While many schools provide opportunities for students to participate in service, QUEST represents our unique brand of service learning, rooted in the Quaker tradition of inquiry, reflection, and continuing revelation.
Beginning in the earliest grades, students are exposed to major needs and themes, locally and globally. From lower school classrooms with service projects that link to the curriculum (e.g. sup- porting a wildlife protection agency during a study of Asia), to middle school advisories that build long-term community partnerships, to the upper school boys lacrosse team that recently coached a group of young players from Wilmington's Hilltop Neighborhood -- WFS is, and always has been, fully committed to the ideals of service learning, and provides opportunities, time, and funding for those ideals to become actionable.
QUEST service learning programs teach students to develop a global understanding of problems and questions they encounter; gives them the skills, motivation and sense of responsibility to engage those questions in thought and in action; and teaches them, in the words of George Fox, to “let your lives preach, let your light shine, that your works may be seen...”
Additional examples of signature QUEST programs include:
QUEST Service/Leadership Trips
These trips engage students in an experiential learning model to increase their understanding of global issues as well as strategies to mitigate the impact of these challenges.
The QUEST Scholars Program
This provides students with significant service learning opportunities that combine academic studies with experiential learning. All upper school students are eligible for participation in the QUEST Scholars program and receive recognition for their achievement during Final Assembly.
8th graders enjoyed Fright Night, a fun event in the WFS Library Learning Commons featuring pizza and snacks along with one scary and one not-so-scary movie!
During our recent professional development day, faculty and staff had time to participate in an activity to have fun and connect with colleagues. Choices included forest bathing; AIKIDO; pickle ball; volleyball; Meet and Greet; and Read and Relax. Here are photos from "Walk and Connect" in the neighborhood and Alapocas Woods.
Kindergartners visited Ramsey's Farm! Students engaged in five stations–– enjoying a hayride, feeding the cows and goats (and steering clear of pecky chickens!), picking pumpkins, navigating a corn maze, and playing on the combine playground. We love getting out into the fresh air for hands-on learning!
Upper schoolers learned about the School Year Abroad (SYA) program at WFS, hearing from a representative from SYA along with Rose Mulveny ’26 and Abbie Thurlow ’26 who participated in the program last year.
Adrian Burston, a former Friends teacher and Vice President of the Kennett Underground Railroad Center, and Debbie Burston, board member of the Kennett Underground Railroad Center, presented to 10th grade American History students about the local history of the Underground Railroad and the involvement of Quakers in the local abolition movement.
Lower School Spanish teacher Lara Munch spent her sabbatical exploring the intersection of culture, history, and language—both within the United States and abroad.
Middle School Spanish teacher Laura Jersild Pardo ’90 explored nature and the brain in a de-natured culture, asking how embodied, real-world experiences shape mental health, creativity, and problem-solving.
On the evening of Friday, October 3, more than 200 guests gathered in the Library Learning Commons for a night of community, music, and recognition. Guests enjoyed dinner and a lively performance from the Upper School Jazz Band. The program then turned to celebrating this year’s alumni honorees, who all let their lives speak in their own ways.
Today, seniors met their first-grade buddies for the first time in the 2025–26 school year! First graders shared stories from their first month of school with their buddies, then collaborated on creative art projects together.
Thank you to all in our community for a wonderful Homecoming 2025! It was great to have so many current families, alumni, and friends on campus for the festivities. Please visit our SmugMug site for even more photos (password can be found in the Friends on Friday message).
On National Coaches Day, check out this amazing trio of alumnae coaches (Nat Bush ’22, Dani Nathan ’19, and Mariah Aldridge ’21) on the WFS volleyball sidelines! Special thanks to all of our coaches at each level who make a difference in the lives of our student-athletes every day. Go Blue!
Fourth graders became geologists this week! Given samples of unknown minerals, they put their observation and problem-solving skills to work by examining properties such as texture, color, and shape—then testing hardness to identify each mineral sample.
For Spirit Week Sports Connections, upper and middle school athletes visited the lower school, introducing students to cross country, field hockey, football, soccer, and volleyball.
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.