Welcome to our new Head of Upper School, J.R. Neiswender!
J.R. comes to us from The New School in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where he has served as Head of Upper School since 2020. Over his four years there, J.R. developed an interim term program consisting of 2-week experiential “mini” courses; created a seminar program for students with weekly sessions on topics such as wellness, study skills, and college counseling; and worked on setting up K-12 community group structures to facilitate better cross-divisional communication and understanding.
“I am most enthusiastic to return to Quaker education after a few years away. The way students, families, faculty, and staff come together to form a thoughtful and caring educational community has been a hallmark of my experience at two previous Quaker schools, and in my brief time getting to know members of the Wilmington Friends community, I was excited to find the same enthusiasm and energy for Quaker principles and the way those principles inform and govern the various elements of school life. I am extremely excited to get on campus and join the vibrant WFS community,” J.R. said.
With an A.B. degree in history from Princeton University and an M.A. from the Klingenstein Center at Teachers College at Columbia University, J.R. has had an extensive career in independent schools over the past 31 years, including 11 years at two Quaker schools: Friends School Baltimore in Baltimore, Maryland, and Abington Friends School in Abington, Pennsylvania.
J.R.’s appointment came after an extensive national search. Approximately 50 candidates applied for the position, the search committee interviewed eight semifinalists, and three finalists visited campus. During each two-day visit, various stakeholders––including faculty, staff, students, parents, administrators, and trustees––interviewed the candidates.
J.R. begins on July 1, 2024, and we are excited to welcome him to the community!
During recess, 1st-grade students worked together on our Natural Playground to design and build their very own see-saw using fallen branches and logs. With teamwork, problem-solving, and plenty of creativity, they transformed natural materials into a working structure—all through hands-on learning and exploratory play.
It was another excellent fall for WFS athletics. Our student-athletes competed with purpose, resilience, and school pride across every field, course, and court. We’re incredibly proud of their hard work and grateful to the fans who cheered them on.
The Quaker Cares Club brought energy and encouragement to campus with a Wellness Smoothie Bike for our Middle and Upper School students! By hopping on the bike and pedaling fast, students blended their own healthy, delicious smoothies—a fun reminder that taking care of yourself matters, especially during high-stress times.
A huge thank you to all of our alumni who came out on November 29 for wrestling, basketball, and volleyball! It was wonderful to see teammates reconnect, compete, and cheer each other on across all three games. Go Blue!
Shoutout to our amazing third graders, whose hard work on the Basket Brigade food drive helped bring the Lower School’s total to 624 pounds of food donated to the Food Bank of Delaware! Their compassion and commitment to assisting others embody the very best of our WFS community.
A beloved holiday tradition at WFS is our sixth grade pie bake for Wilmington's Sunday Breakfast Mission. Students lovingly peel, slice, prepare, box, and finally deliver 40 apple pies for those in our greater community.
Ten representatives from the Wilmington Friends School Middle School Youth in Government Club traveled to Dover, Delaware to participate in the State Junior Youth in Government Model Legislature.
Students gathered today for the Pouring of Libations, a long-standing tradition that, while not Quaker in origin, beautifully reflects our community’s values.
Storytelling is a central theme of the lower school Visual Arts curriculum, and fourth graders are exploring that theme by experimenting with ways to communicate without using words, applying visual choices alone to convey meaning.
Ninth-grade English students are wrapping up their short story unit with a collaborative Hexagonal Thinking exercise that challenges them to see literature through a more analytical lens.
Right now, in International Baccalaureate (IB) English: Power and Performance, 11th- and 12th-graders are studying Anton Chekhov’s short stories and experimenting with his craft techniques in their own writing.
Statement of Nondiscrimination as to Student Enrollment
Wilmington Friends School admits students of any race, color, gender, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students of these schools. Wilmington Friends School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, national and ethnic origin in administration of their educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school administered programs.