The Shipley community has a wide range of ways for parents and alumni to share their skills and ideas.
For Parents
List of 8 items.
Fall Fest
Fall Fest is one of Shipley’s signature fundraising events—an adults-only evening of live music, food, and fun under the stars. Proceeds support Shipley students and academic programs. Whether you have a few hours to spare or want to take on a leadership role, Fall Fest depends on volunteers to help make it a success.
Committee: Meets regularly throughout the year to plan and promote the event, secure sponsors, auction and raffle items, and coordinate event logistics.
One-Time Volunteer Roles: Help with envelope stuffing, nametags, or event decoration—great options if you’re looking for a shorter commitment.
This popular fundraiser features a self-guided tour of private gardens and includes a luncheon. The event raises funds to support Shipley students and academic programs. Whether you have a few hours to spare or can take on a leadership role, Secret Gardens depends upon our volunteers. Learn more about the event on our website.
Committee:The committee plans and hosts the tour and luncheon, and meets regularly throughout the year.
Garden Guides (May): If you’d like to get involved with Secret Gardens in a different way, please consider volunteering to be a Garden Guide! Guides do not need any garden-related knowledge and help us on the day of the event in 3-hour shifts.
Join other plant enthusiasts and help beautify Shipley’s walkways with seasonal container gardens. No experience necessary!
Contact:Sarah Sterling, Associate Director of College Counseling and Educational Horticulture Coordinator
Encourage Parent Giving
Each year, every parent is asked to support Shipley through Annual Giving. You can help Shipley increase dollars raised as well as participation by contacting other parents and asking them to join you in supporting the School. Outreach is initially conducted through letter, with follow up made by phone and/or email.
Shipley Ambassadors reach out to the greater community (and potential new families) to tell their Shipley story and use word of mouth to help market the School to others.
Tell others why you support Shipley! Testimonials can be two-to-three sentences or two-to-three paragraphs, and they are generally featured both in print and online.
Parent Coordinators & Lower School Section Parents
You can help facilitate effective communication between school and home, and work to build a volunteer community. In Lower School, there are also Section Parents who are managed by grade-level Parent Coordinators.
The Lower and Middle School Book Fairs, which take place in the spring, benefit the library. A large selection of books from the students’ summer reading lists, best-sellers, and books for the entire family are available.
Contact:The Lower School or The Middle School Coordinators
For Alumni
List of 9 items.
Alumni Book Club
Our Alumni Book Club, led by Lura Coleman Wampler ’56 and Cackie Buck Rogers ’73, meets every 6 to 8 weeks throughout the year. Learn more by joining our Bookclubs.com group!
Contact:Ali Schwartz ’10, Associate Director of Alumni Engagement
Alumni Data
At Shipley, we strive to have the most up-to-date data on our entire alumni community. Alumni data volunteers can work from anywhere in the world to help update the Shipley database by encouraging other alumni to update Shipley when they move, change jobs, get married, or have children.
Contact:Ali Schwartz ’10, Associate Director of Alumni Engagement
Alumni Mentoring
If you are interested in connecting and sharing your knowledge with a college student or young professional, please consider becoming a mentor by contacting Aly Mason ’07, Director of Alumni Engagement.
Encourage Alumni Giving
Shipley depends on the philanthropic gifts of alumni, parents, grandparents, parents of alumni, faculty and staff, friends, and others. Each year, Shipley sends solicitations asking for support from the alumni community. With an alumni body of more than 5,000, your help would be greatly appreciated. You can volunteer to encourage alumni to give, share your story about why supporting Shipley is important to you, call fellow donors to say "thank you," or sign a solicitation letter to add a personal touch. Whether you have thirty minutes to spare or several hours, your help will make a difference!
This popular fundraiser features a self-guided tour of private gardens and includes a luncheon. The event raises funds to support Shipley students and academic programs. Whether you have a few hours to spare or can take on a leadership role, Secret Gardens depends upon our volunteers. Learn more about the event on our website.
Committee:The committee plans and hosts the tour and luncheon, and meets regularly throughout the year.
Garden Guides (May): If you’d like to get involved with Secret Gardens in a different way, please consider volunteering to be a Garden Guide! Guides do not need any garden-related knowledge and help us on the day of the event in 3-hour shifts.
There are a variety of opportunities to work with students in a classroom setting. Shipley students love to hear (and greatly benefit from) your real-world perspective in an area they are considering as a career. Teachers in all grades welcome guest speakers to support their curricula.
Contact: Ali Schwartz ’10, Associate Director of Alumni Engagement
Host an Alumni Weekend Class Party
Each year, 15 reunion classes (5th - 75th!) celebrate their milestone Shipley reunion with a special party on the Saturday of Alumni Weekend. The Shipley Alumni Office is always looking for alumni who want to be involved and can offer their homes or another venue to help their class celebrate. Contact: Aly Mason ’07, Director of Alumni Engagement
Shipley Admissions Ambassadors
Shipley Ambassadors reach out to the greater community (and potential new families) to tell their Shipley story and use word of mouth to help market the School to others.
The Shipley School is a private, coeducational day school for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students, located in Bryn Mawr, PA. Through our commitment to educational excellence, we develop within each student a love of learning and a desire for compassionate participation in the world.