LOVE OF LEARNING: Retiring Littlebrook School teacher Martha Friend, third from left, is shown with, from left, retired Littlebrook teacher Nancy Livingston; Friend’s sister Sarah Schwimmer, also retired from teaching at Littlebrook; and Schwimmer’s daughter Kelsey Schwimmer, also an elementary school teacher. (Photo courtesy of Martha Friend)
By Wendy Greenberg
Considering all the Princeton families that were inspired by Martha Friend’s love of learning and thoughtful teaching, no one was too surprised when the Littlebrook Elementary School teacher decided to mark her retirement with a blood drive and service project.
The blood drive, held on December 6 at the school, was a rousing success, with every slot filled –friends and colleagues, and former students’ parents, showing up to honor Friend. The Red Cross, which has asked Friend to organize more drives, reported that more than half of the donors were donating for the first time, and enough blood was collected to save up to 168 lives, said Friend in an email. And in case someone could not join the drive that day, Friend added a Birthday Bag service project in which 100 birthday bags are being donated to four local nonprofits “for those families who have a birthday to celebrate but might be experiencing a challenge.”
Friend, 56, whose last teaching day is just before winter break on Tuesday, December 23, has been teaching at Littlebrook since she was 24, after student teaching there. She grew up in Princeton, attended Riverside Elementary School, the middle school, and Princeton High
School. Friend spent time at college in Portland, Ore., moved to Seattle, studied at Western Washington University, and realized her heart belonged in New Jersey, she said. She graduated from Rider University in 1993 with a degree in elementary education and marine ecology.
Friend was hired, she said, to teach fifth grade, and joined her sister, Sarah Schwimmer, on the fifth grade team. (Schwimmer retired last June after 36 years.) During the last 17 years, Friend was the K-5 STEAM (Science, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) lab teacher.
She appreciated her own mentors in Princeton Public Schools, noting that she recently “had a phone call with Mrs. Ellie Yuchmow, my second, third, and and fourth grade teacher while at Riverside. My mother, Lyn Gelperin, was deeply involved in our school community and when she died suddenly in 1979, a deep enduring bond between the Riverside School community and my family was solidified as three out of her four children were there at the time of her death.” (Her sister, Sarah, was then in middle school.)
“The potential for an impactful relationship between elementary student and teacher can’t be overstated,” she said, predicting her own future bond with her students. “I truly believe that teaching, and especially teaching elementary school, is one of the most important and impactful jobs there is.”
Friend said she felt it was time to step aside. “Each and every interaction with students — whether it’s in the hallway, on the playground, in the classroom, or in the cafeteria — matters so much as it has the potential to lift them up and change the trajectory of their day. I’m not willing to give my students less than my best,” she said. Friend is looking toward using her skills, or mining other skills, in different but impactful work. “I know I have lots to offer and another career is in my future — although it is yet to be decided.”
The blood drive idea started with a colleague in need. Friend said that, a year ago, the colleague’s husband had some internal bleeding after surgery and ran into trouble getting a transfusion, as the blood supply was low. While the friend got the transfusion after all, Friend decided to hold a blood drive at school at that time, and held the recent event with her colleague’s husband’s situation in mind.
“So many of you showed up to help out with the service project and many to donate blood,” she said in an email to participants. “Thank you, especially those who took a risk and donated for the first time. Regardless of your success in donating, I am filled with gratitude that you joined me. Some of you even brought a family member!” She also mentioned that components of the 100 Birthday Bags were donated, with some parts purchased with her retirement gift.
Littlebrook parent Kati Dunn’s children have been with Friend for nine years, starting when her now eighth grader was in kindergarten. She also has a fourth grader. As she put it, “Mrs. Friend has been a huge part of my children developing a foundation of curiosity, thoughtfulness, and love of learning that will carry them through their entire lives. The lessons always emphasized an appreciation for the natural world, technology, and advancements and our role in it. She helped children feel competent and confident in their abilities. My oldest says it was always fun and my youngest says she makes everything interesting. We are grateful for having had Mrs. Friend in our lives and are excited for her to continue in her path making an impact wherever she goes!”
Friend apparently thinks as highly of her students as they think of her. Students, said Friend, “walk into school with heads filled with wonder and capable of so much. It takes trusted relationships and lots of opportunity for failure (as they are stretched to push beyond) to learn and thrive. Children are capable of so much and often adults underestimate them.”
Last week Friend was still busy planning lessons to make slime with first and second grades, investigating elephant’s toothpaste with fifth grade, providing a Star Lab (inflatable planetarium) experience for third grade, and involved in a kindergarten gingerbread man engineering design. And Solar UV beads, to give to Littlebrook students so they can continue to wonder and investigate, were delivered.
She hopes that her time in the Littlebrook STEAM Lab “provided students a place to investigate their worlds, find wonder in the mundane and the exceptional, and understand that they have agency to affect change. It has been my honor to be a small part in the lives of these exceptional humans,” she said. “The elementary STEAM Lab is a very special part of the Princeton Public Schools where students investigate natural phenomena, identify problems in their lives and work to find solutions. Our future is in good hands with these capable students!”
Those inspired to give blood to the American Red Cross can contact redcross.org to find a blood drive, or help on how to run a blood drive.