Anne Marie Inglis - former Board member

Anne Marie Inglis found out about PIC from her friend, Angela DiBenedetto.

Anne Marie was in grad school then and her oldest was an infant. Both friends immediately became board members in 1994.

“From Day 1, I was a part of the PIC community. The second you get there, there is an adult community that you are a part of.”

Back then, there were no subcommittees as part of being a Board member and the biggest concern was finding enough children to guarantee that PIC would continue to stay open. They focused on word-of-mouth advertising. Then UPenn announced they were going to build a grade school at PIC’s site. Executive Director Marni Sweet called her up that night and tears were shed because they thought PIC was ending.

But then the Board got to work, and started meeting with Penn and asking the questions, How would PIC be affected by this plan, how would the grounds change, were there possible expansion opportunities for PIC? There were many meetings with Penn and architects and planners.

Anne Marie’s son Harry was part of the first preK class at PIC, and Christel was his teacher. Before that, the oldest classrooms were the Fireflies and Peanuts (Blue Jays).

She still has many Daily Notes saved from her years at PIC.

She loves that her children were brought out on walks and trips into West Philadelphia.

“PIC makes our children part of the larger community.”

Ann Marie is among the longest serving Board members at PIC, being on the Board from 1994 until 2010! She was Board President from 2008-2009.