From Summer Planning to Classroom Practice: Friends Faculty Shape the Year Ahead

Friends Seminary’s first Anchor Grant & Lighthouse Award gallery walk on Monday, September 29, 2025, showcased a culture of open sharing and sustained innovation across the curriculum. Conceived and launched by K-12 Dean of Studies Hassan Wilson, the initiative will continue annually, creating a dependable rhythm for faculty to bring summer work into public view and into conversation with colleagues. Over the summer, talented educators researched, designed, and prototyped new approaches—then brought that work into the open. The room functioned like a working library: clear goals, practical tools, and candid dialogue about what moves learning forward, with teachers comparing notes, adapting one another’s ideas, and refining plans so students feel the impact this year.

At the heart of the program are two complementary grants. The Anchor Grant advances curriculum aligned with divisional and K–12 priorities by addressing essential curricular needs, developing shared resources, and strengthening coherence across courses and grade levels. The Lighthouse Award recognizes projects that meet a genuine need while introducing innovative, transformative approaches to pedagogy—pilots that test what is next and illuminate paths others can follow. Together, they create time for deep work and spaces where educators learn from one another—openly, generously, and often.

Congratulations to all who shared work at the gallery walk and inspired colleagues across the School. This collective expertise—and the willingness to make practice public—continues to strengthen the program and the community.