For Sidwell Friends students, parents, faculty, and alumni today, events like Founder’s Day stand out because they bring the entire community together. But for some alumni, memories of the days when Sidwell was on one campus remain strong. Here are some of their recollections.
Sandy Pearson ’52
We called it “Friends School” back then. The big old house on Wisconsin Avenue held administrative offices, classrooms, and an apartment where the math instructor and tennis coach lived and strung rackets. The undersized gym was used for weekly Quaker meetings, among other things.
The athletic locker room was an old basement. Football, soccer, and tennis were across the street. We learned to type on a mechanical typewriter (today I’m good on Microsoft Word). All this is to say, the School was smaller and simpler than it is today.
I was active in all sports and looked up to the older, good athletes. When you’re young, watching the varsity play any sport can produce pride in the School, admiration for the athletes, and incentive to improve yourself. The same can apply to academics and extra-curricular activities. Even the youngest students can appreciate this process.
Buying the Washington Home when it became available seems like a no-brainer now. But getting from there to here was a long, difficult process. Thanks to the hard work of Head of School Bryan Garman and others, the purchase, financing, fundraising, designing, and construction have come to a good end. The School will be better with one campus and will give younger students a chance to meet and look up to older students.
Sue Peterson Huguely ’59 and Geoffrey Huguely ’58
We both began our time at Sidwell in kindergarten, where my mother, Jean Peterson Diffenbaugh P ’51, ’59, ’63 was the director. Later, when we were in high school, it was always a delight to see and feel the enthusiasm of the younger students. There is so much to be learned from the old to the young and from the young to the old.
When all grades were on the same campus, younger students became familiar with the entire campus, so they didn’t feel as if they were going to a new school when they moved up. It provided a much more homogeneous atmosphere.
We have so many fond memories of the original Friends School campus. We even became engaged on the hockey field!
Bob Goldman ’63
When my brother and I started at Sidwell in the late 1940s, the kindergarten was actually located across the street in what today is called McLean Gardens, as were Sidwell’s athletic fields. The large Williamsburg-style building on Wisconsin Avenue across the street from the main campus stands in part on those former playing fields. I vividly remember transitioning to the main campus. There are so many intangibles to be gained by being on one campus — sharing small meaningful moments, the easy exchange of ideas among teachers, and a real sense of being part of one community. It’s great that Sidwell’s new generations will have that.
Cathryn Ritzenberg McCulloch ’68 and Scot McCulloch ’64, P ’97, ’00, GP ’29, ’32
As 4th graders, we loved watching the Middle Schoolers come out of lunch and rush to their next classes. It was exciting knowing that we’d be in Middle School the next year. And it was the same experience as 8th graders anticipating Upper School.
That feeling of being part of a whole, a community where young students could connect with older ones, gave us a lasting sense of security and belonging to something larger than ourselves.
Students and adults will both benefit from being on one campus. Teachers can collaborate more easily just by having physical proximity to each other. And when parents are not stretched between two campuses, they can participate more fully in their children’s school lives. The opportunity to purchase the Upton Street property came at the perfect time to help Sidwell embrace all the elements it desires to offer its students and their families.
To learn more about the culminating phase of the Together We Shine campaign and plans for campus reunification, please contact Tara Arras, assistant head of school for advancement, at arrast@sidwell.edu.
