Couldn't learn it unless I was HERE #reflection

This Penn State Community Engagement Office in Philadelphia provides unique opportunity to learn about different outlooks and a culture that I couldn’t learn anywhere else. Although the Penn State University Park prepares you the best of their ability for the outside world and prepares you to expand your brain to critically think, they could not have prepared me for this internship.

In Philadelphia, there are different boroughs and neighborhoods that have unique personalities. For example, in West Philly you will have your hipster, trendy individuals that thrive on coffee and would be lost without it or for comparison, you travel Center City where the “suit culture” is alive and well or you go down to South Philly where there is an activist on every corner standing in front of beautiful art work. This city creates a unique melting plot of individuals that come together to form this city of Philadelphia. Although all of them are different, when there is an issue or a call for change into action, these cut out boroughs are not afraid to come together to become agents of change. But what is the change that is happening right now? Solving the problem of the inequities of the public education system in lower income neighborhoods in Philadelphia through the Community Schools Initiative.

The Community Schools Initiative is designed to open a dialogue to stakeholders who are overlooked in a public conversation, implement an Ambassador Program to build leadership among parents, teachers, and community members, bridge a conversation between community members and the Mayor’s Office, and develop public awareness about Community Schools. A lot of awesome work for communities who have been overlooked and not heard from at all when it regards their communities.

Conversations and being comfortable talking to diverse populations about the hard topics is something that I never thought I would do. After realizing that these conversations needed to happen and communities depended on talking about these issues to spread the awareness was crucial to change to be implemented. These are the things that couldn’t learn anywhere else. I couldn’t learn how to identify populations in one city, feel comfortable talking about the inequities that are happening to this day, and I couldn’t create a story about the public education system in Philadelphia without being here to experience it myself.