719 20th Ave SW
Rochester, MN 55902

I am a former student from folwell. I had to transfer schools after second grade since I had a very traumatic experience at my other school. Folwell was very welcoming and accepting of me when I transferred, which is relieving since I had dealt with constant bullying from the students from my other school. I absolutely loved the environment this school had. I felt safe here which should be expected but given my past experiences it was a surprise to me. The students are very well mannered and they were all nice to me even though I was different.

Our first grader loves to go to school.

All the teachers and staff are so friendly and down to earth. Greet each student every morning and make them feel welcome!

I hate this school because of the principal, Mr. Prigge. He is so rude. It’s prom week, the tickets got sold out, went to ask a question and he came out and instead of saying “I’m sorry the advent is at full capacity I cant help you,” he told me I missed the deadline, it’s my fault, and he kept interrupting me and not letting me ask questions and then turned away from me and started speaking to someone else. The whole time he was speaking very rudely and sassy. It is also very unfair because I was told I could buy tickets all week and no one told me there was a limit on the tickets, so they left out info that they could’ve posted places. He then contacted my parents and told them I was demanding to see him when I didn’t even know who he was until I asked his name, I had asked to see a different teacher. Why is he just assuming I was the one calling and demanding to see him just because I asked his name on the way out? Very unprofessional.

Teachers don’t really discipline and students run about doing whatever they like.

I attended Friedell for two years, and although it has prepared me for a career in the 21st century, it is definitely not for everyone.Although the curriculum here is more intensive and "challenging", at least at the Highly Gifted level (which I was at), and the teachers are very passionate about their work, I knew a lot of people here who suffered from mental illnesses or a simple lack of self-esteem, mostly from the intense expectations and workload at this school. Although bullying is not a common issue at Friedell, there are insane expectations pushed on students by teachers and by other students that drive students to stay up late and fill their schedules with excruciatingly time-consuming extracurriculars. There was also a mentality that people who didn't get straight A's were not "worthy" of being at the "smart kids'" school. I did also notice that pretty much half of the Highly Gifted program actually deserved to be in Honors, not HG - there were people there who only entered the HG program due to their test scores, not their work ethic or abilities, although their presence did not dampen my experience any.Though, I did meet a lot of great people at this school and improve my abilities considerably, and I feel that this school has been instrumental in my education. I have made memories I can never replace through Science Olympiad and History Day at this school, too (I really do recommend both activities; they're really fun and well-managed). If your child can withstand insanely high expectations and a lot of homework mid-year, then I highly recommend this school to you. However, if your child does not have a strong enough mind to withstand expectations, homework, and peer pressure, please enroll your child in out of school tutoring and send them to a different school.