Welcome to Friends

Welcome from Head of School, Christian Donovan

I am thrilled to welcome you to the Friends School of Baltimore website and invite you to explore our vibrant and innovative School community.

Founded in 1784, with Quaker values as our foundation, we are proud to be Baltimore’s first school. For over 235 years, Friends has understood that a meaningful and rigorous education is not simply a transaction, a string of achievements on a linear, fixed path. It is a continuous, lifelong journey -- a search for truth that requires both inward reflection and connectedness with others. It involves the capacity to listen deeply to oneself and to others -- including and perhaps especially to those that see the world differently. Discernment and deep understanding is the best way to prepare ourselves and our students to tackle the pressing questions and challenges we face today and will face in the future. 

At its heart, Friends is a school with an academic program that encourages students to have a lifelong love of learning through vigorous, purposeful exploration and discovery. Using the backdrop of Baltimore, a city with a deep history and culture, our students dig deeply into their passions, learn what is important to them and how to apply that learning to impact the world. The Friends mission calls our students to be courageous change-makers and it is here where students can let their light shine and challenge each other to become the person they were meant to be.

I am deeply honored to be Friends School of Baltimore’s 13th Head of School and I encourage you to explore our website fully and invite you to come see for yourself what makes Friends unique and special.

Christian Donovan
Head of School