Tuesday, November 30th: Half-day and trip to Harcum

Today was a half day at Parkway because report cards came out. All of the girls were in an assembly about...issues related to women. Which meant we got some quality time with Ramire, Aaron, Marc, and Dorian (Luis was nowhere to be found).


After school four students took a trip out to Harcum College, around the corner from Bryn Mawr, where we met with an admissions counselor and toured the campus. We had a great trip and learned a lot more about the programs they offer in Early Childhood Education, Fashion Design/Merchandising, & Nursing.

Afterwards we had lunch in Haffner dinning hall where we ran into some of the college students from SSB!

Everyone liked Harcum despite the rainy weather.

Posing after lunch at Haffner dining hall at Bryn Mawr.

Tuesday, November 23rd: Photography, Music, and more College Applications

Student Success Block in the news!

This week, an article about the collaboration between Bryn Mawr/Haverford College students and Parkway West seniors through the Student Success Block was featured in an article on Bryn Mawr's website!

Here is a link to the article-- which has links to this blog, one of our photo sites, and Dorian's film from the mural!  

SSB article on Bryn Mawr College's website

Thursday, Oct 21st: Trip to Bryn Mawr College

On Thursday the Student Success Block class came to Bryn Mawr for the whole day!

Below is everything that we did while we were there:

SSB students posing for a class photo at Pem Arch.

Nate' Hall from the Admissions Office spoke to the class about various components of the college applications/admissions process. 

Ariel and Jomaria facilitated a panel of four current Haverford and Bryn Mawr students answered questions about their own path to college, what challenges they have faced, and what they have done to be successful. Thanks to Emilyn Sosa (HC '11),  Joe Howard (HC '11), Sharaai Marreo (BMC '13), and Mickecia Witherspoon (BMC '12) for being on the panel!

On our way to lunch we stopped at Pem Arch for a photo.

After the panel we went to lunch in the Erdman dining hall with the filmmaker of "First Person" and Steve, Malikka, and Mario from the film. Anna & Elly surprised us in the dining hall with cupcakes!!

The next stop was Professor Jody Cohen's "Identity, Access, and Innovation in Education" class. We joined the students in the class (who also come to Parkway once a week) and Ben, Steve, Mario, and Malikka from 'First Person' for an interactive panel about the film, the issues it raised, and our work together as college and high school students thinking about our individual and collective futures. 

After the Education class we were on to the art studio at Bryn Mawr to be trained as assistants for the mural paint day the following week. 

Shira projected a portion of the mural design on the wall and showed us how she was tracing it on to the parachute cloth we would paint. 

During the Mural Class everyone said what they wanted to do on the paint day (work on the scaffolding, work on the ground, work with kids activities, focus on detail, etc). 

After a long day of college classes there was some leaf throwing before finally boarding the bus and heading back to Parkway!

The trip to Bryn Mawr was a great success! It was wonderful to have our class at Bryn Mawr alongside the college students. 

Friday, October 15th: PA state college & "First Person" documentary

Focus on: 

Public College and Universities in PA

&

The Documentary Film First Person

"Because making it to college costs more than you think."

On Friday Adrienne did a wonderful presentation on some of the benefits of attending a PA state college or university. 

Adrienne's presentation on PA State schools

Adrienne profiled 9 schools from the PA State System of Higher Education in order of their proximity to Philadelphia. The list of schools was:

-Cheyney University

-West Chester University

-Kutztown University

-Millersville University

-Shippensburg University

-Lock Haven University

-Mansfield University

-Clarion University

-California University

Adrienne started by addressing the question:

Why State Schools?


In Pennsylvania we have 34 universities and nearly 500,000 students attending public universities. This includes Penn State Branch Campus and the Penn State System of Higher Education and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PSSHE).


AFFORDABLE: Tuition at System universities is $5,554 per year for Pennsylvanian undergraduate students.

 Board and room charges vary, as do local fees.

LOTS OF SCHOLARSHIPS: The PASSHE Foundation supports all 14 PASSHE universities by providing scholarships to their students. Over the past three years, the Foundation awarded nearly 700 scholarships totaling almost $2 million.

QUALITY the PA State System of Higher Education, they can offer you the benefits of a private college for the price of a public one!

We spent the second portion of class watching the first half of the documentary film "First Person." The movie follows 6 Philadelphia high school students and their attempts to make it to college.  Next week when the students from the SSB come to Bryn Mawr they will attend an Education class where First Person filmmaker, Ben Herold, will be helping to facilitate the class. Additionally, some of the students from the film will also be in class.

Wednesday, Oct 13th: Mid-course feedback & FOLDERS!

On Wednesday Parkway students responded to three questions to provide feedback on how the class is going for them so far. The three questions were:

-What is going well for you in this class?
-What would you like to see go differently?
-What can you do to maximize your learning in this class?

After writing in response to these questions we discussed how the class wanted to work together as a classroom community. Out of this conversation also came ideas about how the class wanted to engage with a wider community outside of this class and outside of Parkway. Parkway students talked about wanted to see more of balance between the "mural" aspects of the class and the "college access" focus. Students also expressed an interest in visiting area colleges as a group and doing community service projects in the neighborhood.

Student responses to the question: "How do you want this class to work together as a community?"

The 2nd half of class Jomaira and Zanny worked with students individually in the hall to put together folders of information and documents related to their college search process. The folders will stay in the classroom in hanging file folders in one of the cabinets. Over the next week we will continue to work with each student in the class to put together a folder of information, deadlines, goals, and next steps.

Jomaria, Aaron, and Dominique talking after class

Welcome to the Student Success Block (SSB) Blog!

What is the Student Success Block??

The Basics:

• The SSB is a two-block class that meets every day at Parkway West HS.

• The class is for Parkway seniors during 7th & 8th period and is their internship class.

• The SSB has TWO main focuses:

• College Access

                     and

•  Community Arts

• SSB is co-taught by the Parkway West HS/Bryn Mawr College Partnership Coordinator (Zanny Alter) and over 20 Bryn Mawr and Haverford College students who serve as facilitators of the class and mentors.

• The high school and college students will be focused on collaborating on a Philadelphia Mural Arts Program Mural, which will be painted on Health Center 4, two blocks from Parkway (44th & Haverford). 

• The high school and college students will also focus on visioning and planning for their future, as it relates to college and career plans.