On a bright and chilly Saturday morning in October, the Quaker Student Union (QSU) arrived at our 2024 retreat location, the Gunpowder Friends Meeting. It is a beautiful meetinghouse set in the gorgeous countryside of Sparks, Maryland.

Shortly after we arrived, the Meeting’s facilitator – retired Friends School English and History teacher and longtime Director of Quaker Life Amy Schmaljohn – gave us a quick tour of the grounds. 

Built in 1779, rebuilt after burning in 1800, and expanded in 2022, the small meetinghouse features a graveyard, tiny kitchen, and a tinier library that has a sweet little piano. The graveyard, Ms. Schmaljohn explained, is as old as the meetinghouse and was built on land donated by local farmers.

It is a space both revered and celebrated. Sometimes it hosts funerals; other times toddlers from First Day School run and play in it during class. We saw an old Quaker marriage certificate and learned how a Quaker wedding works. Current Director of Quaker Life Anna Melville even showed us a copy of her own Quaker-esque marriage certificate covered with signatures! 

After we finished the tour, I took a moment to browse through some of the titles in the library. I noticed there were sections titled “Indigenous Peoples,” but nothing on African Americans or the history of racial oppression – within Quakerism or even in America. So I asked Ms. Schmaljohn about the racial integration history of the Meeting.

She told me that the Meeting had never been fully integrated and was predominantly White. There were no people of color in any of the photos of the Meeting’s members or community board. Ms. Schmaljohn said she had never seen a person of color worshiping on a Sunday, and would have to check the Meeting minutes to see if there ever had been.

This was a surprise. But hopefully this will change soon.

After our tour, we gathered to start brainstorming queries for future Friends Meetings for Worship. We had fun laughing and chatting while bouncing ideas off of each other. Eventually we came up with a comprehensive list.

We spent the rest of the day holding our own Meeting for Worship, taking walks, and raking leaves in the burial ground. We learned about Quaker decision-making from Ms. Melville and QSU advisor Helen Berkeley, and talked about how it might be applied to future discussions.

Ms. Berkley also taught us a couple of party games. We enjoyed creating inside jokes and catching up on life. After our pizza dinner, we had a thrillingly fun game of Bodies, Bodies, Bodies – a our favorite QSU retreat pastime.

Though we all thoroughly enjoyed our 2024 retreat, we will sincerely miss our graduating club members: Sora, Adina, Noah, Asa, and Henry. The seniors say they definitely will miss QSU and MFWs when they graduate, as none of them plan on going to a Quaker college.

QSU is currently planning a holiday party set for December 12, and we look forward to planning some creative MFW initiatives. Stay tuned!