Friends Academy is a
Quaker,
coeducational
Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...
, independent, college preparatory school serving students from nursery school through the twelfth grade, located in Locust Valley,
New York, United States. The school was founded in 1876 by 78-year-old Gideon Frost for ''"The children of Friends and those similarly sentimented"''. The school was originally named Friends College. The campus covers . The school is organized around a lush, grassy quad with buildings surrounding it. Recent additions to the school include the Helen A. Dolan Center (2000), the Kumar-Wang Library (2000), the renovation of the Upper School (2004), the renovation of the Lower School (2010), the construction of the gym and field house (2007), and the renovation of the Middle School (2016).
Students, faculty and staff
There are approximately 750 students from various backgrounds and communities throughout Long Island. There are 224 students in the Lower School, 175 in the Middle School, and 370 in the Upper School. There are 119 full- and part-time teachers; 93 hold master's degrees and 9 hold doctorates.
Friends At A Glance section of the Friends Academy web site
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Athletics
Friends Academy offers a variety of sports for students in grades 7–12. Sports consist of boys and girls basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...
, boys and girls lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...
, boys baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
, girls softball
Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
, boys and girls ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
, girls field hockey
Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...
, boys and girls crew
A crew is a body or a class of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchical organization. A location in which a crew works is called a crewyard or a workyard. The word has nautical resonances: the tasks involved ...
, girls tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
, girls cheerleading
Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...
, and boys football. Andy Coe (captain of Yale '69 football team) coached football at Friends Academy in 1970. Friends Academy participates in the Nassau County Public High School Athletic Association. Friends Academy is the only school to participate in the Nassau County Public High School Athletic Association as an independent school. Despite playing in a larger conference, Friends Academy has won several Regional and State titles in different sports in recent years. FA has won State Championships in Boys Basketball ('10, '11), Boys Soccer ('09, '10, '11,'13), Girls Soccer ('12), Women's rowing ('06, '08, '09, '10) and Regional Titles in Girls Field Hockey ('12), Girls Basketball ('11).
Arts
Friends Academy offers a wide variety of arts courses for students in grades K-12. Music, Dance, Visual and Digital Art, and Theater are required parts of the curriculum for students through the 8th grade. In the high school, a wide variety of courses are offered as electives. The Visual Arts program has a working dark room and a new digital media lab. The Music Department has a number of performing groups, including wind ensemble, orchestra, vocal ensemble, chamber choir, two middle school jazz bands and a high school jazz band. The Theater and Dance department operates in a 400-seat proscenium theater. There is a working scene shop. The curriculum includes dance, acting, playwriting, and technical theater. The school produces four productions each school year.
Quaker Values
Friends Academy has been teaching students Quaker Values since 1876. Friends Academy believes that in teaching Quaker Values, students will mold their minds and personalities to match the very values that they teach. Quaker Values mainly reflect on truth, morality, and conscience as believed by the Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
themselves. To uphold the tradition of Quaker Values, the students and faculty of Friends Academy attend the Matinecock Meeting House weekly to attend "Meeting for Worship", a traditional Quaker tradition where the students and faculty sit silently to reflect.
Notable people
Alumni
* Alexandra Ansanelli, ballet dancer
* Franklin A. Coles, lawyer
*Chuck Cooperstein
Chuck Cooperstein is an American sports radio personality based in Dallas, Texas.
Biography
Cooperstein is the radio voice of the Dallas Mavericks, and has been since 2005. He has also worked for Westwood One on its college football and basketbal ...
, radio presenter
* J. P. Foschi, football player
* Heather Lende, author
*Renauld Williams
Renauld Duvall Williams (born February 23, 1981) is a former Canadian football linebacker. He was signed by the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 2004. He played college football at Hofstra. Williams was also a member of the Miami ...
, football player
Faculty
* William W. Cocks, politician
*Franklin A. Coles, lawyer
External links
Friends Academy Web Site
References
;Notes
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Educational institutions established in 1876
Quaker schools in New York (state)
Glen Cove, New York
Schools in Nassau County, New York
Private high schools in New York (state)
Private middle schools in New York (state)
Private elementary schools in New York (state)
Preparatory schools in New York (state)
1876 establishments in New York (state)