Sandy Spring Friends School History: 1961-2011 The 50th Anniversary Committee has been busy in the past months compiling a written history of Sandy Spring Friends School from the past 50 years. Various members of the community agreed to write about highlights of each of the decades, from the 1960s through today. Johanna Cowie, with help from Robin Johnsen '69 and former faculty member Helen Louise Liversidge, writes about the school's beginnings and the first years; Ari Preuss provides rememberances of the school from the 1970s; longtime Upper School History teacher Bob Hoch compiled highlights from the 1980s; Lower School teacher Linda Sulkin remembers the expansion of the Middle School and arrival of Friends Elementary School on campus among other events from the 1990s; and Bim Schauffler, who graduated from SSFS in 1974 and returned in the 1990s as Director of the International Student Program, gives his perspective on the School's history from the 2000s to the present. These written histories are followed by an introduction to the members of the 50th Anniversary Committee, and a forward-looking piece by Head of School Tom Gibian addressing the coming 50 years, and "What Better Looks Like" for SSFS. 2
SSFS: 1960s - The Way Opens by Johanna Cowie, Clerk of the 50th Anniversary, School Librarian, and parent of Anna '18 and Max '14 Goodman. Johanna's husband Dan graduated from SSFS in 1978. The seed for Sandy Spring Friends School was planted by Brook Moore, who felt called to answer the need for a place for students seeking a Quaker high school experience in the Sandy Spring area. He proposed a new school under the care of the Sandy Spring Monthly and Baltimore Yearly Meeting. A school committee clerked by Brook Moore was formed, and the Sandy Spring Friends School’s founders “looked forward in faith.” Undeterred by a lack of resources or direct experience, the committee had tremendous enthusiasm, an openness to possibility, and a willingness to work hard. Within a year, Esther Scott donated the first 56 of her 140-acre family farm. Sam Legg, our first headmaster, and his wife Edna quit paying jobs, committing themselves to starting a new school without the benefit of salary or housing.
Louise Liversidge, Anne and Barry Morley, and Henry Nadig – to campus for an orientation. For the Liversidges, it was the first time for them to see the campus and meet their new headmaster. Helen Louise remembers a damp, overcast weekend and the promise of a school building (Moore Hall) that "was nothing but a muddy hole in the ground." Happily, after talking through the program Sam Legg had put together and experiencing the camaraderie of the group assembled, Helen Louise left confident that she had made the right decision. Proceeding in faith.
In May of 1960, ground was broken for Scott House, which was to be both residence for the Legg family and the school‘s first 8-11 students. Construction inspired such a flow of contributions that the Committee felt able to move ahead faster, building Moore Hall, and increasing the initial student population to 77.
Mud and construction, trial and error, enthusiasm and exhaustion were mainstays that first school year. School had to be postponed two weeks until Moore Hall was ready for occupancy. Teachers, having arrived by September 1, were put up by local families, and a handful of enthusiastic students showed up on the original start day and went to work side-by-side with their teachers, painting, moving furniture and cleaning to get the property ready for classes. The Burrowes, who arrived with their four children, took the lead in building Walbrooke, the faculty residence (now part of the Lower School) in which they would live.
In March of 1961, Sam and Edna Legg invited the teaching team – John and Sally Burrowes, David and Helen
Mud was everywhere. Students that first year remember digging the milk truck out of the axle-deep mud, SSFS Community News