Parkway Northwest High School for Peace and Social Justice: Leadership Development at Haverford College

Posted by on December 16, 2011

The Parkway Northwest Student Community Development Center (also known as the “Peace Office”) was formed as a center within the school to promote partnerships between the school and the community and to promote the themes of peace and social justice within the school. The center serves as a safe space for students to work on projects,  find placements to fulfill Parkway’s 120 hours of service requirement, and hold student-run group meetings. The SCDC also facilitates student participation in Girltopia: a science and math club for girls, the POWER Internship at Temple, the Weavers Way Food Coop healthy snacks program, and a Peer mediation team. The SCDC also supports the SHARE program, which creates collaborative projects between teachers in different academic disciplines. The SCDC has been developing their Leadership Team this fall and the participating members most recently attended a weekend retreat at Haverford College. The SCDC is directed by long-standing service learning advocate and social studies teacher Mrs. Rachel King-Davis, who serves on the state’s service learning committee and is a tireless supporter of student voice in education. She constantly (after weekend or week-long events) says, “There’s some day I’m going to stop doing this”, with a quick acknowledgement that this won’t be any time soon because it’s the best way to see huge student transformations.

Contact [email protected] or 215-248-6669 for more information

Stephanie Strockis is a recent Haverford graduate who is part of the Haverford House Fellowship program. Every year, six graduating seniors are chosen as fellows and are supported by Haverford with housing and a small stipend. They are placed in non-profits all over Philadelphia in a variety of issue areas. Stephanie currently works full time at Parkway Northwest in Mt. Airy. I asked her to give a little background on why she chose Parkway as her placement:

“I don’t have an education background but I enjoy talking with young people and I really like talking with students about the issues that they face academically and socially. Last summer I worked with middle schoolers at Girls Inc. summer camp where girls engaged in  science, math and economics classes and gained sexual health and wellness and skills. There’s such a variety of issues you can tackle when you work with youth.”

Stephanie reported to me on the experiences of her students as well as the Haverford students who participated on the SCDC’s most recent weekend event:

It is amazing to see what young people are capable of when you give them the opportunity to lead and take on responsibilities for their school. Parkway Northwest High School for Peace and Social Justice is
lucky enough to have 15 young men and women representing the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades making the decision everyday to lead within the halls and classrooms of Parkway and beyond.

Our leadership team was selected by the Student Community Development Center (SCDC) of our school at the end of September, after an application process that included highlighting past experience, sharing ideas for bettering the school, and teacher recommendations. Trainings with the staff of the SCDC and outside organizations began immediately, and our team has risen to the occasion. The leadership team is in partnership with the Jefferson Awards for Public Service, a national organization that recognizes the efforts of young people throughout the country. Our team has been trained by Jefferson to nominate and award students at Parkway who show exemplary dedication to service and making their
community and the lives of the people around them better.

Representing Parkway Northwest throughout the city and beyond is also an important role of the leadership team. Our students were invited by PHENND to be the only high school students present at the public lecture by Dr. Andy Furco, entitled “Service-Learning and Community Engagement” at the School District. Attending a school where service learning is an integral part of curriculum equipped our students to ask thoughtful questions. All of our members who attended jumped at the chance to greet and speak with Penny Nixon, Associate Superintendent of Schools. The opportunity to represent their school is something the leadership team takes very seriously, practicing and reviewing public speaking skills and all relevant material before an appearance.

In December, our team completed an overnight, two-day retreat at Haverford College, sharpening speaking skills, developing their own codes of ethics, and bonding as a group. On the first day, the students worked together with or SCDC staff to grapple with “ethical fitness” and what kind of values great leaders should possess. Some of the most important qualities selected were compassion, honesty, and responsibility. Completing skits and collages that explored who they were as leaders helped them figure out what values they already had. After hours of training, the team clonked out at the Haverford Friends Meeting House, who graciously hosted us.

The next day, our team was treated to a top-notch tour of Haverford by one of the school’s multicultural interns, who praised the merits of a small school that has great resources and provides a lot of personal
attention from professors and on-campus programs. All of our team members were buzzing with the excitement of being on a college campus. Sudden bursts of “I can’t wait to go to college!” and “Look at that!” were common throughout the tour. As a Haverford alum myself, I am very familiar with the strengths of the college, from its beautiful campus, small classes and personable professors, to its diverse student
population. It was easy for the students to fall in love with Haverford on the tour, even proposing to our guide that he come work at Parkway next year after my fellowship year is complete.

After the tour, we joined the members of the Black Students League at lunch, so that our students could ask questions about college life and learn about the importance of minority leadership on college campuses and beyond. Discussing the difficulty of college work and what they should do to prepare for it was a main focus, along with what it is like to be a minority on a majority white campus and if the college
students ever felt like they had to prove themselves to other students. These kinds of discussion between high school and college students are imperative for youth to understand what it takes to get in and stay in college, along with social issues that can arise when one leaves the environment they are accustomed to.

Lunch with the BSL students bolstered our team’s excitement about the prospects of college, and gave an excellent lead into our afternoon of team building exercises. The afternoon had students running around campus, doing a blindfolded trust walk, and figuring out what it takes to have teams succeed together. At the end of the day the students said they didn’t want to leave! We hope to take a larger group of promising students back to Haverford in the spring for a day of activities and introduction to college life.

It is with this talent, skill, and enthusiasm that our team approaches all challenges and opportunities, and why they are simply ecstatic to have their proposed workshop of “Our World, Our Future: Let’s Promote
Human Rights to Everyone!” has been accepted to National Service-Learning Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, April 11-14, 2012. This is not only a fantastic way for our students to teach others about the importance of human rights, but also to learn about new subjects and meet other student leaders from around the country. They can’t wait!