Friends Academy is a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

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 New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, 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 65 acres. 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 and colleagues

There are approximately 650 students from various backgrounds and communities throughout Long Island. There are 160 students in the Lower School, 139 in the Middle School, and 341 in the Upper School. There are approximately 150 full- and part-time colleagues, including 98 faculty – of whom 78% hold advanced degrees.Friends At A Glance section of the Friends Academy web site
/ref>

Athletics

Friends Academy offers a variety of sports for students in grades 5–12. 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, boys and girls

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

, boys and girls

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact 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 w ...

, boys

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, girls

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

, boys and girls

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

, girls

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

, boys and girls

crew A crew is a body or a group of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchy, hierarchical organization. A location in which a crew works is called a crewyard or a workyard. The word has nautical resonances: the ta ...

, girls

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, 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 exercise, physical activity. It can be performed to motivate s ...

, and boys

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

. Andy Coe (captain of Yale '69 football team) coached football at Friends Academy in 1970. For 30 + years Ron Baskind coached the Quakers to countless playoff appearances and successful seasons. During the 2015 season, the Quakers made the Conference 4 Football playoffs. The last homecoming football win for the Quakers was on October 13, 2018 as the Quakers defeated Great Neck Co-Op by a score of 37-16. The Quakers finished that season 3-5 narrowly missing the playoffs. 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 A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

. 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 PK–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 digital media lab. The Music Department has a number of performing groups, including wind ensemble, orchestra, chamber choir, 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 the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

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 * Will Roland, actor * Chuck Cooperstein, radio presenter * J. P. Foschi, football player * Heather Lende, author * Sebastian Arcelus, actor * Renauld Williams, football player * Frank Posillico,

Dry January The Dry January challenge is a campaign developed and delivered by UK charity Alcohol Change UK where people sign up to Teetotalism, abstain from alcohol for the month of January. The term "Dry January" is a Trademark, registered trademark with A ...

inventor * Melissa Errico, actress, singer, recording artist and writer * Steven Mills, sports executive *

Brian Koppelman Brian William Koppelman (born April 27, 1966) is an American television and film writer, producer and director. Koppelman is the co-writer of ''Ocean's Thirteen'' and ''Rounders (1998 film), Rounders'', a producer of films including ''The Illusion ...

, showrunner * Jessica Goodman, author * Melissa Korn, journalist * Ethan Lazar, film producer * Katie Sands, news anchor * Lucas Foglia, photographer * Dion Short Metzger, doctor, media health expert * Lindsay Jill Roth, TV creator, producer, and author

Faculty

* William W. Cocks, politician * Peter John Philander, South African poet * Nikara Warren, jazz musician * Liza Talusan, author

External links

Friends Academy Web Site

References

;Notes {{authority control 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)