George School Honors 2011 Graduates

Members of George School’s Class of 2011 graduated on Saturday at ceremony that underscored their generosity of spirit and sense of community. Approximately 99 percent of the graduates plan to go on to college next year, while some plan to take a gap year before moving on to higher education.

During their senior year, members of the class distinguished themselves in a number of arenas. They showcased their creative talents through dance, orchestra, and choral performances; theatrical productions of The Egg and I, Grease, and Marat/Sade; exhibitions of painting, drawing, photography, film, woodworking, music, ceramics, and sculpture; and serving as editors and contributors to the school yearbook (The Opus), newspaper (The Curious George), and literary magazine (Argo).

George School sports teams were led by a very dedicated group of seniors this year as well. Boys’ tennis, wrestling, girls’ soccer, and softball made it to the semifinals or finals in the Friends Schools League (FSL), and two teams—girls’ track and coed golf—won FSL titles.

Students engaged with the larger world through school service projects, including local projects with Woods Services and the Miracle League of Northampton Township, independent projects, and service trips to France, Ghana, Nicaragua, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Washington DC. Altogether, the graduating class performed more than 8,775 hours of community service while attending George School.

In her commencement remarks, Head of School Nancy Starmer said, “While a wide variety of backgrounds, talents, and interests distinguish these students from one another, a handful of qualities distinguish them, for me at least, as a group. These qualities are their generosity of spirit and their extraordinary sense of community.”

Starmer cited a number of examples of the students’ spirit of generosity and community. Members of the class led American Red Cross blood drives, initiated and raised money for earthquake relief in Japan, supported ongoing fundraising projects for Vietnam and Nicaragua, and led the Art for Relief event to support arts programs for inner city youth in Philadelphia. 

“This is an extraordinarily talented group of students that has shared their talents regularly and generously with the community, but more than that, they have shared always with grace and humility. They’ve been true community members, role models for younger students, steady supports of each other, a class that has the true and warm regard of the faculty and of all who have had the privilege of working with them," Starmer said.