George School senior PJ Yurcak of Far Hills, New Jersey, won a Student Award for Excellence in Design in the 2006 Philadelphia Furniture and Furnishings Show. Her entry, a bench crafted from maple, was one of two student pieces that woodworking teacher Carter Sio selected to represent George School's woodworking and design program in the show's high school competition this year. Evan Rutstein, a senior from Silver Spring, Maryland, designed George School's other entry, a chair made of maple and walnut.

"I was really excited to go to the furniture show," PJ said. Her bench, she explained, was inspired by an Egyptian hieroglyph. She created it in response to a class assignment that required each student to design a piece of furniture inspired by a letter of an alphabet.

PJ and Evan are both students in Carter Sio's Advanced Woodworking and Design class, a year-long arts course open to students who have completed a year of the beginning woodworking and design course. Students in the advanced class work on original, individual projects, from the design stage through completion.

"This was the twelfth year for this competition, and in those twelve years the George School program in woodworking and design has come home with at least one award each year," said Carter. The Philadelphia Furniture and Furnishings Show ran from April 28 through April 30.

All George School students take four, year-long courses in the arts. In addition to woodworking and furniture design, the arts department offers courses in instrumental and vocal music, drama, stagecraft, dance, video production, journalism, painting and drawing, ceramics, and photography. The arts department encourages students to be creative and enjoy themselves while they practice and appreciate a specific art form. In addition, students learn to be discriminating when they evaluate their own and others' work.

This maple bench, designed by George School senior PJ Yurcak of Far Hills, New Jersey, won a Student Award for Excellence in Design in the 2006 Philadelphia Furniture and Furnishings Show. Her entry was one of two student pieces that woodworking teacher Carter Sio selected to represent George School's woodworking and design program in the show's high school competition this year.

This maple and walnut chair, designed by George School senior Evan Rutstein of Silver Spring, Maryland, was an entry in the 2006 Philadelphia Furniture and Furnishings Show. It was one of two student pieces that woodworking teacher Carter Sio selected to represent George School's woodworking and design program in the show's high school competition this year.

About George School
Founded in 1893 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), George School, a rigorous coed boarding and day school for grades nine through twelve, educates students from twenty-two states, twenty-seven foreign countries, and a variety of ethnic, racial, religious, and economic backgrounds. Through its commitment to diversity and the Quaker values of equality, integrity, and peacemaking, George School inspires students to be led by their own truths while respecting and appreciating opinions and beliefs different from their own.