For nearly 50 years, Sidwell Friends School has celebrated the importance of grandparents in our students’ lives and in our school community. The first Grandparents Day on record was held at the Lower School in 1979. Today’s Grandparents and Special Friends Day is a much-anticipated, school-wide event lit with beaming smiles everywhere you look. It’s a day that honors the ways Sidwell Friends grandparents and special friends enrich the entire school experience year-round. From the role they play in their students’ wellness and development to their service and philanthropy, grandparents help Sidwell Friends thrive.

Quaker Queries Across Generations

In planning this year’s Grandparents and Special Friends Day, Lower School teachers Jane Legg P ’13, ’16, ’20 and Eve Eaton P ’20, ’23 wanted to focus on Quakerism. They wanted to give grandparents and special friends a window into how children are asked to learn and think deeply.

“Every Lower School child has their own Quaker Book of Wisdom which they will continue to use throughout their entire Lower School career,” says Legg. “Students routinely reflect on queries and other aspects of their Quaker experience in these journals through drawing, painting and writing. We wanted to invite grandparents and special friends to share a similar experience with their children.”

Using simple lines, stick figures and words, students and their guests created a response to the Quaker query: How can we learn together and share joy across generations?

Queries are deep, action and thought-provoking questions that don’t require a specific answer. “We are always seeking answers, not necessarily ‘the’ answer, but a multiplicity of answers and actions,” says Eaton. “It was gratifying to watch everyone taking risks, offering their opinions, and becoming fully engaged in the whole process.”

Shared Gratitude, Friendship and Partnership

Sidwell Friends so abundantly lives up to its name — friends." -Laura Handman P ’04, GP ’37Like alumni and parents, grandparents actively support the events and fundraising initiatives that fuel the school's financial aid, faculty professional development, and enriching student experiences. Nineteen grandparents volunteer on the Together We Shine Committee. Every year, grandparent volunteers reach out to their peers for donations to The Sidwell Friends Fund. They also help plan Grandparents and Special Friends Day and volunteer on the day to make it successful.

“I am so grateful to have served as a Grandparent Ambassador for a second year,” says Laura Handman P ’04, GP ’37.  “It’s a way to share my enduring gratitude. Sidwell Friends so abundantly lives up to its name — friends. I have talked with the mothers of my daughter Charlotte’s classmates every Saturday for the past three decades.” 

Handman, who also serves on the school’s Grandparents Committee, says, “So many of my daughter’s classmates have returned to D.C. Their class has always been so close and now they are coming together to share the joys of parenthood.”

This year’s Grandparents and Special Friends Day was particularly special to Handman. “My granddaughter Rose was asked to join forces with a classmate who did not have a grandparent there that day. Together, they gave a tour of the Lower School. Rose’s pride in her school and her enthusiasm for her teachers, her classroom and her classmates was palpable.”

Since that first Grandparents Day, music has always been a huge part of the celebration, and this year was no different. With support from endowed funds like The Banks Family Fund for Faculty and The Cleaver Fund for Musical Arts, faculty members like Lower School music teacher Matthew Stensrud produce rich programming including the choral performances at Grandparents and Special Friends Day. Each grade level has its time in the spotlight to share their musical talents to an enthusiastic audience filled with their biggest fans. 

As Handman says, “When the students sang out in the assembly ‘This Little Light of Mine, I’m going to Let it Shine,’ I thought this is what Sidwell Friends is all about.” 

Save the date of September 25, 2025 for the Back to School Virtual Gathering for Grandparents and Special Friends. To learn more about the committee or the Grandparent Ambassador program, visit the website.