursday night, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to remove Marjorie Taylor Greene, a first-term congresswoman from Georgia, from all congressional committees. Greene has previously supported...

Yes - Peter In The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the mysterious and nouveau riche Jay Gatsby desperately attempts to rekindle his past romance with Daisy Buchanan, a beautiful and charming...

Nurse Kelly Papianou announced a new ongoing testing policy as part of Friends Select School’s COVID-19 screening and mitigation plan in an email sent home to families on Wednesday afternoon. Following...

From Monday, January 25th, to Friday, January 29th, all Upper School teachers and students at Friends Select will participate in Social Justice Week. During this event, student-leaders from Clerks will...

With most movie theaters closed and lots of major film production halted, avid-movie watchers have resigned to Google searches like “best movies on Netflix” to find entertainment. One of the critically...

As many Friends Select students eagerly await their return to hybrid-learning in two weeks, some student-athletes have already come back to the school building for practice. Beginning this week, members...

Capricorn (December 22 - January 19) This month, you will find that your work will come in short spurts of immense productivity. Don’t be afraid to embrace increased intensity when you feel compelled...

One week after firing former head coach Doug Pederson, the Philadelphia Eagles have begun interviewing candidates for his replacement. On Wednesday, the Eagles front office interviewed Carolina Panthers...

In Upper School English classes at Friends Select, even the slightest mention of required annotations generates exasperated moans from many students. The laborious task of meticulously underlining significant...

Just nine days before Joseph R. Biden’s inauguration as President of the United States on January 20th, Democratic congressional leaders introduced articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump....

In the wake of May and June’s nationwide protests against racial injustice, nearly two hundred Philadelphians established a temporary encampment on Fairmount Park’s Von Colln Field next to the Benjamin...

Friends Select winter sports teams will resume practices as soon as Tuesday, January 19th, and could return to competitive play as soon as Monday, February 15th, Athletic Director Bill Klose said in a...

As the year of coronavirus comes to a close and people begin to reflect on the past twelve months, many turn their attention to one of the few constants of this tumultuous time: music. Below, three members...

Friends Select School will virtually host the Friends Council on Education’s annual Quaker Youth Leadership Conference from February 4th through February 6th. The conference, led jointly by English...

Allow me to summarize the plot of one of my favorite movies: inside of an old storybook, an outcast leaves his rural home, encounters and befriends misfits on his quest to save a kind and elegant girl...

In an email sent to families this afternoon, Head of School Michael Gary announced that Upper School students will not return to in-person learning until February 1st at the earliest. Pre-K, kindergarten,...

Yes: Margot Schneider After a term full of potentially criminal behavior and a monumental 2020 election loss, President Donald Trump stands in an interesting and unprecedented position. As the sitting...

This fall, 9th grade students jumped headfirst into Upper School with an unorthodox major history project. Led by new 9th grade History Teacher Spring Greeney, every student in the class of 2024 has contributed...

As Donald Trump’s presidency dwindles to a whimpering close, he has authorized five federal executions in the last forty days of his lame-duck term. This unprecedented spree of executions appears to...

Full disclosure, I didn’t watch the original Christmas Chronicles before watching The Christmas Chronicles 2, which was released through Netflix on November 25th. Quite frankly, I don’t think I needed...

Peter Ryan: YES P.E. teaches cooperation and leadership skills in a way that official school sports cannot. Whereas school sports teams are somewhat self-selected groups of talented and driven...

After months of fully virtual brainstorming sessions, table reads, and rehearsals, the FSS theater department will release its virtual fall play and multimedia art experience, titled The Utopia Project,...

Last November, Minas Macos ‘20 woke up less than an hour before class to make the short daily walk from his house to Friends Select School. One year later, he rises at exactly 5:15 AM to participate...

Although fans and pundits have clamored for the benching of Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz in response to last Sunday's embarrassing 22-17 loss against the Cleveland Browns, head coach Doug Pederson...

This weekend, the 3-5-1 Philadelphia Eagles have a chance to widen their small lead in the NFC East against the 6-3 Cleveland Browns, who are favored by 3.5 points. This weekend will prove an interesting...

Biology teacher Perry Zanki, Friends Select’s king of crazy stories and unexpected antics, may have finally outdone himself: this fall, his pet snake “Milky” escaped from his classroom and evaded...

Note: Much of the factual information in this article comes from public health experts at the University of Michigan Just days after Friends Select’s full transition to iSelectLearning, many students...

After two consecutive division victories and a bye week, the Philadelphia Eagles enter week 10 of the NFL with plenty of momentum and a lead in the NFC East. This weekend, they will face the New York...

Over the past week, two separate Instagram accounts have sparked controversy and discourse in the Friends Select community: @fss_tea_page and @fss_love_acc.  @fss_tea_page, known colloquially...

In lieu of a traditional fall play, the FSS Theater Department will present an entirely virtual student-led play and multimedia art installation titled “The Utopia Project” on December 3rd.  The...

While election officials count the final ballots from the 2020 presidential election, Americans are unsure of who their leader will be for the next four years.  Seven swing states have yet to...

As the final tallies from Tuesday’s presidential election trickle in, it is likely that Democratic nominee Joseph R. Biden will win the national popular vote. However, the election is still considered...

Over the past year, a new term has circulated through the Friends Select community: “simping.” A “simp” is defined by the New York Times as “a person, often a man, who unsuccessfully throws...

Friends Select School announced revisions to its winter break schedule in an email sent to parents on Friday afternoon. In the letter, Head of School Michael Gary wrote that all students will attend classes...

In an email sent to all students at 7:10 PM last night, Upper School Director Chris Singler reiterated Friends Select’s Community Stewardship Statement in response to recent reports of plans for large...

Despite very shaky starts to the 2020 NFL season, the Philadelphia Eagles (2-4-1) and Dallas Cowboys (2-5) will face off for first place in the NFC East on Sunday night.  Mutual Weaknesses Present...

This fall, the dining hall is closed during lunchtime due to concerns surrounding the spread of COVID-19. Without a convenient and centralized space to purchase and eat lunch, students have found a number...

Despite the social disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, nine boys in the class of 2022 are staying in touch through a classic form of entertainment: an active and competitive fantasy football league. Their...

In recent days, many Friends Select students have used Instagram to share news stories about civil unrest in Nigeria. However, these brief posts do not provide sufficient information to offer an accurate...

Yes Margot Schneider '22 The presidential election on November 3rd will be a turning point for the United States. The stigma around this election is augmented by increasingly polarized and partisan...

The Ryan'sThe Schneider'sThe Coleman'sThe Siegel'sThe Bushee'sThe Sovinski'sThe Wampler'sThe Verstegan'sThe Squires'sThe Ryan'sThe Levine's Friends Select’s Alma Mater asserts that students see...

After early playoff exits for three consecutive years, the Philadelphia 76ers replaced longtime head coach Brett Brown with Doc Rivers, who parted ways with the Los Angeles Clippers after a second round...

Why Graded Homework is Beneficial During iSelectLearning and Hybrid Learning by Margot Schneider '22 Teachers use homework as a resource to push students’ understanding of the material that is...

Supreme Court justice and modern feminist icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away from cancer on Friday at the age of 87. Born Joan Ruth Bader in New York City in 1933, Justice Ginsburg was raised in...

Major Van Winkle ‘12, an eminent figure in the Philadelphia music scene, passed away on Wednesday, September 16th. Major’s father, Wink, who was the longtime middle school baseball coach at Friends...

In Brian Kors’ eleventh grade history class, every Friends Select student is taught that “the government is an umbrella.” Brian asserts that it is up to the American people to hold their peers and...

TikTok, a relatively new dance-centric social media app, is currently the most popular app on Apple’s app store. Despite its rapid ascension over the past two years, TikTok may not be available to American...

The Republican Party opened their convention last week by painting itself as the only remaining defender of “The Land of Promise”: This tagline was also used to praise President Donald Trump as a...

On Tuesday, August 25th, Upper School director Chris Singler shared adjustments to the upper school schedule for both the all-virtual model beginning on September 8th and the hybrid model planned to begin...

In a letter to families on Monday, August 24th, Friends Select outlined new  reopening plans for all divisions. According to the school’s new schedule, upper school students will physically return...

Nearly one in four students (24%) stated that they will opt out of Friend Select’s hybrid model, according to a recent Falcon poll made available to the student body via Instagram. Students cited health...

Although Friends Select has shared detailed safety and scheduling plans for the 2020-21 school year amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the school has not explicitly stated how sports teams will return to play...

The Friends Select Upper School will follow a hybrid model for the start of the 2020-21 school year, according to an email sent to families from Head of School Michael Gary on Monday, July 20th. The...

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...

As civil unrest unfolds across the country, conservative pundits are successfully shifting the national narrative away from racist police brutality and toward looting and the destruction of small...

Violent civilian demonstrations in Minneapolis protesting the police murder of George Floyd have dominated national headlines over the last few days. Over the weekend, many cities across the country...

The Last Dance, ESPN’s ten-part documentary series detailing the life of NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, has dominated public conversation in recent weeks. On Monday, May 20th, the network announced...