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A Message of Service That Still Guides Us From the Honorable Reverend Jesse Jackson

“Excellence is your best bet against the odds. Every generation has a challenge, a challenge to become a greater generation. All of us cannot be famous—but all of us can be great, because all of us can serve.”
On this Throwback Thursday, we reflect on the day the Honorable Reverend Jesse Jackson visited Wilmington Friends School, sharing his voice and vision with the community on February 17, 1980— a visit that still resonates with our mission today.

These words, delivered to WFS middle and upper school students by the Reverend Jesse Jackson, continue to echo across generations and reflect the Quaker values our students strive to live by each day. Jackson, an American Civil Rights activist and politician, spoke to students about the responsibility of service and the power young people hold to shape the future. He stated to the Class of 1980 who would be able to vote in the upcoming election, in reference to the power of young people, “When they make up their minds to be relevant, they can make a difference. In 1950, they saved us from McCarthyism. In 1960, when blacks in the South couldn’t eat in restaurants, students sat in and made a difference. In 1967 and 1968, in defiance of an unjust war, students stood up and made a difference.”
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101 School Road, Wilmington, DE 19803
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Preschool - 12th Grade
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.