“Why I Give”: Space for Young People’s Self Expression

by Wendy A. Horwitz

The software engineer notes that his enthusiasm for computers began early, in his elementary years. “I was interested, had a knack, so [teachers] would ‘borrow’ me from class,” Noah recalls, “And I’d help figure out what was wrong with word-processing or something on the yearbook.” To Noah, this nurturing of individuality and discovery is one of the main reasons he regularly supports the school. “I don’t know that I’d be where I am now, professionally and otherwise, if not for Greene Street,” he says. “It set me up at the beginning.” Since college, he has wanted to help other students along a similar path, so Noah has contributed financially and written to classmates encouraging them to do the same.
  

Noah observes that Greene Street Friends also allows students to make missteps and learn from them. In second grade, he led a petition against meeting for worship. “Can you imagine?” he laughs. “At a Quaker school?” Principal Norma Vogel admired Noah’s petition, thanked him, and kindly said, “No." What remained with Noah was that Greene Street Friends supported his fledgling activism, permitting him “to explore democracy and politics and learn that you don’t always get what you want, even if everyone in my class supported the cause!”

Today, Noah is excited to see campus renovations, including the third floor of the Armat Street building, which he describes as a “former attic filled with junk,” that now holds five middle school classrooms. Equally important, the school remains “a safe place to be yourself.” Recently, when Noah visited from Pittsburgh with his wife, Stephanie Stahl, he saw a white board in one of the classrooms: on one side were students’ notes and drawings. Someone had written, “Can we still draw what we want?” The teacher had answered, “Yes.” Greene Street Friends will always provide space for young people’s self-expression, and that is something Noah feels is worth supporting.