October 25, 2026

The week ahead is short, sweet, and full of all the activities!

Tuesday afternoon, our 6th graders will be performing Phantom of the Opera and everyone is welcome to attend. 

Wednesday morning is our Book Character Parade! All students have the option to dress as their favorite book character, and all parents have the opportunity to come watch! More information is available below.

Thursday and Friday are Parent/Teacher Conferences, which means no school for students.
If you have not already, now is your chance to connect with your child's teacher and set up a time to meet. 

We are so excited to come together for all the fun this week! Enjoy your Sunday, Friends✨

Little critters must be drawn to our littlest Friends because our preschoolers are always finding someone on the playground! This week, our featured creature is a Luna Moth Caterpillar. Students created a safe habitat for the caterpillar inside the classroom so that they could observe the life cycle, and it has already formed its cocoon! At the end of the week, one of our lovely teachers, Kendra took the cocoon home with her so that it could have a safe and chilly place to hibernate before breaking free next Spring!

. . . 

It was difficult to absorb the news. Someone serving the community I still think of as home had suffered an act of appalling violence. Whatever investigators ultimately establish about the motive, no disagreement, political or otherwise, can justify such harm.

Now in my sixth year as an American citizen, after more than two decades of making my life here, I cannot remember a time when this country has felt more divided. That is a personal observation, not a claim that we have never faced worse. But I find it deeply troubling how readily someone’s appearance, religion, or country of birth can become a reason to judge them, fear them, or hate them, without ever taking the time to know them.

. . . 

Grab your tickets now!  Early bird pricing ends next week! 

Come one, come all to a favorite FSW tradition, the Book Character Parade! 

This Wednesday, October 28th, all students get to come to school dressed as their most beloved book character, and you can witness the creativity as we proudly gallivant our costumes through campus. 

The parade will start at 8:30 AM. 
In order to prevent traffic through the parade route, Camellia Gate will close at 8:15 AM. 

Parents coming on campus to watch the parade are advised to enter and exit through the Peiffer Gate, and park on the soccer field. 

Later that afternoon, is Fall Festival!
Parent volunteers are essential for making Fall Festival a success, so follow the link below if you want to sign up.

Please note: We kindly ask that parents refrain from attending Fall Fest unless they are volunteering with a station. 

This past Monday morning, several FSW classes gathered to honor and celebrate two recent alums, Aedon (‘22) and Lucca (‘24) Schroeder and their contributions to our school. Representing Cape Fear Council’s Troop 26, the brothers previously led two Eagle Scout projects based at Longleaf Center for Environmental Learning. 

In May 2022, Aedon and fellow troop members built seven Leopold Benches now located in front of Longleaf Cottage. Later the following year, Aedon and his family constructed four more benches for the surrounding woods. Named after Aldo Leopold, an eminent conservationist and author of A Sand County Almanac, the benches are designed for outdoor observation of wildlife. A user can sit facing forward while taking notes or turn around and sit backward with binoculars or a camera resting on the back of the bench. In the past few years, our students have frequently used the benches for observing birds at our feeders, recording notes in nature journals, and participating in Meeting for Worship and other community gatherings.

In August 2025, Lucca and fellow troop members constructed six raised garden beds, which can be seen at the back of Longleaf Center near our Chimney Swift Tower. At eight feet long and two feet deep, these substantial beds provide ample gardening space for multiple classes to grow food crops and flowers. During the 2025-26 school year, students planted and nurtured tomatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, spinach, radishes, broccoli, collards, a variety of lettuces, and host plants for butterflies and moths. At this time, the beds are filled with a variety of bush peas and climbing beans. In the future we hope to grow food to share with those experiencing hunger in our community. 

Thank you to Aedon and Lucca, and also to their parents Bastian and Theresa, for supporting Friends School with these important Eagle Scout projects at Longleaf Center. Your generosity inspires all of us to make a positive difference at school and in the greater Wilmington community!

We were excited to welcome special guests Nishad, Megan, and Chiara from Duke University to work with our 3rd and 5th grade students for an engaging, hands-on exploration of ecosystems and the connections that make them thrive!

Students began by creating a living “web” to represent the relationships between organisms in an ecosystem. As they made connections between plants, animals, and other living things, they saw how each organism plays a role in maintaining the balance of its environment and how a change to one part of the web can affect the entire system.

This activity led into Resilience, a board game our guests created that challenged students to explore four different ecosystems: urban, forest, desert, and coastal. Working collaboratively, students categorized organisms within each ecosystem, explored the different roles they play, and built a hierarchy to better understand how living things depend on one another.

The real challenge came when each ecosystem experienced a negative impact! Students had to think critically, communicate, and work together to restore the ecosystem and rebuild its resilience. Through play, they explored how ecosystems respond to disruption, why biodiversity matters, and how the relationships between organisms can help an environment recover and thrive.

We are so grateful to Nishad, Megan, and Chiara for sharing their work with our students and creating such a meaningful learning experience. Their visit brought our study of ecosystems to life and reminded us that healthy communities both in nature and among people depend on connection, collaboration, and care.

We're always looking for volunteers to help with our monthly dinner shifts at Good ShepherdCenter! Follow the link HERE to sign up for any of the upcoming shifts, now through February!
We serve on the 3rd Thursday of each month from 4:30-7:00 PM at 811 Martin Street.
Come lend a hand and be part of this meaningful community effort!