As Philly Free School approaches its tenth year, we caught up with recent alum Ian (‘19) to see what he’s doing now. To support the Real Learning, Real Results at PFS, please consider donating to help us meet our $20k fundraising goal: https://phillyfreeschool.org/help-out

Ian just graduated and he’s currently employed at the Queen & Rook Game Cafe in South Philly. He works as a gamekeeper, helping people find board games and teaching them the rules. He credits PFS with his strength as a teacher: “Being in an age-mixed setting taught me how to talk to anyone; child, adult, however I may see them and however they may see me.”

Unlike most other board game cafes, most of the owners and staff at Queen and Rook are people of color and women. Ian appreciates the egalitarian culture at work: “It’s a very diverse space. The owners and management believe that people should be heard and treated well, and that includes employees. It’s a space where you are able to use your power as a person and advocate for yourself.”

It makes sense that such a culture would appeal to Ian, who was so integral to the school’s democratic community: “At one point I realized there were issues at School Meeting that I cared about, and so I started to show up.” And show up he did. Ian served as JC Clerk, then School Meeting Chair, then School Meeting Secretary until he graduated. He also served on several ad-hoc committees, where he took on heavy responsibilities like conducting investigations and corresponding with lawyers. He tells me how those experiences shaped his commitment to advocacy: “those roles showed me the value of my own power, and the value of other people’s power, and how important it is to use whatever power you have for other people.” 

He strongly believes that the world would be a better place if more people had the opportunity to find their own voice: “My biggest criticism of more conventional schooling is that it doesn’t prepare people for the real world, it prepares them to perpetuate the system under capitalism. One of the most important things I learned at PFS is that anyone can affect change. If something needs to happen you just have to do it, right? That is your responsibility.” 

PFS: Real learning. Real results. To support, please consider contributing to our Annual Appeal fundraiser: https://phillyfreeschool.org/help-out.

As Philly Free School approaches its tenth year, we caught up with recent alum Marley (‘19) to see what they’re doing now. To support the Real Learning, Real Results at PFS, please consider donating to help us meet our $20k fundraising goal: https://phillyfreeschool.org/help-out

Marley’s a very fresh alum, and they’re in the midst of hunting for a job as a barista or in front-end food service. They said communication has been the most valuable skill they picked up at PFS: “I’ve been having to write so many professional emails. If not for PFS, I’d be bumbling, tripping over myself. I’ve been doing it with a surprising amount of confidence.” 

Marley describes their experience of navigating applications, networking, and references with ease, but they haven’t always had the confidence to communicate like this. “When I first came to PFS, I was extremely outgoing, but I kept a lot of things bottled up to myself. I had a version of me that I brought to PFS, but there were a lot of things I kept at home.” For a couple of years, Marley spent most of their time playing Minecraft, but as they gradually built relationships, friendships and conflicts pushed them to develop deeper interpersonal skills.

As Marley matured at PFS, they started giving back to the school community. They took on clerkships for the Aesthetics Committee, the Fundraising Committee, and JC and served terms as School Meeting Secretary and Chairperson. “That administrative work taught me that communication is extremely important and you gotta be on the same page. PFS hammered home for me that sometimes I need to make the first step in talking to people even though it’s hard.”

Marley’s taken this commitment to open communication with them into life outside of PFS. They tell me about their experience working in the kitchen at summer camp: “I feel like I tried to do a lot of work to get my team on the same page. I tried to get us to talk as much as possible. Sometimes I struggled because of my anxiety, but I tried. You have to be willing to talk about serious things.”

Knowing how valuable communication and participation are, Marley’s keeping their eyes open for a workplace founded on democratic principles, where everyone’s needs and voices can be heard: “a proper democratic process is probably the way I’d feel least exploited in a workplace.”

PFS: Real learning. Real results. To support, please consider contributing to our Annual Appeal fundraiser: https://phillyfreeschool.org/help-out.