Our Meeting also seems to have the most spirited YFs in PYM.
We’re proud that the adults from our meeting are very cool and
make great Friendly Adult Presences.
Downingtown Friends Meeting is a gathering place for YFs. We
invite other YF’s from local meetings to come and visit and play
with us. Our friends from school are always welcome and once they’ve
visited, they like to come back on a regular basis.
YF’s from Downingtown hang out together. There’s a strong
connection among the YF’s even though we come from diverse
backgrounds—some attend public schools, some attend private
schools, and some are homeschooled.
YF’s from Downingtown take PRIDE in being Quaker. We don’t
try to hide it. We wear our religious affiliation on the outside,
talking about it in the classroom, with friends, and when we meet
new people. It’s not like we talk religion, but we’re proud of
our Quaker heritage, history and reputation, and we know that
Quakers stand for peace, social justice and equality.
We love that Downingtown Friends Meeting has a playground. It’s
an attraction that draws children, teens and adults with children to
the property and makes it a fun place. One of the teachers from
Downingtown High School comes here with his young son, for example,
and is now thinking of attending our meeting.
Downingtown YF’s love the Friends Fall Festival, the Music
Festival, and community work bees and clean up days when everyone is
invited and encouraged to participate. We find the events fun
and exciting when everyone pitches in and works together.
YF’s look forward to working on community service projects
together.
Fun things happen at Downingtown Friends Meeting, such as
First Day School breakfasts, campouts, parties and dances.
YF’s love our buildings and the fact that we have our own room
with color-coordinated walls and chairs and beautiful handmade
wooden tables. We like that the school house and the meeting
house are separated because it allows us to walk outdoors and feel
the fresh air and light. The set-up at Downingtown is full of
tangible, visible, physical LIGHT.
We are active outside of meeting. We stay in touch through
Facebook, maintaining our friendships with each other continue
outside of meeting.
We get along with the adults in the wider meeting. We do
outreach to them through Secret Santa activities and Opening
Exercises and we invite them to our events and gatherings and ask
them to be Friendly Adult Presences. We send the adults cards and
small gifts and we talk to them. We like and respect each other as
friends and Friends.
First Day School is always interesting for us. We have good
topics and have interactive discussions. It’s not just like the
adults are the leaders. It is not overly structured. There is always
a chance to do lots of coloring and art stuff while we listen and
talk. We like the options that we have every First Day to choose
First Day School or the silence of Meeting for Worship. Most of us
choose FDS. We always go to Meeting for Worship for the last 15
minutes each Sunday and sit together on the facing benches as a
group, and once a month we go to Meeting for Worship for the first
45 minutes and then come back and discuss it.
We feel supported by the adults at our meeting. Several
adults have made time commitments to us and stayed with us
throughout our years of First Day School, so we have had a cohesive
and meaningful experience. Many adults from meeting come to our
school performances, attend our concerts, and contribute financially
to our endeavors and community service projects. They ask us about
our interests and stay in touch. They give us hugs and smiles. They
appreciate us in Meeting for Worship. We do not feel intimidated by
each other. We feel mutual admiration.