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The first day of school is still about one month away, but that didn’t prevent students and families from braving the heat for a mid-summer visit to South Philadelphia High School, 2101 S. Broad St. to roam the hallways of the Lower Moyamensing institution and take advantage of the School District of Philadelphia’s annual Back to School Education Extravaganza.
The nine-hour gathering featured workshops for kindergartners through 12thgraders, including the “Philly Students Got Talent” show — a local take on NBC reality series “America’s Got Talent.”
Darby Township seventh-grader Daiyon Lowman, 13, said he enjoyed attending the event with his cousins, who live in South Philly.
“I got some stuff for college, high-school and after-school programs and tutoring and all-around help,” he said.
This marked the second time Southern has hosted the one-day extravaganza, which was sponsored by Forman Mills, Elliott-Lewis and Comcast. About 10,000 book bags equipped with school supplies — like pencils and notebooks — and 7,500 water bottles were donated. Having easy access to public transportation was one of several factors in selecting the 105-year-old school.
“What we’ve learned early on is that it makes it more authentic when it’s held at a school, as opposed to the administration building where we used to hold it our previous years,” Claudia Averette, deputy chief of the Office of Parent, Family and Community Engagement, said.
The event also served as a golden opportunity to shine a positive light on Southern, which back in 2009 was at the center of ethnic controversy and racial violence.
“It isn’t what drew us here, but it made a great statement to say that we are one, and we will continue to work as one,” Averette said. “I think we’ve done a lot of healing in this community. I think we’ve done a lot of work together. And I think today is representative of the work that we have done here at South Philadelphia High School.”
Averette helped to plan this year’s back-to-school event through the administration’s central Broad Street office in North Philadelphia.
“The beauty of this event is that it’s not a snatch and grab. It’s not come, get materials, throw it in the bag and then leave and go home,” Averette said. “This is really an educational opportunity for our students and our parents.”
Parent workshops at the event included distribution of Title I information, multilingual services, understanding Pennsylvania System of School Assessments and more.
Center City’s Turning Points for Children, one of the oldest service agencies in the country, participated by offering an array of information to families in need of community resources.
“We have many programs that pretty much help to try to strengthen their family bond and try to keep their family together. So it’s really to empower them, connect them with services and keep them safe,” Dyana Reid, a staff member for Turning Point’s Family Empowerment Services, said.
Reid said she was at the event to give information out and to be a partner with all the various Philadelphia agencies.
“We’re all here doing pretty much the same thing, trying to keep our children safe in the city, access the needs of the families in the area, prepare them to go back to school and let them know that education is definitely important,” Reid said.
Reid said back to school events are important for Philadelphia students, who are often exposed to many challenges.
“Our children are experiencing so much so they need programs like this that actually encourage them and help them and get them some tools so that they can prepare for school,” Reid said.
Organized by the PhillyGoes2College office, which is a referral center within Mayor Michael Nutter’s Office of Education, the college pavilion was a new feature this year. Many local universities and colleges were represented by School District of Philadelphia’s alumni.
“It gives our children a real promise to know that it’s not just their parents and their teachers saying that you have to go on, but then it’s their peers that are saying that ‘you can do it because I’ve done it too,’” Averette said.
Students striving for the spotlight were able to show off their skills via the “Philly Students Got Talent” show, which was a highlight of the day with students competing for netbooks, tickets to Jay-Z’s Made in America concert taking place Sept. 1 and 2 on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and more. Pupils from across the city participated in a two-day audition process with 12 students from the district — including six from South Philly — picked to perform onstage.
Jalen Hoang from South Philly rapped his way to a bronze medal.
Incoming superintendent William Hite was present for the event’s kickoff with the School Reform Commission chair Pedro Ramos and Nutter.
“I think it’s a great start for this year and I really think this is a new beginning for the school system,” Marc Adelman, archivist chair from the South Philadelphia High School Alumni Association, said. “Our new superintendent was here today … he’s given me some hope that there will be a new start here.”
Adelman, a 1957 Southern graduate, was at the event to recruit new members and be a face of support for parents, alumni, teachers and the school.
“It’s gonna take communication, it’s gonna take being out front of these students and being out front of these teachers and being out front of parents to say, ‘Your kid is our kid and we support them,’” Adelman said.
It is up to volunteers to encourage new programs, and the back-to-school extravaganza is a great depiction of that, he said.
“They have to see that people not just wanna give them things but wanna care for them … because, being honest with you, even though these kids come from 15 different cultural backgrounds, … they’re still kids, they’re still children, they’re eager to learn, and we’re eager to let them know that we’re here and care about their learning.”
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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