Signing off...

Today was our last day at the school, and it was a bittersweet experience. We spent the first part of the day making thank you cards to all of the teachers and students we worked with and talked to throughout this week. The card making was really important because we wanted to make sure that we convey that this wasn't about coming and leaving, but rather that we wanted to stay in touch with them in the future. This trip was more than just feeling good about ourselves, but making lasting relationships and learning from one another. In fact, we are already making plans for a trip back to the school. The kids were checking out the mural and most of them were reacting by saying, "Oh cool"... even though we know that deep down they really cared, which was evident when we left. The teachers were even showing their appreciation, even though we thought that they did not approve. We proved through our actions that we had good intentions and that we followed through with those intentions. One teacher, Ms. Foster, even gave us a present to thank us for our work. Before we left, we had a chance to meet some of the senior students, who were pursuing higher education. It was a great way to end the week, because we were inspired and encouraged by them and we were able to answer any of their questions about college. One girl really impressed us. She has plans of going to Penn State and studying engineering. We began talking to her about how her school is viewed and the reality of its academics. Her senior project was going to the board of ed meetings and learning about the factors that cause the problems in her school. It was refreshing to see that one of the students was willing to proactively try and change the system that her fellow students have to suffer in. One of the boys was talking about how in 9th grade, he was just as bad as the freshmen right now. He said that one day he took the fire extinguisher and sprayed it all over the school, but eventually he matured and realized that he cannot go around doing "stupid" things, as he said. We were happy that they had very specific questions and that we were able to help them out. Ms. Holdsworth was talking about how if you set high goals for the students, they will want to achieve them.

Next, we went to the Mural Arts program, which is a well-known Philadelphia program that paints mural around the city as a cultural and beautification project. They are also very active in arts education in Philadelphia, as this is a dying field in underfunded inner city schools. One thing that they said is that they have over 3,000 murals and they have taught over 2,000 youths. They are a private program that is heavily funded by the government. They are either asked or go to communities and ask what the needs of the area are, and cater to these in order to make the murals. This ensures that it represents the community and it brings them together. They also give opportunities to many local artists. We were working with the tours part of the mural arts program. Today we helped with the fliers, first by putting labels on them, and then distributing them throughout the city. They had us go through one of their routes through the middle of the city, called the "Mural Mile." We were able to see most of the great, inspiring murals that they have made. It is amazing how great art pieces, such as these murals, can blend into Philadelphia so easily. If we did not know where to look, then we probably would have missed them. They are very important, because they represent the culture of the people of the area. It was a very productive day and we learned a lot. It is sad that this day and trip has to come to an end. The experiences at the school were unforgettable and the mural program is the perfect way to end.

March 18th, 2010

Yesterday was a very productive day. The night before we made plans to create a mural for the school and we were about to put our plans in action, but first Judy had to take the car to the shop to get the window replaced. As a result of having to get the window replaced, Judy had to miss a few hours of the school day.

While Judy was getting the window fixed the rest of us were going about our regular schedules of the class rotations. There were fewer fights and the kids seemed to be cooperating more and more. The kids seemed to be smiling more and some even expressed being happy to have us visiting their school. Upon leaving the window repair, Judy was able to attend the meeting in Ms. Jenkin’s class with Jolie. Judy and Jolie had the opportunity to address the class about opportunities for college and were able to share stories about their ninth grade experiences. The kids were happily participating and asking questions. While Judy and Jolie were in the classroom, Taneeka was mentoring at a program within the school that addresses teen moms within the school. Taneeka had the opportunity to answer questions and interact with the young ladies. Some of the teen moms were already parents and others were soon to be mothers.

When lunch time hit, Ms. Adam graciously treated us with traditional Philadelphia hoagies. We devoured our lunch in Ms. Adam’s room. After lunch some of us continued cleaning out the teachers’ lounge and others continued helping in the classroom.

When classes over for the day, we began working on our mural, which was to be located in a corner of the A-wing hallway that was highly visible. We worked really well together. Team work was evident in all aspects of the task. We began by tracing our ideas, which we had gotten approved by Ms. Kwong and three 9^th grade students. We were able to complete the art work by 7:30pm. We put in hard work, but it was worth it once we saw the completed product and we were certain that the kids would like it.

Once we were done with the art we followed Ms. Adam to South Street. Some of us had cheesesteaks at a place called Jim’s and others went for Falafels. The cheesesteaks left much to be desired, but the Falafels were a big hit. When we reached the hostel, Judy and Taneeka were not feeling well so they went to bed. The rest of the group continued with the daily reflection, which were a tad bit tense and short, but effective. Overall the day was nicely varied and successful.

Peace. Love. Philadelphia.

Today was a loooong day, but fun =) We woke up at 6am, went to get in the vans by 7am, and saw one had been broken into. One of the windows in the back was smashed and the GPS was stolen, so now we had a broken van with no direction around Philadelphia. They also stole our brand new art supplies and cleaning supplies for the school! So we all went to Target together to buy a new GPS then came back to the hostel to drop off Judy, our staff advisor, to handle all the dirty work. We finally got to the school a little after 9, so we missed first and second period, but we got there in time for our 15 minute advisory period at 9:37. For advisory, we each pair up in twos and go into different rooms for 15 minutes each day to talk to the students about college. In my advisory period (Lyndsey), my partner didn't come until the end because since today was the first day with the students there were mix-ups with room numbers. I was completely appalled though by the lack of respect the teacher had for the students. If I had been one of those students, I probably would not have respected my teacher much either because those students were not given respect at all (not all teachers, but in this one morning class I was in). One of the students disrupted the morning announcements and the teacher told him, "I hate you so much" and was saying all kinds of things like that to all of the students. When the teacher said that though, the student was like, "Well, I don't really care how you feel. That's not what we're here for, so TEACH ME." I was shocked. My jaw just dropped because these students actually want to learn, but they have so many circumstances holding them back from that. In Anita's advisory period with Estefi, they went to a room with just about 5 or 6 kids in a social studies class. At first, Anita thought it would be harder, but one of the boys we met the previous day was in there so he was receptive which led the other students to be as well. All of the students were attentive as they explained themselves and tried to connect with them. Anita and Estefi asked what the kids liked to do and a lot of them said business, biology, health, etc. We were kind of taken aback because we expected them to say football or something. Since they were ambitious though with subjects, that made my day. When we first walked in, they had their guards up so much, but by the time we left the kids were cracking smiles, so we felt like we had accomplished our goal, even if it was a small one. It was a first step. Leaving there knowing that at least one of them had a smile on their face, that we put there, was enough for me.

After the advisory period, all of us went to different classes like english, math, physical science, etc. Even though we were all in different settings, we each had similar but unique experiences and stories. Some of us really connected with the kids and got to know them on more personal levels. A lot of the kids were really smart, but didn't apply themselves because it wasn't the "cool" thing to do. I know one boy I worked with told me the answer and when I asked him to help the other student find it in the book, he pretended he didn't know the answer because he didn't want other kids to know he was smart. It's such a shame that they only see successful people and "smart" people in the media. College kids and college graduates only exist to them on TV, but they see rappers and gangsters on TV and that's real to them because they see it in real life, so when they're faced with either becoming successful through dealing drugs or going to college, the drugs seem more realistic to them. Today was encouraging, yet disheartening at the same time. So many factors tie into this cycle of oppression. Drug addicts become teen moms then raise their kids on welfare in a bad area, which results in their children aspiring to be nothing more than a teen mom on welfare. We saw at least 3 pregnant freshman girls (we're only working in the freshman wing) and saw four fights just today. There's also a cycle with teachers though because as students yell at teachers, teachers get frustrated and lash out on the students then which just continues to create more and more negative tension, building on to the cycle of negative interaction between adults and children. So many factors tie into the fact that these children are not getting an education. For example, one girl was fourteen and SO smart in class today, but she works two jobs at home during the week to help support her family, and on the weekends she's a prostitute and exotic dancer, so the teacher told us that Mondays she comes in just completely drained. The worst part about it though is that both of her parents and even her aunt know about it and they don't even care. How is she supposed to really care about getting an education and seriously fully apply herself when she has so many other things on her mind? She's not the only one either. A lot of the kids had similar stories. One boy had been put out on the street by his mom when he was 11, so since living on the streets he's been arrested a bunch of times. Another girl had straight A's until last semester because she got a D in a class because she got jumped by a group of people, so she got suspended and missed class for two weeks. You should just HEAR the announcements this principal says, too! At the end of the day the other day, one of the administrators told the students to go play in traffic on 7th street. In the middle of the day yesterday, the principal made an announcement and told the kids to save her the trouble of what they know is already going to happen and just come to her office now so she can expel them. These kids are a product of so many factors: society, their parents, their teachers, their peers, etc. They take part in self-fulfilling prophecies; even their own principal & some of their teachers & almost all of their parents don't believe in them and tell them they're destined for death or jail before they're 30, so when you ask them where they see themselves in 5 years, that's the response you get. I asked a boy today where he sees himself in 5 years and he told me "on a street corner." I asked him why and he told me "statistics." It doesn't make their lack of effort excusable, but kids model their parents and older siblings, and so when those people raise them like they don't matter, they begin to believe it. More than anything, they all just need counseling, and to be given a sense of direction.

After we helped in classes all day, we went to clean out a big old room to turn it into a teacher's lounge. We found a dead mouse in the middle of the room under some dust, but we made a lot of progress in the room in a short period of time. We plan to finish it up tomorrow after school.

Lastly, we planned what to paint on the mural tomorrow. We've been given a section of the hallway wall in the freshmen wing to paint, so we decided to paint a quote by Ben Carson, a black male that grew up in urban Baltimore, but became a self-made success out of the ghetto to become the first neurosurgeon. The quote says, "It's not about where you came from, it's where you're going." We're going to paint street signs with words like DREAMS and stuff like that on them.

When we left the school, we bought more art supplies and just chilled and talked a lot about our days and experience. Tomorrow we'll all be in different classes again and have a day kind of like today. PEACE.LOVE.PHILADELPHIA!

I haven't woken up this early since high school!

This morning we got up bright and early to leave for Bartram high school at 7 am. Although we got off to a late start we still got there in time. Our first task was to clean a closet in the 9^th grade academy wing. We were all expecting a small supplies closet but to our surprise it was a very long and narrow walk-in closet with floor to ceiling broken-down wood shelves. Upon closer inspection, the supply closet held history books from the 1960s, dental and orthopedic equipment from the 1970s, Italian and French 8-tracks, a head dummy, old computers, never used microscopes, thousands of pipettes, a glow-in-the-dark skeleton, and many other miscellaneous items dating back to at least the 1950s. After our initial shock we all dove in and cleaned out the entire closet and brought all the trash down to the dumpsters. By the end of the day we threw out 90% of the items in the closet.

Towards the end of the day we attended a common planning meeting with the 9^th grade academy teacher. Instead of being a planning meeting, the majority of the time was spent filling out paper for delinquent children. After talking to some of the teachers about the paper work we found out that before this year, the teachers had been able to fill out the paper work on students they felt needed help from the system. Unfortunately, this year, they were being forced by the school board to fill out a certain amount of paper work to meet the “quota” of students the school board thinks should be in the system. This entails writing up a good number of students whom the teachers feel are good kids and who do not need to be clogging the system taking attention away from the kids who need it. We also had the chance to speak with a first year teacher that taught five different classes including special education. She expressed that she was frustrated because at least 75% of her students failed the test that she had given earlier in the day. She said that she is not allowed to leave back students even if she knows that they are not at the level that they should be. She thought that she was a bad teacher and was contemplating not teaching anymore.

After debriefing with Jackie, our contact person at Bartram, we headed back to our hostel to wind down and get some dinner into our stomachs. Today was an exhausting day not just physically but mentally. We not only got to clean out a closet but we were able to experience the reality of the Philadelphia public school system. During reflection we had many different talking points but some of our common themes were the reality of the situation these students face day in and day out. It is apparent that the teachers are putting their souls into bettering the education of the students at Bartram but the bureaucracy and paperwork that the teachers must overcome daily can make the process of reform daunting and not worthwhile.

We also talked about how many of these students do not have the personal connections they need to want to succeed in school. For them, NFL and NBA stars are the idols they wish to become. We realized that our role this week would be to create the connections with the students that they lack. Our group has the opportunity to become a support for a student who feels the system has forgotten him/her. Jackie explained to us the importance of leaving not only thank you notes but emails and phone numbers where students can reach out periodically to our ASB group. Tomorrow we will be able to work with the ninth graders first hand in the classroom. We are not only excited but we are open to hear about the students and get to know them on an individual level.

School District/John Bartram High School

Hello world!

Today was such a productive day. Our day started by visiting the Philadelphia school district office. The building was very new with artwork done by children everywhere and they were very receptive to our cause. We met a Terp alumni who works there and he was able to provide us with facts and statistics on John Bartram High School, which is the school that we are visiting this week. The statistics showed that the students could not meet any of the state standards. The artwork in the district office was impressive, however, and it showed us that these kids do have potential. We arrived at the school district unannounced and not expecting much, but we were surprised that even without any notice, they were willing to show us around and set up various meetings for us. This shows us that we have more power than we may assume, we just have to be proactive in finding and using it. Then, we went to John Bartram school. We immediately noticed that the area around the school was run down. For example, there were many check/cash places and there was a police officer on every corner. Another observation was that the food places sold pretty much all unhealthy food. At the school, there was a huge puddle in the middle of parking lot, which set the tone for the rest of place. There were bars on the windows and when we walked in, the first thing we saw was a metal detector. It is disappointing that all kids have to be subjected to this security everyday. We met Jackie, who is our contact at this school. She is very nice and gave us a quick tour of the school. In her room, we met a few of the other teachers and the three Americorps members. She said that some of the teachers there were skeptical of us coming there because they were questioning our intentions. We introduced ourselves and explained our reasons why we were here. We tried to make it clear that we are not there to just observe them, but rather to learn through service and gain a different perspective. We also met two kids who wanted to pursue higher education, which was inspiring because we did not know what to expect about what they thought about higher learning. The teachers seemed frustrated with the students in general and the system. We found ourselves sometimes judging some of the students who were acting out, for example being loud, but realized that these things are characteristic of many schools, and that these kids are probably not bad than most high school kids. Also, we find that they probably do care about themselves and their futures. After we got back from the school, we did the power and privilege exercise. It was a great learning activity, as we got to see the divide that some people have, even in small groups.

3/13/10

So today was the first day we got to the hostel. The hostel we’re staying at, Chamounix Mansion Youth Hostel, is pretty interesting. It looks like an old haunted house. When we first got here, we could NOT open the doors for the life of us. They each have a code and are really difficult, so it took us forever to get into our rooms. We have one outlet for all ten of the girls to charge our phones and two showers! We had a simple dinner, just pasta. There’s a cat in the house that keeps coming in our room. No one knows whose it is or what its name is. We were planning on not doing anything tomorrow, but we found out that we can’t be here from 11am – 4:30pm everyday, so we’ll be mildly homeless for some time tomorrow. We’re going to explore Philadelphia though. We played a name game called name tag that was pretty awesome for everyone to learn each others’ names better. We also got our ASB shirts today that are a pretty teal color. We went grocery shopping and spent less than $200 for food for the next four days, which is WAY below our budget, so hopefully we’ll go to a nice dinner at some point later in the week. We just found out it’s daylight savings time, so we’re going to lose an hour of sleep unfortunately L Which means we’re going to sleep now. Goodnight!