Welcome to the Delaware Valley Friends School BLOG

Today's visits to the White House and Supreme Court building were inspiring and, thankfully, the weather continued to be sunny and warm. We also enjoyed seeing our friend and former DV teacher Meredith Shinners.

The students were challenged to find one inspiring photo in the National Geographic museum about strong women through history. They shared their inspirations tonight and shared messages of strength, role models, and the idea that you can …

Delaware Valley Friends School's 8th grade is in Washington, DC on their annual adventure touring museums, memorials, and other local sites. The trip chaperones report that the weather is beautiful and everyone is well and enjoying the trip.

DV Teacher Rebecca Litwin shared the following recap of the first day of the trip: "The students are having a great time and enjoying learning about all the history of the DC monuments. It was beautiful …

Delaware Valley Friends School faculty members Nic James and Elizabeth Kriynovich share two excellent articles on building empathy in our schools

Nic James is the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Delaware Valley Friends and shared this article from Mindshift with colleagues, saying “Many researchers and critical thinkers have discovered that when we operate from a foundation of empathy for others, we increase our own levels of …

How much can one person impact your life?
Senior Ashley Covert answered this question about art teacher Jodi Rice in the following article and video. Ashley did her senior internship in the marketing department at DVFS, and the following piece was one of the assignments she completed during her internship:

Jodi Rice is an art teacher at Delaware Valley Friends School. She teaches ceramics, sculpture, middle school art, drawing and painting, and …

The last day on the trail started with cake for breakfast and ended in Machu Picchu. Doesn't get better than that!

Each student shared a reflection on the trip so far:

Izzy: The dogs we saw in the towns and at the school we helped paint were so cute, but Ken won't let us take one home.

Katie: I love alpacas. The hills don't love me.

Kenzie: I enjoyed the hike and the views are beautiful. The spectacled bear was cool.

Evan: I loved climbing mountain …

Our intrepid hikers are over the high pass and back in cellphone range, so we have this update from Ken:

Everyone is doing really well. We'll make it to Machu Picchu around noon tomorrow. And the photo with the black speck in it is a picture of a spectacled bear! Don't worry, it was far in the distance.

Tonight we will camp at Phuyu Pata Marca Camp. It is a beautiful campsite on a mountain ridge where one can view the giant, glaciated, Salkantay …

The morning was spent exploring the Ollantaytambo ruins in the Sacred Valley. After lunch, we drove to Chillca (1.5 to 2 hours) and Pisca, where we started our hike -- 5km from Pisca Kucho to Llacta Pata. We will be spending the night at the Llactapata Campsite -- a beautiful small campsite next to extensive ruins.

Today, the group was up and out early to spend the day working with the community of Qelqanca helping to paint a local school building and talking to them about their daily lives.

The group enjoyed breakfast at their hotel in Lima before heading to the airport for their flight to Cusco.

In Cusco, the group met some 4-legged friends -- Alpacas. They learned from local artisans about natural dying techniques used with the alpaca wool. There was then a great photo op with the local weavers.

Allison shared this pre-boarding photo of the group from the Newark airport "before they are all grizzled mountain people." And Ken reported that they arrived safely in Lima in the early morning hours and were headed to the hotel for a short night's sleep before heading back to the airport for their short flight to Cusco. The adventure has begun!