INTRODUCTION Friends’ Central School is embarking on a project that will touch the lives of every single member of the FCS community. In alignment with the School’s Strategic Plan and its commitment to the Quaker testimony of Community, Friends’ Central is remaking several of its flagship spaces for Athletics and wellness at the heart of its City Avenue campus in Wynnewood. The first phase of this transformative project includes two components:
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TWO NEW TURF FIELDS
A RENEWED HOME FOR THE BASEBALL PROGRAM
to serve as the homes for FCS field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and softball (and a renewed grass field between the track and baseball fields).
replacing the battered field at the northwest corner of campus with a new turf infield, dugouts, and expanded safety netting.
Why reimagine Athletics and wellness at Friends’ Central School? “Our student-athletes are driven to be the best they can be. These new facilities will elevate them and help them reach their fullest potential — on the field, and as people.” Michelle Crowley DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS AND WELLNESS
A STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE
PHOENIX RISING FUNDRAISING GOAL
By any standard — academic rigor, faculty quality, innovative facilities — the Friends’ Central experience is defined by excellence. The same is true for Phoenix student-athletes, winners of more than 170 Friends Schools League championships. The FCS community needs Athletics and wellness facilities that measure up to that high bar.
To elevate Friends’ Central School Athletics, unleash school spirit, and enhance the FCS experience for every member of the School’s extended family, we are engaging our community of friends and partners to step forward and support the Phoenix Rising campaign. The project investment will be $5.5 million. The Friends’ Central Board of Trustees has approved a financial plan that includes a fundraising goal of $2.5 million, with more than $2 million raised to date. The School will continue to seek gifts for the campaign in the coming months.
FOR THE WHOLE SCHOOL — AND BEYOND This isn’t just about Athletics. The new facilities will elevate the experience of every FCS student, teacher, alumnus/a, parent, neighbor, and visitor. Classes will be taught here. Plays will be produced here. Student clubs will hold meetings here. Tours will be guided here. Summer campers will learn skills here.
OUR PROMISE Every dollar given or committed will be designated wholly and with care toward the Phoenix Rising campaign priorities as per each supporter’s stated specific goals.
SCHOOL SPIRIT UNLEASHED The Friends’ Central community will be able to shout our school spirit as loudly as we feel it in our souls. The new facilities will be boldly decorated with school colors, symbols, and mottos, and they’ll host spirit events as full of energy as FCS’ indoor celebrations.
“These new facilities are essential parts of our new Strategic Plan. They reflect our understanding that Athletics and wellness are central to the School’s mission and values. I’m excited to see what our students will achieve in these new spaces.” Beth D. Johnson ’77 HEAD OF SCHOOL
JOIN US
“We use every available aesthetically pleasing and comfortable space to teach and to gather as a community. Turf fields that would make the space feel welcoming and put together? That’s where we would congregate.” Andy White ’03 MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL
PART OF THE PLAN
Every athlete understands the importance of timing — the moment that must be seized.
The new facilities align with the integral components of FCS’ new Strategic Plan, unveiled under the leadership of Head of School Beth Davis Johnson ’77 in January 2023 after a year of surveys and group work. The new fields and fitness center align with the Strategic Plan’s focus on creating innovative facilities, strengthening community partnerships, and helping FCS recruit and retain faculty of distinction.
For Friends’ Central School, that moment is now. The momentum built by FCS in recent years under the leadership of Head of School Beth Davis Johnson ’77 is palpable. We have a clear vision of the future and an understanding of the central role that Athletics and wellness play in the education, body, and spirit of every student.
“We have the school spirit. We have the programs. We want the facilities to match that.”
Join us as we aim higher and go further.
Lee Payton UPPER SCHOOL PRINCIPAL
NEW TURF FIELDS
New Homes for Friends’ Central Field Hockey, Lacrosse, Soccer, and Softball
As part of Friends’ Central School’s Phoenix Rising campaign to reimagine several of its flagship spaces for Athletics and wellness at the heart of its City Avenue campus in Wynnewood, our School is constructing two new artificial turf fields in the tree-lined space adjacent to the Fannie Cox Center and the Shimada Athletic Center, replacing two surfaces that can no longer sustain the heavy use they must bear. The two turf fields will become the new, state-of-the-art, year-round homes of five FCS Athletics programs — one field for lacrosse, boys’ soccer, and girls’ soccer inside the track and an adjacent field for field hockey and softball that will replace the SAC field — providing our School’s student-athletes with the best competitive and training facilities in the region.
Why new turf fields? AVAILABILITY IS EVERYTHING
“A field may not seem like that big of a thing, but it’s hugely important. There are so many ways that it impacts a player's morale — the atmosphere, the crowd, the rituals you develop, even the team’s style of play. It impacts how proud you feel about playing at home.”
Our students will be able to play and train as often as they need to, with fewer cancellations. Fact: As many as a third of FCS home softball games are canceled due to playing conditions
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE
• New stands for spectators at both the lacrosse/soccer field and the softball/field hockey field
The long-term savings offered by artificial surfaces are significant. They require less maintenance, much less watering, no mowing, no fertilization, and less equipment and supplies.
AN AUTHENTIC EXPRESSION OF SCHOOL SPIRIT The new fields, scoreboards, benches, and outfield fences will be boldly decorated with school colors, symbols, and mottos. They’ll host spirit events as full of energy as our indoor celebrations.
The experience for students, parents, alumni, faculty, staff, and visitors at the new turf fields will also be enhanced by:
• New movable, covered team benches/dugouts at both the lacrosse/soccer field and the softball/field hockey field
“On the new field, when it rains, we can still play. We don’t have to stop practicing. When we miss out on practice, we don’t get better that day.”
• New scoreboard at the softball/field hockey field • New backstop and outfield fence for softball
Maria Morsa ’24 FIVE-YEAR VARSITY SOFTBALL TEAM MEMBER, TWO-TIME FSL CHAMPION
Mico Carpiniello ’25 FOUR-YEAR BOYS’ VARSITY SOCCER TEAM MEMBER
PLAY THE RIGHT WAY New, regulation-size turf fields will allow lacrosse and field hockey players to play their sports as they are meant to be played today — at high speed, with true bounces, clean rolls, and less contact.
SPACES FOR ALL PROGRAMS It’s difficult to overstate how heavily our fields are used. For example, in soccer alone, FCS has many different Upper and Middle School boys’ and girls’ teams competing at different levels. New turf fields mean access to a high-quality surface for everyone.
A BROADER COMMUNITY Fields that can hold up to heavy use will open up opportunities for a wider range of users: students playing games during block time, student clubs, neighborhood organizations, local sports clubs, summer campers, and more. “Having turf fields puts us in the game. The vast majority of our peer schools practice and play on turf.” Michelle Crowley DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS AND WELLNESS
UNFORGETTABLE BEAUTY Sport is beautiful: graceful movement, bold colors, sunny days, a canopy of trees — and, of course, the bright green of a manicured playing surface. Fields live forever in the memories of athletes and fans alike.
CASCADING IMPACT When FCS administrators began to plan for the new artificial turf fields, they knew that the installation would require the removal of more than a foot of dirt from the track and SAC fields. What should they do with all that dirt? Their creative solution: Bring it to the infamously weather-challenged grass field between the track and the baseball diamond (left) and use it to relandscape and renew its surface, transforming it into a beautiful field that can sustain higher use and live up to the standards set by the rest of the School’s improved athletics, wellness, and recreation facilities.
“Having fields that aren’t as much at the mercy of the elements — it’s not just about athletics. This is an opportunity to build community and bridge the campuses that we just don’t have the facilities to do now.” Alexa D. Quinn ’98 ASSOCIATE HEAD OF SCHOOL
NEW BASEBALL FACILITY
A renewed home for Friends’ Central baseball
Renewing the baseball facility at Friends’ Central School’s City Avenue campus in Wynnewood is a critical component of Phoenix Rising, the campaign to reimagine several of the School’s flagship spaces for Athletics and wellness. To ensure that Friends’ Central’s student-athletes have the opportunity to practice and play as much as possible and to enhance the safety of players and spectators, the School is replacing the baseball field’s hard-to-maintain infield with a fast-draining artificial turf infield; building new dugouts and outfield fences; installing a new, expanded protective netting system; and resodding the grass outfield. The result: a baseball facility that lives up to the high standards set by the rest of the FSC experience and the tree-lined beauty of its setting.
Why a renewed baseball facility? PLAY BALL MORE “Having a turf infield allows us to practice and play so much more than if we’re reliant on a hard-to-maintain grass surface. It would be such a gift to be able to do workouts year-round on turf.” Jon Rubin ’83
When it rains, FCS’ grass-and-dirt field often gets so slippery, muddy, and puddled that it becomes unplayable. As it dries, the surface becomes lumpy, then rock-hard. A pristine, fast-draining turf infield means fewer cancellations and year-round training.
A MATTER OF SAFETY The irregularities of a hard-to-maintain infield make ground balls take unpredictable hops. A turf infield reduces the risk of chipped teeth, eye injuries, and concussions. New, expanded safety netting around the field will protect spectators.
VARSITY BASEBALL HEAD COACH
FEATURES • New, state-of-the-art artificial turf infield (area within red dotted line) • New, covered dugouts and benches • New stands • New protective netting • New outfield fences • Resodded grass outfield
DUGOUTS AT LAST
“Running out to take the field here every day — a beautiful field with the best surface and the School logo and our blue and gray colors everywhere — that would mean so much to us. It would make us feel proud.” Fisher Haggerty ’28
Spacious new dugouts — the program’s first — will provide shelter from foul balls, sun, and rain as well as storage for equipment that shouldn’t be soaked, from gloves to protective gear.
THREE-YEAR VARSITY BASEBALL TEAM MEMBER, FSL CHAMPION
LONG-TERM SAVINGS Grass-and-dirt baseball fields are expensive to maintain. Watering, mowing, fertilizing, pest control, reseeding, and specialized equipment are tough on budgets. Turf has costs too, but less over the long haul.
BLUE-AND-GRAY PRIDE From the infield and the dugouts to the fences and netting, the new facility will be decorated with FCS colors and logos, echoing the school spirit of students on the field and in the stands.
A FACILITY BEFITTING CHAMPIONS “When you have less pristine field conditions, it can become unsafe. A turf infield will give players the freedom to play the way they know how to play — the way the game should be played.” Luke Buscaglia ’22 FOUR-YEAR VARSITY BASEBALL TEAM MEMBER, TWO-TIME FSL CHAMPION
FCS baseball has won nine varsity league championships (including four of the last five) and 11 JV titles since the FSL was founded in 1982. A new field suits the program’s and the School’s standards of excellence.
FIELD OF DREAMS To those who love baseball, fields are things of beauty, even sacred spaces. The elegance, simplicity, and tree-lined setting of FCS’ new facility will live up to players’ and fans’ vision of the game.
HOW HOME ADVANTAGE CAN BE LOST On May 16, 2025, Friends’ Central Varsity baseball was scheduled to play in the Pennsylvania Independent School Athletic Association tournament. The Phoenix’s reward for their sixth consecutive winning regular-season campaign: home advantage. That morning a rainstorm hit the region making the FCS field too wet and muddy. The game was moved to the opponent’s campus, the site of an immaculate, fast-draining turf field. “Our players were dejected,” says FCS Varsity Head Coach Jon Rubin ’83. “We had earned the right to play at home in front of our own fans.”
“I imagine students walking from campus to the new field. They’d walk past our buildings, down the hill, and then they’d see this beautiful, welcoming space and they’d feel valued.” Michelle Crowley DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS AND WELLNESS