Carolyn Schwartz and Maryann Cummiskey are two receptionists in the Abington Friends Upper School. For the years they have worked at AFS together, their friendship has been apparent to anyone who has walked into the front office and seen Cummiskey chatting with Schwartz at her desk.
Kendall Dixon ‘26 said, “Every time I look in the college office and I see Maryann isn’t there, she’s in Carolyn’s office, and I think it’s the sweetest thing ever.”
AFS encourages faculty members to form meaningful relationships with one another, and teachers are often seen and noted as being good friends by the students. The friendships demonstrated between faculty members set great examples for the types of relationships students should be building with each other.
Cummiskey said, “A lot of the teachers move here from different places and they always find somebody here, just like the kids that come.”
Sometimes, the idea of making friends in adulthood can seem impossible or daunting, but the AFS faculty proves to students that it is very possible and even very rewarding. Cummiskey and Schwartz talk about the importance of making friends as adults; making friendships in the workplace is the natural next step for relationships in life.
“You have your school friends and then you make work friends and, you know, you have kids and make friends with their friends’ parents. It’s like all these different stages of friends,” Cummiskey said.
Cummiskey has worked at AFS for 25 years now, and Schwartz is going on her tenth. Before Schwartz joined the AFS community, Cummiskey worked as the front receptionist, which is the job Schwartz has now.
Cummiskey said, “We met when I interviewed Carolyn for this job, and we spent the entire time chatting about things that we had in common.”
Schwartz said, “I’ve worked in other offices, and [friendships are] always important to me, you know. I’m going to spend my whole day here; it’s important that I have relationships and good friends.”
Cummiskey said, “When I started here, I would comment that everybody was so nice, and the people would say, ‘Well, you’re nice,’ and I’m like, I know, but you don’t always have that in places. But everybody here is really nice, and it just makes it a pleasure going to work.”
Schwartz said, “The relationship with the colleagues is why I was still here. I would have left a long time ago if I didn’t have such good relationships.”
AFS has a mentor program that matches new teachers with an experienced member of staff to show them the ropes, and more often than not, a new teacher’s faculty mentor is one of their first friends at school.
Building relationships in the workplace is vital to an enjoyable work environment. The faculty and staff at AFS work hard to cultivate a healthy environment.
Amy Diaz-Newman, an art teacher in the upper school, said, “It’s always nice to cultivate friendship and collegiality with the people that you’re working with, because inevitably, there’ll be stressful times and there’ll be difficult times.”
Schwartz noted that her son worked from home during COVID and missed out on a lot of meaningful connections.
“You don’t know what you’re missing by not [working in person],” Schwartz said.
It is true of any workplace that issues and problems will arise; having healthy, stable, and reliable relationships with coworkers ensures that problems are dealt with in a mature and productive manner.
Diaz-Newman said, “It’s easier to come to somebody with a problem, to brainstorm with somebody, or to have a challenging conversation with somebody when you’ve already laid a foundation of respect.”
Cummiskey said, “Work friends are so important; they help you get through the day. I mean, we’ve complained, we’ve laughed, we’ve cried. Carolyn’s the first person I come to when I have something going on in my life. She’s always the first person here.”
