Donors Support Enriches Peace Week Programming

The week of January 20th marked the 20th annual observation of Peace Week at Friends Seminary. This year’s programming centered on the theme of the year Growing Together Through Science and Dialogue. The community welcomed award-winning author Lesa Cline-Ransome to the Meetinghouse to speak to Lower and Middle School students. This prolific author, who has published more than 30 titles, spoke about the power of storytelling in fostering peace and her commitment to writing more complete, accurate and uplifting truths of people of color.

For Friends students, who are surrounded by books at home and at School, meeting Lesa as an author whose books they have read, sparked excitement. Her ability to connect with young people in person, as on the page, was evident in the Meetinghouse as she shared her story that began with her Second Grade photo. Assistant to Head of Lower School Khairah Klein comments, “Students learned about the time and hard work needed to research and write a book and her collaboration with her husband, notable illustrator James Ransome. Our young readers were riveted and had lots of very specific questions. Meeting authors makes their world of books feel more real!”

These impactful experiences were made possible through the Isaac Rauch '08 Fund for Literature. The community is deeply grateful to Lisa Anderson and Marc Rauch who seek to provide a series of rewarding and educational talks by authors at Friends in memory of their late son.