Alumni Awards

Each year, Friends School is proud to honor alumni who have distinguished themselves with outstanding professional and personal achievements and those who have loyally dedicated their time and service to the School.

To nominate a Friends School alum in a class ending in "8" or "3" for Alumni Weekend 2023 CLICK HERE.

Distinguished Alumni Award

This award was established to recognize and honor those Friends School graduates whose professional or volunteer achievements have brought distinction within a particular field or vocational endeavor, locally or on a national level.

Outstanding Alumni Service Award

This award was established to honor a Friends School alumna or alumnus who has generously and loyally donated time and energy to enrich Friends and its future.

Honorary Alumni Award

This award was established to honor a Friends School community member who exemplifies the Quaker philosophy and spirit, and who gives of himself or herself to further the growth of Friends School and its community.

2022 Alumni Award Recipients

2022 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients

David Chang, MD '72 is an ophthalmologist who has maintained a private practice in Los Altos, CA since 1984. Widely recognized as one of the top cataract surgeons in the world, he currently limits his practice to cataract and intraocular lens implant surgery. Dr. Chang regularly lectures to other surgeons in the U.S. and abroad. He has received the highest awards for cataract surgery from the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and is well known for his leadership in humanitarian efforts to mitigate the leading cause of blindness (cataract) in developing countries. He has authored 5 best-selling textbooks, and Newsweek ranked him #2 on their list of top ophthalmologists in the US, based on a 2021 Statista survey of his peers.

Teresa Redd, PhD '72 is the president of her company, Redd Ed Consulting, LLC, and Professor Emerita at Howard University. Throughout her career, she has tirelessly sought to educate and bring together diverse communities—different disciplines, races, and nationalities. In her field, Dr. Redd has won multiple awards, she is frequently asked to be a featured speaker, and she has published many books and articles. At Howard, she directed the Writing Across the Curriculum Program and founded the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning & Assessment, an innovative center that attracted delegations from around the country and the world. For her contributions, she received Howard’s Teaching Excellence Award and was named a Distinguished Fellow of the Association for Writing Across the Curriculum.

2022 Outstanding Alumni Service Award Recipient

Amy D'Aiutolo Mortimer '87, exemplifies the outstanding care and commitment to Friends School. Since her graduation, Amy has passionately served as a volunteer in every area that she could, including the Alumni Association Board as both a member and president, the Athletic Hall of Fame committee, the capital campaign, phonathons, reunion committees, and the Senior Family Gift Committee as a member and chair. In all of these roles, Amy has brought thoughtfulness and kindness to her work. Since 2005, she has employed her expertise as a member of the Admissions Office at Friends. First as Senior Associate Director of Admission, and now as Director of Admission, Amy has helped to enroll and acclimate thousands of students to the community that she loves.

2022 Honorary Alumni Award

Kay McConnell H'22 is a professional garden consultant with a focus on education and native plants in Baltimore, MD. Her work in both private and public gardens emphasizes the value of intimate understanding of and interaction with the land that supports our work and play. Kay spent just enough time indoors to earn her B.A. from Princeton University and M.A. from University of Rochester in English Literature. A stay-at-home-and-garden mom, she received on the job training watching her children explore nature while she was planting, weeding, pruning, and learning voraciously about native plants. Kay joined the Guilford Garden Club in 1998 and found her niche in community projects and educational native plant sales. She began her business, Garden Therapy, LLC--“happy relationships with healthy gardens”-- in 2003. Since 2005, Kay has been the mastermind, and led the design and development, of the native plant teaching gardens on campus, which have become a symbol of the School’s commitment to sustainability. The gardens have become a signature program for the School and a source of great pride for alumni, who relish garden tours with Kay. In addition, she also serves the School community as an active member of the Sustainability Committee, and serves as a regular resource for teachers in all three divisions. She has been awarded the Garden Club of America Elizabeth Abernathy Hull Award and Zone VI Civic Improvement Award for her work with Friends School of Baltimore. In May, Kay will join her three children, Will ’02, Thomas ’05 and Katy ’10, as one of our newest members of the Alumni Association when she receives the Honorary Alumni Award over Alumni Weekend 2022. The Honorary Alumni Award was established to honor a Friends School community member who exemplifies the Quaker philosophy and spirit, and who gives of himself of herself to further the growth of Friends School and its community. We are delighted to present Kay with this award.