Olney Friends School Resources
Everything You Need to Get Started
Welcome to Olney! Here, you’ll find all the forms and information you need to join our community, along with a quick guide to “Olneyspeak” — our school’s unique lingo.
Whether you’re a new student or need a reminder, these resources will help you navigate life at Olney.
Admissions Office
Student Life
Enrollment Forms
Please note: All forms below must be completed and received by the school, BEFORE students arrive, for each year enrolled.
Authorization for Medical Treatment
Non-Prescription Medication Form
Academics
College Resources
The College Board – Students register for the SAT, access their scores, and send their scores to colleges through the College Board. The web site has extensive test preparation material. It also has a detailed, personalized college search system called Big Future and various articles and suggestions about the college process.
Colleges that Change Lives – Colleges that Change Lives is an association of 40 small liberal arts schools that support a student-centered college search process. CTCL member schools are often good matches for Olney Friends School graduates.
CollegeView & Embark – College View and Embark both have college planning tools such as search engines, timelines, information about financial aid, campus life, and comparison charts.
Peterson’s – Peterson’s has test preparation and college planning materials as well as search engines for all kinds of schools: colleges, graduate schools, independent schools, MBA and nursing schools, culinary school, summer camps, etc.
Women’s Colleges – The Women’s College Coalition is an association of women’s colleges and universities in the United States and Canada whose primary mission is the education and advancement of women. This website offers information about the benefits of a single-sex education as well as information about specific schools.
Co-op Colleges – Students at co-op (cooperative) colleges and universities work in companies and fields related to their academic or career goals in tandem with their relevant classroom studies. This website gives information about co-op schools and scholarships.
Students with Learning Differences – This web site gives support to students with learning differences as they consider their college options and transition to college.
First-Generation College Students – This web site gives support to students who are the first in their family to pursue or attend college.
Olneyspeak
Advising/Advisory
Students meet weekly in groups with their academic advisor, who serves as a listener, mentor, and advocate. The academic advisor is a parent’s first point of contact regarding academic concerns.
All-School Sing
Happens often at Community Meeting on Friday. “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver and “Wagon Wheel” by Old Crow Medicine Show are perennial favorites.
Back Two
The road behind the pastures behind the Girls’ Dorm.
Captina Creek
The headwaters of this pristine creek are located on Olney’s campus, and students routinely work with the Belmont County Soil and Water Conservation District and others to monitor and protect the health of our local water quality.
Collection (Morning, Evening)
We start and end each school day with about 10 minutes of gathered community time in silent reflection.
DC
Short for Disciplinary Committee. A group of students and teachers who respond to major rule violations.
DCLs
Dish Crew Leaders. Students who train and oversee Dish Crew members, help cooks with meal preparation, and mop the kitchen and dining room.
Dish Crew
A variation on office work: specifically, time spent cleaning up after meals.
East Porch
The porch between the parking lot and the Main Office is a favorite gathering spot.
Graddy Box
Graduating seniors ask another student to make a box – whether of wood or other materials – and the result is presented as a surprise to the graduate at the Awards Dinner in May. By then, the boxes (which come in all shapes and sizes, from giraffes to soccer balls to ukuleles) are filled with slips of paper recording good wishes from friends and teachers.
Graddy Essay
Seniors must write a 20-page original research paper on a subject of their choice. Recent topics range from asteroid mining to parasocial relationships to corruption in the music industry.
GymEx
Short for “Gymnastics Exhibition,” this tradition dates to the early 1910s. Third-quarter physical education for all students is focused on gymnastics, culminating in a performance for parents at the start of Spring Break. Students participate in two or more activities, choosing among balancing (human pyramids) tumbling, rope jumping, and dancing.
Harkness
Discussion method in which students learn to guide each other through college-level analysis of texts.
Junior Auction
From a class on sushi-making to a home-cooked meal in a faculty member’s home, these goods and services are donated to the junior class as a fundraiser.
Junior Jesters/Gestures
Juniors earn class funds by allowing themselves (and enlisting teachers) to be “purchased’ by a fellow student or teacher for a day. Recent terms have included such things as requiring a student who prefers black to wear bright colors, or requiring the head of school to speak in rhyme.
Kirk Barn
Home to goats and their kids, pigs, and beef cattle. Chickens live in and around the coops next door to the barn.
The Main
The Main Building, which houses most classrooms and the art room, library, gymnasium, Collection Room, kitchen and dining room, and faculty offices. In short, nearly everything you need is in this building.
Majors
Short for “major office work.” This is a deeper clean of a student’s assigned office work area (see “office work” below).
Meeting for Worship
A time for quiet reflection, prayer, and meditation that may also include contemplative activities or spoken or musical messages shared by the community. This occurs twice a week on Wednesday and Sunday mornings with the entire school community.
Music Box
Originally known as the Power House and still providing heat for several buildings from the boiler in its basement, this building has taken on many roles over the years but serves as a music classroom.
Office Work
Daily and weekly janitorial chores in the Main and dorms when students learn to clean our common spaces.
Outings (Fall, Winter, Spring)
Surprise events involving a field trip of some kind for the whole community.
Parlor Meeting
All dorm residents and dorm faculty meet on Sunday evenings and as needed in the Mott and Guindon Dorms.
Per
Permission to do (or to not do) something, granted by a faculty member to a student.
Pumpkin Festival
The biggest event of the year for the Village of Barnesville! Students help bake, package, and/or sell pumpkin bread to festival-goers, earning funds for the school.
Raven Rocks
A nearby nature preserve of 1,260 acres, founded 40 years ago by Olney Friends School teachers and alumni. Raven Rocks includes several gorgeous ravines and is a popular destination for hikes.
Self-Gov
Short for Self-Government. Meets weekly to coordinate student involvement in decision-making at the school.
Signout
Signing out of campus, usually to go into town. Popular destinations include Dollar General, Riesbeck’s Grocery, and various fast-food restaurants.
Slip
Small, pink, unpopular, this records a student’s rule infraction and is issued by faculty. Based on the cumulative number of slips a student receives within a three-week “slip term,” they are granted more or fewer privileges, such as later evening dorm times and more weekend signouts.
Socials (Senior and Junior)
Large events planned by the upper classes for the whole school. A tradition in the late springtime, Junior Social includes outdoor games and a picnic, and roasts graduating seniors and departing faculty with individualized “funishments.”
Spiritual Life Committee
Students and staff meet weekly to consider the community’s spiritual health and plan worship meetings.
Stillwater Science Center
Gifted to the school by the Stillwater Monthly Meeting of Friends, which meets in the big brick meetinghouse on the hill at the entrance to the school, this building houses modern science laboratories, another gathering space, and a few local small businesses.
Ready to write the next chapter of your story at Olney?
Let’s begin this journey together!