Alumni News
One of our newest alumni, Molly Friedman (‘20), is remembered by her teachers for her hard work and dedication. Molly led by example as a member of the MMFS Community Events Committee, and was often found organizing school-wide events like Halloween festivities and the Winter Spectacular. Molly joined the MMFS community as a 7th grader. She credits Amanda Toomey, Abe Maneri, and Bev Wild with teaching her to trust herself and become more engaged in her own learning. “For a very long time I never wanted to ask for help because I thought it meant I wasn’t capable or able to keep up in school. MMFS taught me that that was definitely not the case and that everyone, learning disabled or not, needs support occasionally.”
Upper School Head English Teacher Abe Maneri recalls a project Molly did after reading Dante’s Inferno. “The assignment was to write your own “layers of hell” and to illustrate each punishment. Molly made hyper-realistic and stylized panels in pen and ink. The detail was astounding. Molly was a fierce learner I’ll never forget.”
Now a first-year student at Smith College, Molly is finding her path in the sciences and hopes to pursue a career in medicine. “I’m taking classes in biology, chemistry, and writing, which all have been incredible. In chemistry I’m learning about quantum mechanics and calculating orbitals, but to this day I haven’t used ”y=mx+b.”
Molly may not be using slope intercept form this semester (sorry, math teachers!), but she is exploring the complexities of social identity and power dynamics through the study of media. “I just got assigned an essay about this episode of an old tv show and have to talk about gender roles and power dynamics between men and women as well as the role of comedy.” Outside of the classroom, Molly enjoys hanging out with her friends, cooking, drawing, and painting. Her current favorite shows to binge watch are: Legend of Korra, Avatar, and The Magicians.
As Molly moves through her first semester of college, she has advice for MMFS students: “I know college can seem like this big, daunting next stage of life. But as long as you apply yourself, use your resources, and pursue something you truly enjoy learning about, it is 100% worth it.”
Share This Post:
