Eric Osorio came to Friends at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year as the new Head of Upper School. The Insight sat down with Eric to ask him about his background, why he came to Friends, and what he is planning for the future.
Eric was born and raised in New York City. Beginning in seventh grade, Eric was admitted into the Prep for Prep program, which aims to expand educational access for minority students. Attending a predominantly white institution (PWI) for the first time through this program was difficult for him, being “surrounded by people who [he] felt very alien to.” However, the biggest contributing factor to his lack of belonging was “never having the experience of a teacher look like [him].” What inspired Eric into pursuing education was his goal of “being for somebody else what [he] didn’t have.”
Being a New Yorker, Eric loves the Giants. He says one of his greatest memories was watching the Giants vs. Patriots Super Bowl XLII in 2008 with his wife’s family–who were all big Patriots fans–and being amazed by the Giants’ upset win after an undefeated season from the Patriots. Eric, as we know, also likes watching TV and going to the movies with his family. He’s a big Star Wars and Marvel fan, and loves The Empire Strikes Back in particular. He displays his love through his collection of figurines which you can find set up in his office at school.
When the Head of Upper School position opened up at Friends, Eric quickly took notice. Friends, while it is the first Quaker school he has worked at, shares values that “have always been central to who [he] is.” Eric regarded his new position at Friends as a “full-circle moment” to his time in high school where he needed that same support he can give now. He also appreciated the unified and supportive culture amongst the students at Friends. Meeting for Worship was something which Eric had always appreciated, but our school was where he first recognized the “power within the silence of someone being moved to share their voice.” One of his hopes for the Friends community is that “we collectively understand what the goal and intention of Meeting [for Worship] is” and that the practice can serve as what the community needs on any given day.
Throughout The Insight’s conversation with Eric, a main thread was his connection to the student body. He emphasized his commitment to paying attention to and observing students. Eric has already gone to a number of soccer and basketball games; watching Friends sports games has been “very telling about the character of Friends students and the degree of commitment that folks give.” He also mentioned that with a more open schedule than at the start of the year, he’s been able to do more class visitations, along with monthly meetings with student clerks and his regular attendance of the BIPOC affinity group. He recognized the clerk position as a way to directly nurture “student agency and student leadership.” Eric values the role of affinity spaces at our school, and says he wanted to dispel the notion that “affinity groups are intended to isolate or separate” and rather allow students to feel “safe and seen.”
When asked what his favorite part of his job was, Eric said witnessing a student fully in their element and seeing the “sheer genius that students display.” He also loves to “bear witness” to students figuring out “who [they] are over these next four years and who [they] want to be,” which he is able to do as a ninth grade advisor alongside Spanish teacher, Mariella Bonilla.
Eric told The Insight that “the best leadership is created when you are highly collaborative, with real proximity to your community, and understand it.” That model guides many of his objectives for the future, which include policy creation and implementation alongside students, and fostering “continual communication loops that students have with members of the office.”
