Maroon and Grey Spring 2018

SPRING 2018

The Magazine of Church Farm School

years

FARMING: From 1918 until the early 80s, farming meant rising early to milk cows or ending the academic day at 1:00 p.m. to assist with a variety of farm work: picking potatoes, tending to chickens and hogs or filling the silos with hay. Today, farming means using our 5-acre solar array installed in 2013 to power more than 80% of the school’s electricity needs.

CHURCH FARM SCHOOL: THEN & NOW LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL

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CHAPEL OF THE ATONEMENT

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A CONVERSATION WITH KISTLER AND FANELLI

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100 YEARS AT CHURCH FARM SCHOOL

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ALUMNI WEEKEND

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TALMADGE O’NEILL CHALLENGE

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FOR THE BOYS CAMPAIGN

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CLASS NOTES

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DAVID CARROLL ’62

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HOUSE PARENTS: Until the early 1960s, the academic and cottage sides of the school featured separate faculty, with “housemothers” serving as caretakers for our boarders. Today, your cottage “parent” can also be your English teacher, your bowling coach, your advisor and your club leader.

PRINTING: Church Farm School’s print shop featured top-of-the-line equipment and most school literature was made in house, from annual appeals to yearbooks and invitations. Today’s printing is done using our state-of-theart 3D printer, mostly used by our STEAM program.

SCRAPPLE: Church Farm School donors always speak of their fondness for the Christmas scrapple they’d receive annually in thanks for their support of the school. Over the past three years, we’ve been bringing scrapple back to the fore as the key ingredient in our award-winning “Scrapple-licious Church Farm Chili,” which won the People’s Choice Award at the West Chester Rotary Chili Cook-off in both 2016 and 2017, as well as the judge’s award in the nonprofit category in 2017.

Dear alumni, friends and members of the Church Farm School community,

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don’t suppose that our school’s founder, The Rev. Dr. Shreiner, worried much about living to be 100, yet I do think it was his prayer and foresight that Church Farm School would continue its course to serve the educational interests of bright, motivated and engaging boys—young men in search of opportunity and encouragement—long after his time on God’s good Earth was finished.

A sower of seeds, literally as well as figuratively, Dr. Shreiner did the hard, grueling spade work to establish and initially nourish our beloved Church Farm School, thus creating the fertile furrows of land and mind that could receive those good seeds that have borne, for 100 years and counting, lasting fruit as measured by character, conscience and a desire to serve the greater good.

That his son and grandson picked up the plow and worked the field in their succeeding generations is equally inspiring and adds to the vast and enduring Shreiner family legacy. And others stood with them giving of themselves those precious gifts of time, talent and treasure to propel this mission and its purpose forward. If we do our part to ensure these same values in constantly changing circumstances, working hard to impress upon our young people the rewards such an ennobled character can bring to their lives, Church Farm School will continue to live deeply into its purpose for generations yet to come and the good work we lay down here will be part of this wonderful and worthy continuum.

Today, we celebrate. Tomorrow, we will continue to roll up our sleeves, keep our minds focused and alert, put our backs into the labor yet to be done and give our energetic support to the continuing mission of Church Farm School. No time, no life to waste. Let’s get busy, these boys are worth it!

With gratitude for your support!

MAROON & GREY Spring 2018 The Magazine of Church Farm School EDITOR Stefanie Claypoole LAYOUT & DESIGN Harp and Company Graphic Design PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY Betsy Barron Photography MISSION The Church Farm School prepares a diverse group of boys with academic ability and good character to lead productive and fulfilling lives by making a college preparatory education financially accessible.

Support our mission at gocfs.net

The Rev. Edmund “Ned” Sherrill II

ADMINISTRATION HEAD OF SCHOOL The Rev. Edmund K. Sherrill II ASSISTANT HEAD OF SCHOOL/ DIRECTOR OF ACADEMICS Christopher Seeley DIRECTOR OF ADMISSION Lisa Smoots DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS Gregory Thompson DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE GUIDANCE Tiffany Scott DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT Peter Corrado DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND OPERATIONS Neil Fanelli DIRECTOR OF STUDENT LIFE Randy Noll

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Chapel of the Atonement: THE HEART OF CHURCH FARM SCHOOL

MAY THE LORD PRESERVE THY GOING OUT AND THY COMING IN, FROM THIS TIME FORTH, AND FOREVER MORE. — PSALM 121:8

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t is usually the first place alumni go when they return to Church Farm School. It is our student ambassadors’ favorite stop when they are giving tours.

It is the last space our seniors inhabit before they start their next academic adventure. For so many, for so long, the Chapel of the Atonement has been the beating heart of Church Farm School.

Prior to the Chapel’s construction, Church Farm School students worshipped at neighboring St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where the school’s founder, The Rev. Dr. Charles Wesley Shreiner, also served as rector. When the widow of the rector of Saint Paul’s Church in Overbrook— Mrs. William R. Turner—passed away, she directed in her will that money be allotted for a chapel for the school. Ground was broken in spring 1927, with the Chapel consecrated on June 1, 1928, at a ceremony presided by Bishop Garland, an early board member whose portrait is in the Chapel to this day. It was named the Chapel of the Atonement in homage to the Church of the Atonement in West Philadelphia where Shreiner was once deacon, and where he met his wife, a lovely parishioner named Mary Cardwell.

At the service of dedication, Trustee Roland Taylor is said to have decreed that the Church Farm School Choir was the best he’d ever heard, and the school’s little pump organ the worst. He requested that Shreiner find a more suitable organ and that he would pay for it. A year later, the school’s new Aeolian organ was previewed with a recital. The Chapel was expanded in the summer of 1963 as a gift to the school from former Trustee Mr. John T. Dorrance, Jr., who also donated the Möller Chancel organ that remains today. A dedicatory organ recital featuring renowned organist Virgil Fox drew hundreds to the school in May of 1964.

“For the most part, they made some really great choices when they built the Möller organ,” says longtime Church Farm School

organist and choral director Gary Gress.

The tonal design of the instrument was planned by the Möller Company of Maryland in consultation with Church Farm School and the Curtis Institute of Music. The organ consists of about 3,000 pipes, which is “a lot for the space,” Gress says. He adds, “There is so much color in that instrument.” Gress, who is mostly self-taught on the organ but is also a wonderful pianist, says the hardest piece he has had to learn for the school has been the music for the Christmas Pageant, “Why the Chimes Rang.” “It was a massive undertaking that caused my predecessors and myself major anxiety; there are so many cues and you are constantly changing registration for each character.”

“Why the Chimes Rang” was selected as an annual production for the school community in 1924, and has been performed every year since. Acted in pantomime by students, it is a unique twist on the story of the Christ-child, with a variety of colorful characters in wonderful period costumes presenting gifts on the altar in an old Chapel (much like the school’s) in the hopes of making its long-silent chimes ring again. Of course, since there are no speaking parts, the organ music, hymns and seasonal choral music are critical.

Gress says while the Chapel is not the most ideal space for instrumental or organ music, choral selections really soar. The Church Farm School Choir performs at least two public concerts in the Chapel each year: Lessons and Carols in December, and a Spring Choral Concert (being held on Sunday, May 20 in conjunction with Alumni Weekend this year).

A choral piece that is particularly special to the school community is “The Lord Bless You and Keep You,” a piece Gress selected which has been sung at Commencement since the early 1990s. Typically, alumni and faculty in attendance will join

the choir at the altar, and the beauty of the song combined with the significance of the seniors impending departure from the school makes for a truly moving moment.

Another piece new this year is the Church Farm School Hymn, written by Gress in honor of the Centennial.

CFS Hymn

Beyond the events that take place within it, the Chapel itself is a beautiful structure to behold. The original Chapel, like most Church Farm School buildings, was designed by famed architect brave, bold dreams, our fiel 1.By Philadelphia grace You grant us Milton Medary.

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C O N V E R S A T I O N

W I T H

John Kistler and Neil Fanelli Together, John Kistler and Neil Fanelli have spent nearly 80 years at Church Farm School, although if you count the years that John worked on the farm during high school and college, or his late father, Jack’s, long tenure with the school, that number is even higher. At the end of this year, both men will retire from the school to which they devoted their entire adult lives—Neil as the school’s director of finance and operations and John as a math teacher, coach and former administrator and athletic director.

We sat down with the duo, who graduated from West Chester’s Henderson High School together, to reflect on their long careers at Church Farm School.

WHEN DID YOU START WORKING AT CHURCH FARM SCHOOL? JOHN: I started teaching in

the fall of 1980. That winter was the first time the Eagles were in the Super Bowl. Now I’m retiring the year they finally became World Champions. I was hired as a math teacher at the school, but I also coached varsity baseball and tennis over the years, plus was athletic director and director of student life.

NEIL: I started in May of 1984 as the business manager, the year the Flyers won the Stanley Cup. I heard about the position from John. I was working in the insurance industry, and had no intentions to get into school business.

JOHN: But then you sat

down with Dr. Shreiner.

John Kistler

NEIL: Sitting down with

Dr. Shreiner really changes things. He was a very impressive and inspiring individual.

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JOHN: He was so dynamic. He had a way

about him.

WHAT’S BEEN THE BIGGEST CHANGE AT CHURCH FARM SCHOOL DURING YOUR TENURE? NEIL: The biggest change has been

the conversion of our real estate to an endowment. It was in the works for a long time before it became a reality. The Board knew back in the late 1960s that we were cash poor but real-estate rich.

[Between the 1990s and 2000, the school sold more than 1,600 acres of farmland to the county and township].

JOHN: As a teacher, my first couple of

years, when we were still farming, students only went to school half the day. Then we really became much more interested in academics as our mission. Another significant change was the move to computer use in the 1990s.

NEIL: We called it ‘Retrofit 2000’ because we planned to be done by 2000. The faculty and staff were all using computers by 1996, and the students by 1997. The automation of systems was huge for the school.

JOHN: What changed my life was the

building of the Pavilion in 1996. I was the athletic director at the time, and it really changed the lives of the kids athletically.

WHAT DO YOU LOOK FORWARD TO THE MOST EACH YEAR? NEIL: That’s easy, the Golf Classic. Or the

day after the budget is passed. But seriously, our effort as a team to put on the Golf Classic for so many years, I’m very proud of that. [Neil started the Classic 16 years ago as an effort to get the business community more engaged with the school].

JOHN: Golfing in Myrtle Beach over Spring

Break? But really, I’d definitely put the Pageant and Commencement in there. And running the Wrestling Tournament for the past 30 years. I always look forward to that.

IF YOU COULD COME BACK IN ANOTHER ROLE AT CHURCH FARM SCHOOL, WHAT WOULD YOU PICK? NEIL: I would want to be the college

counselor, working with the seniors to transition them to success after Church Farm School. To just focus on that would be great, and to work more directly with the kids. I’d also like a second chance as the varsity baseball coach. [Neil coached from 1991-1994 during the first years of the program].

JOHN: I would be the athletic director

again. I think our program, it’s so organic.

It starts with the kids. They come in and many have never played a sport—our wrestling program is the best example of how far that has come—but there are a lot of success stories like that. Most private schools approach athletics differently than us. I never knew who was coming until I met them on the first day of school. We’ve been able to become very competitive in our own league. I’m proud of the level of coaching that we have, and that’s because our mission attracts coaches that have really bought into who our kids are.

NEIL: What about the Camp Director?

JOHN: Yes, that was a great time.

[John led the summer camp program at Church Farm School for 17 years before it transitioned to a YMCA Camp]. I look at that selfishly as a great thing for my family, which allowed enough income for my wife to stay home and raise our family.

That has been one of the greatest things about CFS, no pressure of a mortgage, plus there were a number of families raising their kids together in the same neighborhood.

NEIL: Remember we would go out at lunch and stuff camp flyers into mailboxes? It probably wasn’t legal, but it worked! The camp was established very quickly.

Neil Fanelli

WHY IS CFS A SPECIAL PLACE? NEIL: The amount of

commitment to the public good—raising private funds to help kids in need, and the degree to which we’ve been able to do it, is amazing. It has given us the ability to be mission-driven and not tuition-driven.

JOHN: You realize that it’s much bigger

than you, or the faculty, or the administration … you’re a part of a historic entity that has been offering unbelievable opportunity.

NEIL: To think that John and I, as juniors at Henderson in 1973, 45 years later, we’ve had a full career at an amazing place.

And we’ve always been supportive of each other. If you consider where the school was when we started and where it is now, it’s really been a transformational time.

I think this ship is really ready to sail in its second century.

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A Dream he story of Church Farm School actually began in 1882—the year Charles Wesley Shreiner was born in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, near Lancaster. Charly, as he liked to call himself, was one of six children born to a devout Episcopalian named Harriet who was abandoned by her husband when Charly was just two.

Harriet’s dire financial circumstances led her to place all of her children except Charly with relatives.

Poverty was a daily struggle for the Shreiners, and Charly started working by the age of six. When concerned neighbors would lament that he was taking on too much, Harriet was quoted as saying, “Charly always finishes anything he sets out to do.” What Charly set out to do just 30 years later was create a school for boys from disadvantaged backgrounds like himself who would learn the value of faith, hard work and community in a boarding school environment.

In 1912, while serving as deacon of West Philadelphia’s Church of the Atonement, Charly met Mary Cardwell, a member of his congregation with whom he shared his dream. Four years later, Charly and Mary were married. Their quest to find a suitable site for Charly’s dream school concluded when the 125-acre Moorhead homestead in Glen Loch, now Exton, came up for sale. Though Charly was right in assuming that the dilapidated farmland would be cheap, he hadn’t a penny to his name.

With legendary fundraising skills, Charly eventually received enough funding to purchase the land and farming equipment, and his long-held vision came true. On April 1, 1918, Church Farm School officially opened its doors to five young men from West Philadelphia who were members of Charly’s “Boys Brigade,” a group similar to the Boy Scouts. Known to those particular young men as “The Colonel,” Charly’s new nickname was adopted by legions of future Church Farm School students, faculty and friends over the next 50 years.

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Fulfilled:

100 YEARS AT CHURCH FARM SCHOOL Word of the new school spread slowly but surely throughout the Episcopal community, and young fatherless and orphan boys from across the Eastern seaboard soon found themselves at Church Farm School, some as young as 10 years old. Many came from big cities: Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore … and had never even seen a cow up close or knew that potatoes grew underground. Before long, they learned that pressed pants were unsuitable for farm work and that dirt and grime were a new part of their everyday life. The Colonel believed that adequate training for life involved using your hands as much as your minds, to prepare the boys for whatever challenges they were presented.

During the academic day, trim schoolboy garb was required, and the boys had to lineup for inspection to ensure their attire passed the Colonel’s muster. When the school day ended, typically at 1:00 p.m., it was off to the farm to work. The work details were numerous: picking potatoes, tending to the 10,000 chickens and 100 hogs, pulling weeds, filling the silos with hay. The Milk Squad boys, on the other hand, rose at 4:30 a.m. daily to tend to the large herd of Holsteins and Guernseys. At its height, the school’s cows were producing up to 500,000 gallons each year.

Another favorite pastime of the Colonel was floriculture. As early as 1924, this was a subject taught at the school, complemented by management of the school’s greenhouse and flower beds, which included a large peony field from which about 65,000 flowers were cut and sold annually at the school’s roadside stand. Rose Acre, a large rose garden behind the Chapel, was designed and implemented in 1955, with a pond and sculpture named “Laughing Boy” at its center. Like the gifting of scrapple

and sausage to friends and patrons, roses soon became a characteristic promotion of the school to the outside world, and the garden drew hundreds to campus. Rose Acre was demolished in 1980 following a blight. An even larger public relations boon for the school was a story that ran in the Saturday Evening Post in 1954, entitled “The School That Came From Nothing.” As it was one of the most popular periodicals of the era, financial support for the school and its mission of serving fatherless boys came in from across the nation.

The early decades at Church Farm School were filled with progress. The Colonel persuaded famous Philadelphia architect, Milton Medary, to work free of charge to design a symmetrical campus in an English

Tudor, modified Gothic style. The students themselves contributed significantly to the school’s construction: building roads and structures and even hauling the stone that would eventually form the Belfield, Industrial Shops, Dobbins Infirmary, most of the cottages and the Chapel of the Atonement. Prior to 1928, the students 7

The Colonel believed that adequate training for life involved using your hands as much as your minds, to prepare the boys for whatever challenges they were presented.

1924

1918 With the help of supporters, The Colonel acquired 125 acres on an old farm in “Glen Loch.” On April 1, Church Farm School opened its doors to five boys from West Philadelphia Episcopal churches who bed down on straw ticking in an old carriage house. The school’s first cottage, Woodside, was constructed in November 1918.

Church Farm School holds its first Christmas Pageant, acted by students in pantomime and based on the 1909 short story, “Why the Chimes Rang.” The Pageant has been held every year since.

1923 The first class graduates from Church Farm School in 1923. By 1930, the school community has grown to nearly 100 students, academic and cottage faculty and staff.

1882 The Rev. Dr. Charles Wesley Shreiner, Church Farm School founder and first headmaster, is born in Mount Joy, PA. Shreiner’s father deserted the family when he was two, and his mother, Harriet, placed her five other children with relatives. “The Colonel,” as he came to be known, vowed to someday open a school that would support single mothers and teach their sons the value of hard work.

1921 Church Farm School sends out its first Christmas appeal.

These annual fundraising letters became renowned for Shreiner’s lovely prose, as well as the package of farm goods – usually scrapple – which accompanied the appeal.

1923 Church Farm School’s main academic building, Greystock Hall, is completed, and remains virtually unchanged today. The school is currently looking to renovate Greystock, create an Arts Center and reorient the entrance.

1941 George Scheuerlein ’38 loses his life serving in the U.S. Navy during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The school has many alums who have or who are currently serving our country in the military.

1956 1954

The Church Farm School completes construction of a gym. Prior to this, the students played basketball in the area of Greystock that is now the senior lounge and a storage facility.

A Saturday Evening Post story on the school spurs interest and philanthropy.

1928 The Church Farm School Chapel is completed, constructed with stones from the farmland.

1955 Rose Acre, the beautiful rose garden behind the Chapel, is designed and implemented. Rose Acre was demolished in 1980 following a blight. A small rose garden at the Head of School residence stands in tribute. Flowers from the farm were sold at a roadside stand along Route 30.

1962 In addition to potatoes and flowers, the farm includes chickens, pigs and a very large herd of dairy cows. By 1962, the herd is producing up to 500,000 gallons of milk annually.

1963 The Chapel expands in size, allowing Sunday worship. Previously, the school’s choir and students attended Sunday services at neighboring St. Paul’s.

The first service in the larger Chapel was held Thanksgiving morning, Nov. 28, 1963.

1967 Church Farm School’s first African American student, Benjamin Hickman Wright, Jr., graduates, three years after the school’s charter was changed to admit students of color.

1994 1977-78 The state decrees pasteurization laws, causing the school to sell off its dairy herd.

1986-87

Church Farm School admits its first day students, which currently make up about 12% of the school population.

The community service program begins and all farming operations fully cease.

1964 Following the passing of The Colonel in October 1964, his son Charles W. Shreiner Jr. takes over as headmaster.

1970 The Wilkins building, for the teaching of science and math and named for Earl Wilkins, a longtime teacher and alumnus, is constructed.

1987 Charles W. Shreiner III, “Terry,” becomes the third headmaster (until 2008).

years

2009 1997 1996 The Founder’s Pavilion, a multipurpose field house, is constructed.

Today, the Pavilion hosts basketball, wrestling, intramural sports and various special events.

The Rev. Edmund K. Sherrill II, an Episcopal priest, becomes fourth Head of School.

The school introduces the 1:1 student computing program and its first class of international students are admitted. Today, the school is approximately 18% international students.

2016 The esteemed Church Farm School Choir, under the director of music teacher and CFS organist Mr. Gary Gress for more than 25 years, sings at Carnegie Hall as part of the Masterworks Choral Festival.

2018 Church Farm School celebrates its 100th year of providing “young men of ability and promise” with a college preparatory education.

2017 1995

2013

The school sells 1,600 acres to Chester County and West Whiteland Township. These funds help to create an endowment for the school carefully managed by the Board of Directors.

Church Farm School, with a grant from the Pennsylvania Solar Energy Program, constructs a five-acre solar array which is used to power 80% of the school’s electricity needs, and ushers in a new era of “farming” at the school.

Church Farm School’s 45 members of the Class of 2017 earn more than $3M in scholarships and grants to schools including Brown, Yale, Emory, Williams and Vassar. For the past seven years, 100% of seniors have been accepted to leading four-year colleges and universities.

worshipped at neighboring St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where the Colonel served as rector and the choir sang. Services moved to the Chapel in 1928 upon its completion, named in honor of West Philadelphia’s Church of the Atonement (see story on Chapel on page 2).

An integral component of Church Farm School life was, and remains, the residential component of the school. The school’s first cottage, Woodside, was constructed in 1918, with nine more built over the next 70 years. During the school’s first four decades, housemothers, usually spinsters or widows, resided with the boys, often playing a surrogate mother role. Today, even day students are assigned a cottage, with many opting to stay on campus through evening study hall. Cottage life was, and remains, one of the most significant ways the students’ brotherhood develops.

The farm, the classroom and the cottages helped the students and faculty build indelible bonds, all strengthened on the athletic fields. The first class of Church Farm School students, the Class of 1923, selected the school colors—maroon and grey. Until the 1990s, teams were known as “The Aggies,” a nod to the school’s agrarian traditions. In 1919, students successfully lobbied for an interscholastic football team with the Colonel as their first coach.

The Colonel’s other favorite sport, baseball, was adopted in the 1920s.

When the gymnasium was added to Greystock Hall in 1924, that sport arose as a community favorite, and track and field became a mainstay, too.

All but football remain at Church Farm School, with that sport suffering a demise due to the school’s small enrollment.

Through the years, two more seasons of track have been added, along with tennis, lacrosse, soccer, golf, wrestling and bowling. The Gymnasium was added in 1956, and a multi-purpose fieldhouse, the Founder’s Pavilion, currently plays host to a variety of competitions and school events. In the 1990s, when farming was fully phased out and most of the school’s accumulated 1,600 acres had been sold to the County and Township, the students selected a new mascot: The Griffin.

The Colonel’s children, Charles and Mary, grew up at Church Farm School, helping out with school operations but, because they did not fit the school’s mission of having a single parent or being male, were not able to attend the school.

Instead, Charlie attended Episcopal Academy, served in the Army during World War II and earned a degree locally at Temple University. Offered a pitching position with the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team, he instead chose to return to Church Farm School as assistant headmaster under his father.

By 1964, when his father fell ill, Charlie was ready to assume his father’s position.

The school’s beloved founder, The Rev.

Dr. Charles Wesley Shreiner, passed away at Chester County Hospital on October 28 of that year, and his son became headmaster in November. Charlie’s 25 years at Church Farm School were marked by progress. The year prior, his father, along with the school’s Board of Directors, had agreed to open up the school to boys of color. A half-century of diversity—ethnic, religious and financial—was set in motion.

Charlie saw the need to make Church Farm School more academically competitive with its private school counterparts, and sought out accreditation from the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. It passed with flying colors in 1970, and has been continuously accredited ever since. He also added a cadre of teachers with expertise in a variety of disciplines. The Earl Wilkins Science Building was constructed in 1970 in tribute to the former student, who returned to the school as a science teacher, coach and principal.

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Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, farming was reducing as an industry across the nation. That decline was mirrored at the school. Child labor laws combined with pasteurization laws sealed the fate of the dairy operation: the school’s entire dairy herd was sold by the late 1970s. The school schedule transitioned to a more traditional one, with classes from 7:45 a.m. to 3:45

p.m., followed by daily athletics. The work program endured through the 80s and 90s, but was eventually supplanted by community service. Charlie turned over the headmaster reigns to his son, Terry, in 1987. Under the guidance of Terry and the school’s Board of Directors, the sale of more than 1,600 acres to the County and Township enabled the creation of a strong endowment for the school. His leadership also saw the implementation of the “Connected Learning Community” at Church Farm School, where each student received his own laptop, well before other schools began to adopt this trend.

In 2009, Church Farm School hired The Rev. Edmund “Ned” K. Sherrill II as Head of School. Ned is a product of boarding schools as both a student and faculty member, as well as a member of the clergy like the school’s founder. Ned continues to build a true residential life “community” at Church Farm School, where academic faculty play a stronger role on the cottage side of campus, either living with the students or having “on duty” hours to make them more accessible for help. Conversely, cottage faculty continue to play the roles of mentors to their residents, plus often teach, coach and serve as advisors.

The school’s current administration, despite the lack of a true farm, continues to seek out ways to connect the school to its roots. In 2013, the school installed a five-acre solar farm which powers more than 80% of its electricity needs. The following year, Church Farm School hired its first full-time Director of College Guidance, Tiffany Scott, who works with all grades to ensure they are well versed in the admissions process at every stage.

Under her leadership, the school has seen every graduate matriculate to four-year colleges and universities, with almost a dozen students receiving full scholarships to schools such as Brown, Yale, Swarthmore and Princeton through the QuestBridge Scholars Program.

ART SMITH HITS WRESTLING MILESTONE Art Smith, whose employment at the Church Farm School began in 1978, has since worn many hats during his career at the all-boys boarding school in Exton.

The houseparent, science teacher, disciplinarian and longtime wrestling coach won his 300th career dual meet when his Griffins defeated Bristol, 67-12, in a Bicentennial Athletic League match in December.

“It’s a nice thing, I guess,” Smith said. “It says the program is on a good track. It’s really just about the kids.”

This year marks the 30th that Smith has been at the helm of the wrestling program, which is often comprised of teenagers who’ve had no prior experience in the sport. Smith, whose assistant coaches are all alumni of the program, embraces not only the challenge of teaching the sport but also the lessons learned from competing.

“He enforces grit and not giving up and refusing to lose,” junior Sebastian Corrales said of Smith. “There’s no excuses in our program.”

“It’s not about wins,” said Senior Gyamfi, a senior who wrestles at 138 pounds. “It’s about how hard you work on this team. I’m proud to be a part, and I feel happy for Mr. Smith because he’s had a lot of influence on a lot of kids.”

Story and photo courtesy of PA Prep Live

Like a microcosm of the larger world, Church Farm School has evolved from an agrarian culture into a more modern, technical sphere for learning. What has never wavered is the school’s commitment to the Colonel’s original vision of giving young men from a variety of backgrounds the tools they need to succeed in an ever-changing world.

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CENTENNIAL ALUMNI WEEKEND: MAY 18-20, 2018 CELEBRATING 100 YEARS OF CHURCH FARM SCHOOL In 1918, The Rev. Dr. Charles Wesley Shreiner began the realization of a longheld dream to create a school for boys like himself – boys who might not have had the easiest start to life but were determined to change their outcome.

One hundred years later, we are proud to say that Shreiner’s dream has thrived.

Today’s Church Farm School is a place where young men come to live out our core values – respect, responsibility, integrity and brotherhood – in ways that look different from our farming era, but with just as much enduring impact on their lives.

We enthusiastically invite our alumni back for a full weekend of events at Church Farm School that will engage Aggies and Griffins of every era.

FRIDAY, MAY 18 • Alumni Career Panel • Student Piano and Voice Recital • Memorial Chapel Service • Farm-to-Table Dinner: • Presentation of the inaugural Alumni Achievement Award and Newt Disney Service Award • Live music by the Groove Street Orchestra (featuring alumni musicians) • Delicious food by our wonderful caterer Sodexo

SATURDAY, MAY 19 • Lunardi Memorial 5K Run/Walk • Walking History Tours • Wrestling Clinic and Basketball • Alumni Association Meeting and Luncheon • Centennial Video Premiere • Centennial Community Day Celebration

SUNDAY, MAY 20 • Chapel • Brunch • CFS Spring Choral Concert with Alumni Singers • Reception at Head of School Residence

SIGN UP TODAY AT GOCFS.NET/CENTENNIAL! 12

In honor of Church Farm School’s 100th year of providing young men with a financially accessible, college preparatory education, we are holding a Community Day on May 19 in conjunction with Centennial Alumni Weekend!

We invite the community to our campus for an afternoon and evening filled with opportunities to learn about our mission while having a fun time.

L I V E M U S I C BY T H E LOV E J O N ES BA N D

FIREWORKS

•

FOOD TRUCKS

C H I L D R E N ’ S G A M E S A N D I N F L ATA B L E S

ARTISAN ALLEY

•

PETTING ZOO

D E M O N S T R AT I O N S N AT I O N A L A N T H E M B Y T H E C F S C H O I R 13

Talmadge O’Neill ’86 Challenges Alumni to Raise $100,000

W

hen Talmadge O’Neill ’86 was a student at Church Farm School in the 1980s, he learned grit from Mr. Smith and the importance of staying on top of current events from Mr. Greenblatt. He took those lessons with him, and has seen great success as a venture capitalist in California, where he lives with his wife and three

children. Following up a $60,000 challenge he made to alumni on behalf of Church Farm School nearly six years ago, O’Neill is honoring the school’s Centennial with a gift of $100,000 if alumni contributions to the Annual Fund reach or exceed the same.

His classmate Walt Smith has pledged an additional $10,000 if alumni participation reaches 30% (which equates to about 300 alumni gifts).

To those that have already risen to the challenge, we thank you! To those that have yet to give, please consider supporting the school today. You know best how transformative Church Farm School has been to young men for 100 years (literally!). Help us kick off our second century with the resources we need to continue serving our wonderful and deserving community of students and faculty.

GOCFS.NET/ALUMNI-CHALLENGE

What does this mean for you? If you’re an alum (graduating or non-graduating) of the school, donations to the Annual Fund through June 30, 2018, are matched:

2:1

if you haven’t given to Church Farm School since June 30, 2016

1:1

if you gave last year AND increase your gift

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C H U RCH FA R M SCH O O L CAPITA L CA M PA I G N :

O

n behalf of our Board of Directors and Head of School Ned Sherrill, Church Farm School is pleased to publically announce the launch of our Capital Campaign: for the Boys. Through this campaign, Church Farm School will substantially update our north campus to better serve our students, our faculty and our visitors.

The Campaign encompasses three major enhancements to Church Farm School.

CONSOLIDATED ARTS CENTER

A new Arts Center, which will be created within an existing structure, will unify the entire arts program in one central location.

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for The Arts Center will accommodate the school’s accomplished choir and band programs—providing modern rehearsal, teaching and performance areas. A true “arts hub,” it will also house our studio arts programs, fostering a growing culture of arts. Students and teachers will have attractive, well-lit, acoustically excellent facilities in which to find their voices and nurture their creativity.

ENHANCED GREYSTOCK HALL

An addition to the main academic building—Greystock Hall—will create enhanced learning spaces and provide room for greater collaboration between students and faculty mentors.

It will also house a more welcoming and unified admissions office through which all visitors will pass, and an enlarged dining facility. A new tunnel entrance into Greystock will keep the community migrating to and from each side of campus safe from the perils of Route 30 and campus traffic.

the Boys CAPITAL PROJECT TASK FORCE MEMBERS

already been raised and other sources.

Contributions and pledges to this campaign may be spread over five years.

These projects will contribute to the success and well-being of our students for generations to come.

SAFE, ACCESSIBLE CAMPUS ENTRANCE

Tying this all together, there will be a new and more safely accessible entrance road from Valley Creek Boulevard leading to an attractive courtyard in front of Greystock.

The building’s front entrance will be turned around to face the rolling hills and fields north of the campus.

Please honor the work of those who dedicated their lives to serve “young men of ability and promise” by supporting the for the Boys Capital Campaign with a gift or multi-year pledge.

Church Farm School will honor your gift with appropriate recognition.

Mr. John Bellis, Jr., Co-Chair Mr. Richard Gherst II, Co-Chair Ms. Carol Ann Atterbury Mr. Matthew Burns Mr. Mark Carroll Mr. Samuel Cupp Mr. Stephen Darby Ms. Sally Graham Mr. Michael Hankin Ms. Stacey Shreiner Kley Ms. Caroline Buck Rogers

To learn more, contact Peter Corrado at pcorrado@gocfs.net.

The campus renovation project will cost approximately $10 million. Funding for this important project will come from this campaign of $5 million, funds that have 17

STUDENTS TOUR WORKPLACE OF RALPH STEELE ’74

Last spring, a select group of Church Farm School students was treated to a private tour of the contemporary and edgy West Collection which is installed in the halls and common spaces of SEI Investments in Oaks, PA. Ralph Steele ’74 arranged an extensive tour of the campus, which included up-close inspections of work from artists such as Minako Abe, Yong Ho Ji, Long Bin-Chen and Andy Yoder. Each student gave a short presentation in front of the artwork he researched in advance. The group also toured the secure SEI data center, which boasts more than 2 petabytes of storage. Steele treated his visitors to pizza and salad, and told them all about the milking team days and his fondness for Mr. Jack Kistler and Mr. Joe Rhile.

ALUMNI SOCCER

The annual Alumni Soccer Game was held in September, and despite a valiant effort, the alumni team was no match for the current 18

Church Farm School Griffins. Stay tuned for the announcement of the 2018 game!

ALUMNI MEET UP IN DC

Church Farm School’s Assistant Director of Admission Marvin Garcia ’99 (pictured second from left) met up with some DC alums for dinner in November while in town for a school fair. Pictured back row from left: Jeffrey Moise ’01, Hassan Symes ’00, Dr. John Stevenson ’01 and Anthony Hinton ’01 and (front row from left) Kofi Gwira ’99 and Henry Prempeh ’99.

BART BRONK ’96 NAMED HEAD OF SCHOOL AT UNIVERSITY LIGGETT SCHOOL

Bart Bronk, who graduated from Church Farm School in 1996 and returned to the school as its Director of Admission for many years, was recently named Head of School at University

Liggett School after serving as interim. Bronk first arrived at Liggett in 2013 and has served as dean of faculty, COO and most recently as provost.

DONTAE JOHNSON VISITS

Dontae Johnson ’12 (pictured with his former Catherwood houseparent and current athletics and student activities coordinator, Shana Garcia) stopped by in August to say hello, as he is currently working as a carpenter in Exton.

ALUMNI GET-TOGETHER IN NORTH CAROLINA

Henry ’59 and Joan Wein bumped into Jim ’71 and Janice Gravely in Morganton, NC, in September during a town festival. The group enjoyed a lovely dinner together and caught up on life during and after Church Farm School!

RICKY MARTINEZ ’17 EAGLE PROJECT DEBUTS

Ricky Martinez ’17 returned to Church Farm School in January to help out with our

Wrestling Invitational while on a break from his first year at IUP, where he is studying geology. For his Eagle Scout project for Troop 78 Willistown, Ricky built a podium for the wrestling team. While Ricky said the actual manual labor only took about four hours working with his adult supervisor, former CFS teacher Mr. John Ceschan (to whom the podium is dedicated), he spent more than 70 hours overall on the project. “I knew since 8th grade that I wanted my Eagle Scout project to be for CFS, and I realized what exactly I wanted to do my sophomore year.” The team, the Athletics Department and the entire school is extremely grateful to Ricky for this much needed addition to our program, which was completed toward the end of his senior year!

NON-GRADUATING ALUMNI VISIT

Simon Khiabani (Sarkhosh), who attended CFS from 1997 until 1998, stopped in this summer on his way to meetings at Toll Brothers headquarters in Horsham.

After graduating from Arizona State University with an engineering degree, he traveled throughout the

world managing construction projects. Following eight terrific years in Dubai, he returned to the United States to work with Toll Brothers in Herndon, Virginia, where he is Senior Vice President for Apartment Living. Simon roamed the campus remembering teachers and classmates well in spite of an almost 20-year hiatus.

He lives in Virginia with his wife and six-month-old daughter.

before the bay froze over, thus catching bears on the tundra by the bay waiting for freezing temperatures.

Talk about big, but graceful; these animals go up to 1,100 pounds. If you plan to make this trip in early winter, best check things out because Churchill is having access problems, as the railroad which served all of their supply needs is no longer working due to its bridges being washed out by floods this past spring. The only way in and out is by air, causing prices to be “bearly” affordable, pun intended.

Devon Prep on December 9, 1959 (probably the first time we played Devon ever), I would like to extend our best wishes for a successful game and season. There were four seniors and a junior on the team and we played the entire game. Our team was Coach Newt Disney’s second year at the school. I started at CFS in the 1951-52 academic year as a fifth grader when the games were played in the basement of Greystock Hall with all of the low ceilings and the walls were the out of bounds.

Basketball is my favorite sport. The school afforded me a great chance to play and I enjoyed our senior year.

Good luck and play hard.”

STU BRACKNEY ’62 SCOPES OUT POLAR BEARS

Stu Brackney ’62 reports: While attending Church Farm School back in the 1950s, I never saw a polar bear! Lots of cows, chickens and pigs but no bears.

So, I told my wife Mary we should go to Canada and visit the polar bears of Churchill, by Hudson Bay. It’s a bit of a trip, in northern Manitoba Province, but well worth it.

The bears migrate to Hudson Bay, passing by the small town (population 900) of Churchill in the winter time, waiting for the bay to freeze over so they may walk out onto the ice, searching for dinner—seals who poke holes in the ice to get air. Our trip was just

CENTENNIAL DINNER AND A BASKETBALL GAME

We held our Centennial Dinner and Basketball Game in January, and welcomed a number of local alumni, and those on winter break from college, including Naseem Bryant ’17 and Brian Levine ’17.

In addition to remarks by Athletic Director Greg Thompson, Head Coach Marc Turner and player John Bol Ajak ’19, Head of School Ned Sherrill read a tribute from John Grunwell ’60, who couldn’t attend in person: “As captain of the 1959-1960 CFS team which went 7-7 including a 37-21 defeat of

DOUG MAGEE CATCHES UP WITH EDWARD KIM

Doug Magee, the school’s Director of Curriculum Innovation and Design, ran into Edward Kim ’16, now in his second year at the University of Pennsylvania in November. In addition to studying architecture and singing in the PennSori a capella group, Edward keeps very busy with web and graphic design for Penn (he recently designed their WALK Online fashion magazine), Church Farm School and many other clients.

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IN MEMORIAM

IN MEMORY OF JOE JOINER ’62

WITH DEEPEST RESPECT FOR THOSE ALUMNI WE LOST THIS YEAR

Goodbye Joe

NICOLAS CATALDI ’73 JOHN WESLEY COURTNEY III ’81 SHAWN FOARD ’90 JOSEPH JOINER ’62

For the past few years I have read Ecclesiastes 3:1-8— A Time for Everything—at the CFS Alumni memorial service. This year was a special reading for me, as I knew one of my brothers, Joe Joiner Class of 1962, was fighting a battle he eventually lost, passing away on May 9, 2017.

BRUCE LARGE ’50 JOSEPH F. MARCER ’53 EDWARD PRICE ’54 MALCOLM C. WEBB ’53 KEITH VOELKER ’64

I thought it appropriate to tell all a little about this red-headed guy who was oh so quiet but very genuine and passionate about the words he spoke. While a student at CFS, Joe had farm chores like all of us did, and his job was assisting the school plumber, a task that prepared him for the future, working in major water processing plants in Alabama.

Over the years he had maintained contact with this small school in the farmland outside of Philadelphia, making sure to give back when he could and friends he did.

Joe Joiner (right) and classmate Gordon Schleicher

Classmates remember him as the guy who was “kind and generous,” a good listener and most importantly to him, humble. So much so that he did not want words written about him in the local paper upon his death, nor did he want any kind of memorial church service. He just wanted to be Joe. So Joe, for those of us who knew and loved you, your wife Dottie for more than 40 years, your son Matt and those who never had the opportunity to meet and learn from you, we say “Goodbye Joe.” — Stu Brackney ’62

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DAVE CARROLL ’62: SUPPORTING CHURCH FARM SCHOOL THROUGH ITS SECOND CENTURY

D

ave Carroll ’62 was struggling in public school in Millburn, NJ, when his mother decided she needed to find an affordable boarding school for the remainder of his high school education. She found Church Farm School, and, after placement testing, Dave was enrolled in the school in January 1959 as a “fourth former,” as 9th graders used to be known. Like all alums of his era, Dave worked the farm, elevating to the captain of the Milk Squad by his senior year. While he says he doesn’t have the same fondness for farming that many of his Aggie brothers do, he does admit that the position served him well in his career.

“I didn’t welcome it at the time, but being in charge of a dozen guys with the responsibility to get 120 cows milked twice a day was my first leadership opportunity.”

What Dave did welcome was being taught

by Mr. Fred Bayshore in math and Mr. Earl Wilkins in science. In fact, Dave went on to a long career where he used that education well: he majored in chemistry at Georgia Tech, joined the Navy ROTC program, spent four years in the Navy and then went back to Georgia Tech to get his Ph.D. in chemistry.

He married his wife, Jane, right after graduating, with whom he has a son, Chris. He spent 15 years at Colgate Palmolive until they downsized, at which time he transitioned to the perfume/flavor business where he spent another Dave Carroll (third from left) presents a gift dozen years before retiring of $1,962 during Alumni Weekend 2017. at age 60. Throughout his career, Dave has continued to contribute his time and treasure to Church Farm School, even writing it into his will.

“I want to be sure there is another 100 years,” he says. Dave is particularly fond of all of the academic enhancements the school has undertaken. “Some of the things that are now in place, I wish they had when I was there … the STEAM program, the strong community service component.

I do really like the attitude of the school now. It is very forward-looking and very positive. There are a lot of good people there, not just students but a faculty that really is keeping the school running at a high level.”

Dave Carroll (standing at right) and the class of 1962.

If you’d like to learn more about making plans for Church Farm School in your will, please contact Peter Corrado at pcorrado@gocfs.net or 610.363.5363.

Dave Carroll (right) with ( from left) classmates Gordon Schleicher and Stuart Brackney.

Church Farm School 1001 E. Lincoln Highway Exton, PA 19341 www.gocfs.net

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID SOUTHEASTERN, PA PERMIT #2040

years

CELEBRATING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF CHURCH FARM SCHOOL

Friday, May 4th at 6:30 p.m.

Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square This festive evening will feature fine food and cocktails, a live auction, illuminated fountain show and a wonderful music program by Heifetz International Music Institute and the CFS Choir. Nods to the school’s fascinating history over the past century will be prominent throughout the evening, particularly in the music selections being performed onstage. All proceeds benefit the deserving young men of Church Farm School. We hope you can save the date to celebrate with us!

Learn more at gocfs.net/gala