Church Farm School

"What's your damage?" Name the 1989 high school satire our faculty portrayed for Halloween 2025!

Wishing two of the best a happy birthday! Lori McDermott and Krista Peterson, longtime CFS staff members, share the same birthdate and year! We won't expose the year. :-)

One of the best surprises from Commencement this year was so many members of the Class of 2024 showing up to celebrate the Class of 2026! Ms. Scott could barely keep it together when she ran into Rafael, Sid, Dylan, Lorenzo, Shalva, Rasheed, Somto and Fayi.

Our Book Club held a summer book swap toward the end of the school year so that adults and students could pass along some of their favorite books. All grade levels have required summer reading, too, before they return to Church Farm. Our seniors are reading Caucasia by Danzy Senna, a fantastic author and the wife of our spring 2026 guest speaker, Percival Everett. What are you reading this summer?

Dr. Baker led our final in-service meeting of the week yesterday, telling inspiring stories about what we did well, what we can do better, and how our students continue to center our work. As a reminder, Church Farm School offices will be open Monday - Thursday, 8-4 this summer. We will be closed the week of July 6.

Joyful. Hopeful. Tearful. Our Class of 2026 Baccalaureate and Commencement hit so many emotional notes. As Valedictorian Oscar Lu noted, "Many of us grew from shy, clueless boys, to caring members of the community." Our seniors cared deeply about each other, but especially our younger Griffins. They mentored in the classroom, in the cottages and on the athletic fields. They are heading off soon to some of the most prestigious universities in the country, and while their college list is impressive, it's their character that truly defines them. We wish our Class of 2026 the best on their next adventures!

You can view the full photo gallery here: https://churchfarmschool.smugmug.com/Class-of-2026-Commencement

Scenes from our senior trip to Cape May! Although it wasn't the warmest day on record, our seniors - accompanied by Mr. Korb, Dr. Campbell and Mr. Collins - spent an amazing day together last week, enjoying the beach (with some even braving the Atlantic Ocean), rail biking with and then gathering for a meal before heading back to the Farm.

Our gratitude to our faculty - especially grade-level leader Dr. Campbell (who deservedly won one of our senior faculty awards at Commencement) - for always going above and beyond to make our students' experiences exceptional!

Rising junior Ansel Belani '28 recently competed at the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (PJAS) State Competition at Penn State University as one of nearly 2,000 finalists from 12 regions in PA. Ansel presented his research on nanoparticle chemistry and won two awards: 1st Place Award and a Perfect Score Award. Congratulations to Ansel on his continual pursuit of excellence in STEM!

Another Field Day in the books! The Athletic Team - Suni Blackwell, Tom Johnstone and Jordan Collins - planned another fantastic event. It was warm, but that didn't stop our Griffins' competitive spirit (the pool was well utilized!). The Tug-of-War (our first without Art Smith in decades!) gained the Maroons many points - with 10th, 11th and 12th all winning. View all of the photos and videos in our SmugMug gallery!

Our Griffin Review team has released another stellar issue of the school's annual Art & Literature magazine! The team announced its theme - Mazes & Maps - on Wednesday, and dedicated the issue to Humanities Chair Ms. Courtney Saunders. We'd also like to thank for their in-kind sponsorship of the magazine's printing!