What is Environmental Justice?
An interview with EFS Intern Akilah Chatman.
Spring Has Sprung at Saul
Things at Saul have changed quite a bit, with the warming temperature they are now working outside! This is an exciting time for the students because it gives them an opportunity to be hands-on, which is vital to Saul. Saul has partnered up with the Eat.Right.Philly program in an effort to get fresh veggies in the hands of students and community members. Read more
A Year in Review: Dobbins
We’re almost at the end of the year! We have come so far. The last thing we have to do is to present in the showcase. So what have we done in the mean time?
This project grew out of an existing student lead organization at Dobbins named “Today’s Students, Tomorrow’s Leaders”. Read more
Abraham Lincoln HS Reflections For The Year
In my time at Abraham Lincoln High School it has been a great time to see the changes that are being made and will be made in the future. In my time as a student there was no such thing as wellness quadrant or festivals to represent a students heritage. It has shown that the students are becoming more aware and developing what they want out of school not only academically. Read more
Workshop Cont.
To continue the conversation on gun violence, the class is preparing to learn about CPR. The first part of the worksheet dealt with different parts of the body and what vital organs may be a part of it. Students were paired with one another and was assigned a body part. Together, they found out which organs are a part of that body part and how it can be affected if injured. Read more
Workshop School Cont.
Today is another continuation of the lesson behind gun violence. The class was given a worksheet to fill out that deals with root causes behind gun violence. These include but are not limited to lack of education, racism and class status. I had the opportunity to sit in the 10th grade class for an hour today. Read more
Workshop School
The topic the 9th, 11th and 12th graders are focusing on is gun violence, and the 10th graders are focusing on homelessness. Because this is the first week of this topic, the educator designed her lesson planned as building blocks. While I am only there on Thursdays, it’s interesting to see how far they have come along during the week. Read more
Closing Remarks
During this program we have reached a lot of bumps and and curves but with the help from the amazing staff I worked with, we did amazing. There are some things about the program I wish were a little better but overall it was a pleasure. This is where we started “My work fits into the EFS Process by keeping everyone on track and making sure the students have a say in the upcoming project such as any idea they think will contribute to the project. Read more
Inspiration at the Youthbuild Charter School
I went into the school for the first time today November 11th 2021. When I first got there I was greeted at the security desk and then I texted the teachers. Then a teacher came down and brought me up to Mr. George’s classroom. There the students were helping to arrange the room and put up and label hand tools on the wall since it is a new room. Read more
Youthbuild Visit to Drexel University
On Monday, April 4th I was so excited to host a number of students from the Youthbuild Charter School at Drexel for a demonstration of renewable energy technology such as solar panels and wind turbines and a tour of the Drexel Innovation Studio and machine shop.
In the first part of their visit, we went to the Drexel Engineering Technology Department’s Renewable Energy Laboratory where Professor Finley Shapiro our local expert in renewable energy taught the students how to characterize solar panels and wind turbines. Read more
My Experience at the U School
As I concluded my time at the U School, we were setting students up for summer internships in sustainability fields and to sign up for Anna’s summer program where students would be learning about sustainability and fulfilling different tasks in community gardens and around the school. I was also helping students to finish their senior projects where they chose a proposal or a research topic to present to their classmates. Read more
Hardships
We’ve been focusing on a plethora of topics and questions since the beginning of the project. The students have been the major stars throughout the entire project. Our most famous question has been “How can we create a better understanding of sustainable energy and actually do something about it?” The hardship that we have taking on besides covid is timing. Read more
Continuing Support for Mastbaum
Recently, work has continued to focus on researching community organizations. One of the most prominent organizations I’ve found that aligns with student interest is the Charles Foundation. Founded in 2011, the Charles Foundation is community organization aimed at advocating for community safety, common-sense gun legislation, curbing the school-to-prison pipeline, and creating a supportive atmosphere for youth. Read more
Fostering a Sustainable Future at School of the Future
At School of the Future, students are most passionate about building school community through field trips to local places of interest. My teaching team is committed to finding valuable connections between this goal and sustainability issues. As of right now, the students have become interested in trips to the Discovery Center, local nursing homes, community gardens, and more through research. Read more
Abraham Lincoln High School: Wellness Area
Creating the sustainability program from the students has progressed. For me, I will be able to make more visits to assist the teacher and students until I graduate. In the extra visits, I expect to be able to assist with helping out in the wellness area and with the beautification process. Read more
Updates from Dobbins: We did camera training?
Hey! So last time we caught up, we talked about how Dobbins has identified their area of interest and has begun working on their project. If you missed that post, I’ll catch you up. The students at Dobbins are working towards creating a video that combines interviews, that represent various aspects of the community, on the effects and intersections of gun violence and environmental justice issues, such as food apartheid. Read more
Student Interest and Organizations at Mastbaum
I’ve been working with Jules E. Mastbaum Vocational School, a public school in the Kensington area. Students have expressed a deep interest and concern over several social issues, most notably gun violence and drug use, both of which affect safety around the school area. Students and teachers describe an environment around the school that isn’t conductive to learning or supporting students in pursuing their future, as they deal with larger social issues that affect them in adverse ways. Read more
Saul Students and Climate Anxiety
Over these past two weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of working with Bailey, a senior at Saul High School. Bailey’s project is centered around climate anxiety experienced among her peers and community. Through emails and in-person conversations, Bailey described to me that she spends a lot of her time thinking about life and the future of the world. Read more
Community Views, Survey Summaries, and Establishing Strategies for Increased Student Unity
Recent work on the EfS project has revolved around the distribution and analysis of a student survey. This survey looked to solicit Frankford students’ voices by defining how they view their respective communities in relation to their environments. Some examples of survey questions include:
- How do you think the environment relates to your home and neighborhood?
Focusing in at The U School
A challenge we have been facing at the U School is getting kids from all grade levels involved in sustainability action and awareness in their community. Because Anna teaches a senior level class, it has been easy to heavily involve the seniors with background building, community partners, and hearing their opinions on sustainability at the school. Read more
The Low Down on Saul
It’s week two and so far, I’ve worked with Greg and Rebecca to improve student driven projects. Greg’s class has a two-part project, with the students choosing a topic relating to environmentalism and their neighborhood. While the second part consist of a persuasive speech that is to be given to their peers. Read more
Lincoln Survey and Wellness
I am an alumnus of Abraham Lincoln High School from the class of 2017. My interest in the EFS/PHENND program is to see if I can be able to assist with creating a sustainability program at Abraham Lincoln High School and support the teacher & students. Our team consists of Paula Miller, Chandra Graham, and Maria Pishko as the teachers. Read more
Reclaiming at The U School
Over the past two weeks, Anna and I have been working on an air monitoring unit together. I have begun going back in person to class on Monday mornings to meet with Anna and work with the students. It has been really nice to catch up and talk to the students again. Read more
COVID-19 Stress, Community Partners, and Upcoming Strategies for Student Engagement
Over the past two weeks, I have spent my time collaborating with my Green Team associates on constructing a poll for students at Frankford Highschool. This poll seeks to further illuminate the current student knowledge base of environment-related issues, as well as bring forth the main topics they are interested in working on through this project. Read more
Dobbins High School: What’s been going on?
Last week Wednesday, Feb 2nd, I got to meet the students for the first time. From the start of the program in August through December we were moving very slowly. We were unable to get time during the school day for the program, so we moved it to an after school program but this presented a host of problems. Read more
Dobbins: my biased fav at the Student Symposium
Saturday, June 4th was the student symposium to end the EFS year! The morning consisted of a panel to reflect on the pros, cons, lessons learned and the like. In the afternoon students from the various schools set up stations to share what they worked on throughout the year. And the throughout the day we had raffles (I think I won the best thing). Read more