Designing for the Future of MFS
During the strategic planning process this year, please enjoy articles of interest and other resources that invite you to think alongside us as we consider the future of Moorestown Friends School.
By Julia de la Torre, Head of School
On Saturday, January 11, nearly 100 community members gathered at Moorestown Friends School for a unique experience. As part of our strategic planning process, we hosted a Community Design Day, intended to bring together alumni, students, current and alumni parents, faculty, staff, current and former trustees, and members of Moorestown Meeting in a collaborative day of idea sharing, divergent thinking, and prototyping.
MFS is working with Leadership + Design, a leading firm that uses human-centered design to help schools envision how best to live out their missions while meeting the needs of their communities in a changing world context. Over the course of this school year, our Strategic Planning Committee surfaced five areas of inquiry resulting from our many conversations with diverse constituencies. Although these may not be the final themes of our strategic plan, they gained much traction in our community as we listened to your needs and hopes for your children and the future of the school.
Community and Identity (Diversity): How might all kids and adults see themselves reflected in, and essential to, the growth and impact of the MFS community?
Redefining Success (Student Health & Wellbeing): How might we redefine success when it comes to academic, social-emotional, and spiritual development?
Quaker Mission x Academics: How might we transform the MFS learning experience so that students can respond in a profoundly Quaker way to the world’s most urgent and important questions and problems?
Environmental Stewardship: How might students act entrepreneurially in service of environmental sustainability?
Global Connections: How might we design educational experiences to empower students to contribute to a global society?
Each of these questions served as the foundation for a design opportunity. Participants learned about some of the major challenges and opportunities facing schools today. They also explored basic design principles, so they could work in teams to prototype and test possible solutions to address the areas of inquiry.
The result was 16 exciting prototypes, each diving deeply into the strategic opportunities facing the school and generating a number of ideas for consideration. The Strategic Planning Committee will meet soon to synthesize the feedback and further converge on what will be the final themes of the strategic plan. On behalf of the Co-Clerks of our committee, I would like to thank those participants who gave their Saturday to get to know others, explore outside-the-box ideas, and venture into the unknown. The day affirmed that we are on the right track and reinforced how fortunate we are to have so many people who care deeply about Moorestown Friends School. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming months, and enjoy this slideshow of images from the Community Design Day.