Tandem Friends School, an independent Quaker school for grades 5-12, is excited to bring back our community event TANDEM Speaks! This year's event features the authors of Let Your Light Shine for an evening of learning, growing and connecting. Ali Smith and Atman Smith are the co-founders of the Holistic Life Foundation, a non-profit organization that brings yoga and mindfulness to schools. Their pioneering work brings trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness to underserved youth and influences education curriculum worldwide. Their recent book Let Your Light Shine is the story of personal transformation as the authors show how yoga and meditation transformed not only their own lives, but thousands of historically underserved kids in Baltimore. Dr. Paul Harris, founder of Integrity Matters, LLC and former professor of Education at the University of Virginia and The Pennsylvania State University, will lead a conversation with these remarkable men about their journey in mindfulness and their work to share these practices in schools and beyond. The event will be held on Friday, March 3, 2023 at 7 pm at The Dickinson Fine and Performing Arts Center at Piedmont Virginia Community College.
You can find an interview with Ali and Atman and their co-author Andrés González on the Ten Percent Happier Podcast and a recent appearance on Good Morning America. Other media interviews can be found here.
Tandem Friends School offers a rigorous college preparatory curriculum in an environment built on Quaker values. Our students receive an education in which intellectual, ethical, artistic, and athletic ideals are pursued. We foster capable students who value a spiritual, egalitarian, kind, and creative community; thrive on independent, imaginative thought; are fully engaged in learning; and seek the very best from both themselves and their community. All funds raised by TANDEM Speaks! will support financial aid at Tandem Friends School. Nearly 40% of Tandem students receive some form of financial aid, and we provide over $1 million in financial aid each year, to support a student body that represents our community, regardless of their family’s ability to pay.
