Day 1 – Our introduction to Philadelphia

Hi all, this is Brandyn again! This has been quite a busy first day, and I’m still swept up in all the discussion and insights we’ve shared in today.  We started out this morning with a relaxed, low key drive up to the city.  Within no time we had arrived at the beautiful First Presbyterian Baptist Church of Philadelphia, our new home for the week.  After we unpacked our bags and got acclimated to our environment we had our first interaction with the education system.  Oscar, a college student studying political science, came to speak with us about his experience as an intern working with the School Reform Committee (SRC).  His words were really impressive, he was incredibly well informed about the workings of education policy in the Philadelphia system (especially considering that’s he’s a senior in college just like me). 

                After our discussion with Oscar regarding school policy, we were treated to a tour of the church by Christian.  He works primarily as the religious educator, but has also served as a gracious host to our trip team thus far.  After touring the church, Christian began to speak on the church and how integrated it is with the community, which in turn lead to discussion of the education system and its impact as seen through his eyes.  As Christian spoke more and more at length about the impact that closing schools had on the community, it was easy to see just how passionate he is about improving the education.  This stems from his identity of a father of two and an active community leader, and after hearing from Oscar it was a really cool juxtaposition of viewpoints. 

                Our last guest speaker was Mr. Wyancey, who is serving as our liason at Overbrook High school, where we’ll be working for the next week.  He has worked at different schools in the area, and has also been a consistent partner with the UMD Alternative Break program, so it is reassuring to know that our point of contact has experience both within the school system and with us university students.  His stories and perspective were from the point of education and education support, as he helps the students stay engaged with school through a variety of after school programs.  He was very forthcoming with the history of the school, the current culture among the students and educators, and the challenges faced by all who are working to improve the education system from within the halls of the school. 

It goes without saying that we have all had a long, informative day.  And while I may be tired from the traveling and the processing of all this new information, I’m grateful that my work at Overbrook High School was prefaced with such a unique combination of perspectives on the issue of childhood education in the city of Philadelphia.

I think that’s a pretty good recap of all of today’s events.  You’ll be hearing from some of the other participants about their perspectives and experiences as the days continue, so stay tuned. 

Signing off for the night,

Brandyn