Steel framing rose for the new building at Frankford Friends School last week. The project, the culmination of many years of planning at the school, will allow it to offer high-quality Friends education program to more local families by expanding the space in middle school classrooms. The new building will provide a multipurpose space, a music room, and three more classrooms. The building, which is among several new construction projects now happening in Frankford, was designed by DIGSAU and is being built by CVM Construction.

Energy use at the new building will be reduced through the use of a highly insulated envelope, an efficient HVAC system, exhaust fans, operable windows, natural light, highly-insulated walls, and solar shades that block summer sun while bouncing winter sun more deeply into the rooms. A large north-facing skylight in the multipurpose room minimizes lighting costs. Rain barrels will keep rain water out of the city stormwater system and provide free water for classroom and ornamental gardens. All materials and carpet will are low VOC. Budget allowing, the exterior will be clad in reclaimed red cedar.

The school, which has been on its historic campus since 1833, expects to enroll over 130 students in grades PreK-8^th in the coming year. There are still some openings in grades 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7; the others have waiting lists.  For more information, www.frankfordfriendsschool.org

At its April meeting, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission voted to renew the charter for Sankofa Freedom for an additional five years. From the Inquirer:

The five-member commission voted unanimously to award five-year operating agreements to Multi-Cultural Academy and Sankofa Freedom Academy, based on their academic performance and because they fulfilled other requirements.

Multi-Cultural, a college-prep high school in North Philadelphia, pledged not to grow beyond its authorized limit of 275 students through 2017.

Sankofa, in Frankford, has an Afro-centric curriculum. The school now has 463 students in kindergarten through sixth and ninth to 11th grades. It agreed to abide by the maximum enrollment of 650 students, set in its original 2009 charter, when it completes its growth to a K-12 model in 2013-14.

In the present economic environment that is quite an accomplishment.  Congratulations to the staff and students at Sankofa.

As the school year comes to a close the ROTC must choose new leadership.

Make way for the new leaders! The pioneer battalion has chosen new cadets to lead us into a new year. Cadet/COL Justin Mount has retired as the battalion commander and Cadet/LTC Antonio Torres has stepped up to the plate. We wish him great achievements in the future. Cadet Torres will lead us into more special projects to help the community. Congrats to Cadet/LTC Torres!

Picture caption: Cadet Justin Mount (left) and JROTC Senior Instructor (right) hands down the position of Battalion Commander to Cadet Torres (center).

((This is Cadet/MAJ Lee Nguyen  Retired Pioneer Battalion S-5. It has been an amazing year working with you to get my battalion into news articles. This year I will graduate and will be handing down my position to a new S-5, C/1LT Jonathan Juarez. I hope you two have great communication as we did and work together to put the Frankford Pioneers into the local newspaper.))

Every year the Frankford High School Alumni selects two graduates to receive this award. This year the Alumi selected a previous graduate, who also came back to his school to contribute to his old football team. Michael Capriotti came back to Frankford High School to coach varsity football. Helping the team win two championships.

Congratulations Coach Capriotti!

On Saturday April 21, 2012, the Pioneer Battalion Raiders team competed against 10 other schools. Pioneers won  third place in the 3Km Run, Land Navigation, and Rope Bridge. In our strong efforts we received 3rd place overall. Which means that we ranked third best against 11 schools in total! Congratulations to our Raiders team!

Marissa Peal graduates from Penn State.

Marissa, At the Neer Waterfall in India

There are many graduations stories this time of year in Frankford.  This is just one of them.

I first heard about Marissa last year when it caught my ear that a student from Frankford was studying abroad in India.  That is such an interesting idea that I had to find out the story.  Marissa grew up in Frankford on Josephine Street with her mom Carol Lynn, dad William, sister Mariah and brother Sean.  She attended Allen M. Stearne Elementary School, Warren G. Harding Middle School and Murrell Dobbins Career Technical Educational High School where she studied cosmetology.

In her own words:  Since I was born I’ve attended the Second Baptist Church of Frankford where Darrell Ricardo Bradsbery is the Reverand. My mother, mother’s siblings, my grandmother, and grandfather have all been members of this church, making it close to a traditional path in our family.

All of my friends and professional relationships I have established in college are people I know personally and they have all given me inspiration in more ways than I can count. I am surround by friends with entrepreneurial, artistic, service oriented, and doctoral goals which motivates me to work hard and to inspire those around me through my actions.My ambitions after graduation is to work in an advertising agency. I really want to contribute my ideas to an agency that focuses on marketing towards minorities. I want to to build that gap between those who are underrepresented, specifically women in the beauty realm.

While studying a semester abroad in India, I made many friends who I remain in contact with today. We use Facebook and twitter to stay connected and are making future plans to reunite again. I miss the historical sites in India. It was amazing to learn about pivotal moments like the assassination of India’s first female prime minister, Indira Gandhi, and actually taking the metro to the site! I also miss the shopping very much. Following my adventure to India, I recently spent my spring break in Honduras building a gravity water system in the Palo Verde (means Green trees) village. It will supply 18 homes and a school with clean water. I am so ready to visit Africa next. I am not sure which countries but I have a few friends I can visit and plenty of options.

Marissa is now wading through job offers for the next stage of her life.  Congratulations to her and all the Frankford graduates this year.  You are the hope for the future.