President Kyle Farmbry wants to make students at Friends schools across the country more aware of Guilford College, and he’s starting with the Quaker school he attended growing up.
Caption: From left are Natalie Bodian '19, Lili Sharpless '08, and Megan Culp '96.
Kyle visited Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia earlier this month, meeting with students and administrators and sharing Guilford’s story.
Kyle says Guilford is a perfect fit for students at Germantown and other Friends schools who want a postsecondary education steeped in Quaker values. “I think there are similar tenets between the schools that lead to creative and critical thinkers and would be worth exploring if the students are interested in continuing with a Quaker education,” Kyle says. “I'm very interested in seeing how we might be able to build a pipeline for students from Germantown and other Friends schools to Guilford.”
Kyle is hoping some Germantown students will participate in the second year of Guilford Rise, a three-week, residential experience that allows rising high-school seniors to earn college credits while living and learning at the College. He’s also looking at inviting some Germantown administrators or teachers to this spring’s Guilford Dialogues, which will implore educational opportunity and inclusion.
“There’s a network of Friends schools, and with some of them we have very good relationships and with others we don't really have much in terms of relationships,” Kyle says. “We need to build those relations.”
“I think there are similar tenets between the schools that lead to creative and critical thinkers and would be worth exploring if the students are interested in continuing with a Quaker education. I'm very interested in seeing how we might be able to build a pipeline for students from Germantown and other Friends schools to Guilford.”
Kyle attended seventh and eighth grades at Germantown in the 1980s. His visit there Dec. 1 was the first time he’d been back to the school in nearly 40 years. “So many memories were triggered when I walked into the lobby,” he says. “It was fun to see the school and the students there, especially the ones who were my age when I attended. There were times when meeting students, I wondered if I was meeting with the future leaders of institutions like Guilford.”
That’s why Kyle wants to build relations with Germantown and other Friends schools.
“If Germantown Friends and many of the other Friends schools are the places where future Guilfordians or future people who are carrying forward the same perceptions on values in society, then we need to find ways to support their growth, hopefully at Guilford,” he adds.
In addition to meeting with school administrators, Kyle met Guilford alumni and prospective students in the evening as part of his visit.