June 1, 2006

67 TO GRADUATE FROM MOORESTOWN FRIENDS ON JUNE 10

MOORESTOWN, NJ -- Moorestown Friends School will hold Commencement for the 67 members of the 2006 graduating class at 7 p.m. Sat., June 10 at the school, 110 E. Main St.

Speakers have been selected by members of the senior class. They are Social Studies Teacher Frank Fisher, a Collingswood resident, and seniors Cornelia Colijn of Port Republic and John Gurrieri of Medford. Commencement speakers are selected by members of the senior class. MFS does not compute class rankings or designate valedictorians/salutatorians. Traditionally one male and one female student are selected along with a teacher, and it is considered an honor to be chosen.

This year’s seniors will attend colleges and universities including Bryn Mawr, Berklee College of Music, Boston College, Bucknell, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Dickinson, Haverford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Middlebury College, New York University, Oberlin College, Rochester Institute of Technology, Smith College, Stanford University, Vassar College, Wellesley College, Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Virginia and Raphael Recanati International School in Israel.

The Moorestown Friends’ Commencement ceremony includes a number of significant traditions.

Graduates have worn white dresses and formal men’s attire (initially suits/coats and ties, and recently tuxedos), in lieu of caps and gowns, since at least the early 1900s. (MFS was founded in 1785.) Quaker secondary schools traditionally do not use robes, which are an outgrowth of clerical garb.

Another tradition is that the Head of School reads the diploma of one of the “originals” – students who have attended MFS since kindergarten. Eleven members of the Class of 2006 are “originals.”

The graduation ceremony is scheduled to be held outside, with seniors exiting from the front of the Upper School and walking around the circular driveway (known as “the Oval”) to the group seating area.