When Drew Smith’s family joined the Haddonfield Friends Meeting when he was in fourth grade, he never envisioned he would one day be heading the Friends Council on Education. On July 24, he did just that.
“It is certainly an honor to be in this position,” Smith said. “I’ve been involved with Friends schools for a long time now, and I think there is still a lot we can do to provide for our communities.”
Smith grew up in Haddonfield and attended public school until his junior year in high school, when he made the move to the boarding school Westtown School in West Chester, PA.
“Some of the older people in the Friends Meeting convinced me to attend a Quaker school,” Smith said. “That’s the kind of influence I want to continue to push in my new position.”
Smith is now the executive director of the Friends Council on Education, which is the national umbrella for Friends schools with global affiliates around the world. In this position, it will be Smith’s duty to continue the educational excellence of Friends schools.
“I want to help other children have the same experience as I had,” he said. “Friends schools were a huge part of my life, and I think helped me a great deal, so my goal is to make sure kids of the future have that same opportunity.”
Prior to taking this position, Smith was the CEO of Russell Byers Charter School in Philadelphia and former head of Friends School Mullica Hill.
“In both of those positions, I learned what it meant to be a leader,” he said. “I also learned what it means to be a Friends school. The role of these types of educational institutions is to teach kids about self-discovery, and that is what I am going to focus on.”
In this new role, Smith will be accrediting Friends schools from across the country to ensure they are enacting Quaker traditions on to the students.
“People send their children to our schools because they expect a certain tradition,” Smith said. “The religion has been able to endure for so long because of these traditions, so it is very important that all of our Friends schools stay true to the religion’s teachings.”
Smith will be taking over in an especially important year, as the Friends schools will be celebrating 325 years. There has not been any celebrations planned for the anniversary, but Smith recognizes just how important it is.
“The history of these schools are amazing,” he said. “We have been around for more than 300 years and there is a reason for that. It’s because people feel like they’re a part of something in our schools.”
