Tandem Friends School is a coeducational

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

founded in 1970 in

Albemarle County, Virginia Albemarle County is a United States county (United States), county located in the Piedmont region of Virginia, Piedmont region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is Charlottesville, Virginia, Charlottes ...

,GIS Web
Albemarle County retrieved 10 July 2009. just outside

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the seat of government of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Quee ...

, by educators John Howard and Duncan Alling.Tandem History
Tandem Friends School, retrieved 10 July 2009 In 1995, it joined the Friends Council on Education, adopting the educational beliefs and practices of 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 ...

. The current head of school is Whitney Thompson. The Upper School, grades 9-12, has approximately 130 students, while the Middle School, grades 5-8, has approximately 105 students. The head of the Upper School is Russell Combs, and the head of the Middle School is Paul Cronin. The

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

is a

badger Badgers are medium-sized short-legged omnivores in the superfamily Musteloidea. Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by their squat bodies and adaptions for fossorial activity rather than by the ...

and the original mascot was a tree.

History

Founded in 1970, Tandem is the first Friends School in the U.S. that started as a non-Quaker School. The school is accredited by the National Association of Independent Schools and the Virginia Association of Independent Schools and is a member of the Council on Education.

Traditions

Longstanding Tandem traditions include Morning Meeting, Meeting for Worship, Spring Day, Blue Ridge Day, Speaker Series, Emphasis Week, Open Mic, Sophomore Seminars, and Senior Projects. The Saturday before

Mother's Day Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in Mar ...

has been the date of the annual Mother's Day Music Festival, a small festival to honor mothers and to showcase local musicians. A notable past act to play on the quad at Tandem Friends School for the Mother's Day Music Festival was

Dave Matthews David John Matthews (born January 9, 1967) is an American musician and the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band (DMB). Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and moved frequently between South Africa, ...

on May 12, 1991 and May 10, 1992 which included bassist

Stefan Lessard Dave Matthews Band (also known as DMB) is an American Rock music, rock band from Charlottesville, Virginia. The band's lineup consists of Dave Matthews (lead vocals, guitar), Stefan Lessard (bass), Carter Beauford (drums), Tim Reynolds (lead gui ...

who was a student at Tandem at the time.

Athletics

Tandem Friends School fields up to eighteen sports teams and maintains a no-cut policy. The school's JV and varsity teams compete in the Greater Piedmont Athletic Conference (GPAC). Middle School athletic teams compete with various other middle schools in the surrounding area. The Varsity Girls' Soccer Team won the VISAA Division II State Championship in the Spring of 2010, and repeated in Spring of 2011 and Spring of 2012.

Arts Program

Tandem Friends School has an Arts program that encompasses visual arts, drama, and music. Drama and art are each taught for one semester each year in the Middle School grades. Art electives abound in the Upper School, as well as drama classes and an after-school drama program that presents a musical in the fall, a one-act play festival in the winter, and a comedy or drama in the spring. 5th through 7th graders take regular music classes. The school has a jazz band, Rock and Roll bands, as well as other music class offerings. Tandem sports two fully equipped music rooms, with guitars, basses, and a drum kit, as well as many other instruments for performing and recording.

Notable faculty

* Amy Laufer, member of the Virginia House of Delegates (2024-present)

References

External links

Tandem Friends School
{{authority control Private high schools in Virginia Schools in Albemarle County, Virginia Quaker schools in Virginia Private middle schools in Virginia 1970 establishments in Virginia Educational institutions established in 1970 Brick buildings and structures in Virginia