Community Schools is my Jawn. #summerintern

After doing my 15-week student teaching internship at Walter Biddle Saul High School in Philadelphia, I was not ready to leave this beautiful city. Since I had an eye opening experience learning about the Philadelphia education system, I decided to intern with the Penn State Center in Philadelphia to work with the Community Schools Task Force to help start the conversation of helping schools back into underfunded neighborhoods in lower income areas.

Wait, what is a community school again?

A community school involves the community surrounding it to come together to create a democratic environment for everyone that chooses to get involved. This strategy includes several needed resources that give not only the physical paper and pens to the students, but answers the needs of the school through outlets of counseling, nursing, after school programs for students and even adults, to create a community hub for that area.

So where does that leave me and this internship?

After discussing with my boss about the impact that could potentially happen with me in Philadelphia and talking with the partners involved, the best idea was to jump on in! Right?

Being assigned to catch up on the years of struggle in one city and the impact that it has had in the education reform has been challenging. Countless hours of research, learning that there sometimes isn’t black and white when it comes to these issues, and learning that I can play a role in this system has been an incredible experience so far!

Some of my roles and responsibilities include:

- Learning a world view and approach that takes in to account power and privilege and systematic inequalities in public education

- Becoming familiar with the perspectives of stakeholders in the Philadelphia Community Schools Strategy

- Developing the initial public face for Penn State's Community School approach through the means of multimedia (i.e. blogging and video/audio)

- Participating in collaborative reflection and curriculum design for the Community Schools Ambassador program

Overall, becoming comfortable in the roles that I am given to communities that I am speaking to has been an amazing time learning about myself and others.

Keep your eye out for posts that will not only include my time here in Philadelphia, but a background and story about what is going on with the education system that is happening in our own backyard.