Have you noticed the morning birdsong? My favorite is the “cheeseburger-cheeseburger-cheeseburger-cheese” call of the Carolina wren, which has been audible for a month now. While I enjoy waking up to the sound, early February is unseasonably early to hear it.
The parent of a Strath Haven High School senior spoke at this week’s school board meeting, alerting board members to problems with some midyear transcripts sent to colleges as part of applications for admission. Our article outlines the errors and reports on the district’s response.
Read about board games and the community in Swarthmore in an essay by our Swarthmore College intern, Elisabeth Miller.
To be eligible for kindergarten admission in September 2020, children must be five years old on or before September 1, 2020. There will be no exceptions. The deadline to be eligible for the lottery to determine morning or afternoon placement is 11:59 p.m. on March 29, 2020.
In the early evening of February 11, the library at the Swarthmore Rutledge School hummed with energy and ideas. Groups of parents, grandparents, teachers, and staff rotated around the room, with its bright blue rug and imagination station, brainstorming strategies to better support and teach about diversity in the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District.
The premise of Brenda Embrey Exon’s new children’s book, “Moxie and the Kite-Bite’n Ash,” is simple, but it took the first-time author a long while to bring that seed to fruition. It also took a trip halfway around the world.
Swarthmore resident James C. Peyton Jones will share excerpts from a recently published memoir, “Wartime Wanderings,” about his father’s exploits as a young British naval officer during the Second World War.
Swarthmore Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of a land development plan from Swarthmore College for the construction of a new dining and student center. Representatives from the college and their design team presented preliminary plans for the project. They asked for waivers of four borough ordinances, answered questions, and clarified issues of concern.
Approximately 100 Delaware County residents crowded into the County Council room at the Delaware County Government Center on February 18 to attend the first in a series of presentations regarding the county-wide tax reassessment.
This week’s Swarthmore Borough Council meeting was all about trees: a new inventory of the borough’s street and park trees, issues with PECO’s tree trimming, and more. We also excerpt a letter from the Tree Committee about the many benefits of trees.
At their home game against Franklin & Marshall College on February 8, the top-ranked and undefeated Swarthmore College men’s basketball team was surprised to see a crowd of young fans decked out in matching Swarthmore College T-shirts cheering them on. It was not a school-organized event, just the effort of one passionate kindergarten teacher, her enthusiastic students, and their parents in support of No. 40, Nate Shafer ’20. Shafer started visiting Sheri Carney’s kindergarten class at Swarthmore Presbyterian Nursery Day School during his sophomore year, as part of an Introduction to Education course. He was only supposed to be there for one semester, but Shafer found himself inspired by Carney’s skill and her excitement for teaching.
On February 10, the Wallingford-Swarthmore School Board convened in the Strath Haven Middle School library in front of an audience of three. With two modifications, the board unanimously approved the draft calendar presented at the January 27 meeting. The board reported that it is considering beginning the 2021-2022 school year before Labor Day.
The Swarthmore Centennial Foundation is offering its annual Edmund Jones Scholarship, which gives $6,000 to an outstanding high school senior who lives in Swarthmore to support their education. The late Edmund Jones, former Swarthmore mayor and a founding member of the Centennial Foundation, created this scholarship in 1993.
Originally known as Curb My Clutter, Retrievr is a free service that helps people recycle. Here are some great things about it: It’s free. They pick up from your door. Requesting a pick-up is easy: Send them a text or visit their website to tell them how many bags of clothes and what electronics you have.
Isn’t it interesting how some folks seem to make things run so smoothly? Here at Plush Mills, we have the good luck to have a bartender in the Pub — located right next to the dining room — who makes everyone feel welcome. Tony is your perfect “Sit down and let me take your cares away” kind of bartender. He knows just how to smile and touch your shoulder. When he introduces new residents to established ones, they often make friends.
Home energy use accounts for an estimated 20 percent of a household’s overall footprint. These days, with the dire warnings about climate change a part of our daily consciousness, many people are working on ways to substantially reduce the size of their carbon footprint. In doing so, they can reap some cost savings as well. Phil Coleman, president of aFewSteps.org, an expert at energy efficiency, sets a high bar for his neighbors. I should know, I live across the street from him.
Once upon a time, before computers, Tinder, and Coffee Meets Bagel, young people met romantic partners by chance, or else through blind dates or family. Beth and Bob Gross met via the last two.
At the Wallingford-Swarthmore School Board meeting on January 27, Denise Citarelli Jones presented several proposed new courses for the board’s approval. Citarelli Jones, director of secondary education, said the district hopes to better prepare students for careers in STEM, including computer science. Many future jobs in Pennsylvania will require STEM, computer science, and design thinking skills, according to statistics she presented. The district’s STEM Advisory Council, made up of teachers, administrators, and counselors, is helping determine what new courses are developed and how to incorporate STEM into more of the curriculum.
Swarthmore College President Valerie Smith will award honorary degrees to neuroscientist Adele Diamond ’74, African American cultural historian Saidiya Hartman, and media executive David T. Linde ’82, at Swarthmore College’s 148th Commencement on May 24.
Sometimes it’s hard to see what’s right in front of you. Trish and Gary first met in elementary school when they were seven years old. This was in Ardsley, New York, a town even smaller than Swarthmore, where Trish had lived all her life. A skinny kid from the Bronx with a giant head of hair, Gary moved to Ardsley in second grade, joining a class that already had a Larry and Barry. He and Trish quickly became friends. But it would take them 33 years to realize they were perfect for each other.
