"It was a day in February. I looked through the shivering window of the car at the icy world. I suddenly felt my stomach turn over. I had been to so many different schools in my life that all of their memories seemed to swirl in my mind like a dark mound of chocolate mousse. This one would be nothing like the public school I had had in France, my mother had told me that morning; it was much smaller, Quaker, and therefore quite different in mentality. I wondered how different it could be, but I had never prepared myself for morning gatherings, meeting and meeting partners, poetry week, storytelling week and so on. I remember feeling small, afraid, and very shy. Now, as I look back on those first days, I feel as if they were a portrait of my younger self - a shy little girl, new in the middle of fifth grade in a little town in New Jersey - a pipsqueak, who almost never spoke in class and was not all that open to new friends and teachers. I feel that I have grown into a very different person now. I talk freely with everyone (always ready for a new debate), and I no longer feel forced to keep my ideas and feelings locked deep inside myself as if they were supposed to be hidden from others; I can speak, write, perform, and paint them out into the open, in the air. I feel as if my existence as a person is finally out there and that I am no longer a petal on a flower but a flower with petals."

Aude C., eighth grade Moving On remarks

"Even now, after almost three years, I get homesick for Princeton Friends... The journey Princeton Friends is on will always have a profound effect on the people it touches. From experience, the effect is always positive and enduring. What I value most from life, Princeton Friends was able to provide to Laura. She acknowledges her own worth. For that, I will always be grateful to your school. When I look at Laura growing up, I still see the seed planted at Princeton Friends growing beautifully."

Zoe K., parent

"The Blairstown trip changes for us each year as Sarah changes in her self-confidence and sense of independence. We look at this yearly experience as a special gift given to all Princeton Friends School families. It's a yardstick that helps us measure all kinds of growth in our child as she gains knowledge, responsibility, an appreciation for other people, emotional and physical experience, and social skills. This year, Sarah tried something new (the climbing-tree zipline) and revisited activities she'd done on previous trips (rappelling and the Van Campen's Glen hike) with a friend new to the school. This combination of new and familiar helped her grasp how she's changed since 3rd grade, allowed her to share some much-valued experiences, and invited her to push herself a little further while also savoring her accomplishments."

Diane G. and Donald S., parents

"For Community Outreach this year, I am in Isles, along with ten or so others. Isles is a non-profit organization based in Trenton. When we go, we usually assist Isles in sprucing up small parts of the city, for that is one of their big jobs. As part of one trip we went to a small, children's park, owned by Isles, located on Perry Street. We helped Isles to spruce up the park by planting the flowerbeds. We started by giving the beds a good turnover, taking out all the rocks and glass. Next, we dug holes to plant bulbs in, but they had to be spaced the-length-of-the-trowel apart in all directions, including the edges of the beds, and as deep as the metal ’bowl’ of the trowel. Then we planted tulips in one bed, crocuses in another, and daffodils in the last one we had time to plant. I'm sure that Isles is proud of our work, and the people of Trenton will enjoy a cleaner and prettier park as the flowers emerge. I wonder what we'll do next."

David H., seventh grade

"One day, sometime in the autumn of this past year, I was getting ready to leave school, but the youngest member of my carpool, Brian, was crying, walking a few paces behind his mother, muttering something under his breath. His mother, Sue, laughed and explained that he wanted to stay all night at school with his friends, and the last thing he wanted was to go home. Imagine: he was crying, not because he had to go to school and face a mean teacher, or deal with bullying classmates, or miss his favorite television show at home. Those are the usual reasons why kids cry about school, but this little first grader was crying because he had to leave his school!"

Leda W., eighth grade

"My first day of school was great! I was nervous, but everybody was so nice! I felt really accepted. Some girls in the sixth and eighth grades showed me what happened in the day at Princeton Friends School and helped me with people's names. I can't explain the feeling or emotions I had then. They were a sort of a mix between feeling happy, accepted, and yet sad because I had left my friends. As it turned out, I still keep in touch with my old friends like they were in this school now."

Rachel L., sixth grade