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Two teachers from Christopher Columbus Charter School, 1242 S. 13th St., have been working together to establish a sustainable learning experience for their middle school students.
“The difference they have made takes a team,” their nominator Susan Patrone, a past president for the Columbus Square Advisory Council and 2010 Difference Maker, said.
Within seven years, Leah Vodila, a Minnesota native, and Teri Ruiz, originally from New Jersey, helped to incorporate a green club and establish a recycling program for paper products at the school; transform Columbus Square Park, 1200 Wharton St., into a safe and fun playing environment for the neighborhood children; pair with the Philadelphia Water Department to implement stormwater infiltration planters on the sidewalk; and start a learning garden for students to gain hands-on education.
“It started by working with [Patrone] in my regular classroom,” Vodila, a 12th-and-Reed-streets resident with husband David, said. “We went and we surveyed the park to look for ways to look for improvement. Then from there, the kids got involved with the cleanups twice a year, in the fall and spring, with the community, school and [advisory council].
Ruiz, the green club advisor, who teaches sixth-grade language arts and science, said it’s because of Vodila, a seventh-grade literature and math teacher, that she got involved.
“None of this would have happened if [Patrone] didn’t pull [Vodila] in, [Vodila] didn’t pull me in,” Ruiz, 50, said. “It was a collaborative effort.”
The recycling program and other sustainable after-school activities were started shortly after the founding of the green club, which was attainable from a 2009 Foundations Inc. grant, when a student expressed interest in a recycling initiative to Ruiz.
“Now the kids run the show pretty much,” Vodila, 36, who served in the U.S. Army for three years after receiving her degree in elementary education from Ohio’s University of Daytona, said. “Two eighth-graders go around at the end of the day to pick up trash and recycling. It’s still going, three years strong.”
“There’s so much paper use in a school,” Ruiz, a former newspaper photographer who later went to Holy Family University for elementary education, added. “So even after a quarter is done, the kids will clean out their folders and [now] they know to recycle their papers.”
The green club is also in charge of the infiltration planters on the sidewalk and maintaining the learning garden in the Passyunk Square-based park.
“The green club grew seedlings on my [classroom] window, and we started planting the basil and tomato plants with the preschool,” Ruiz, who resides with husband Miguel at 12th and Gerritt streets, said. “The big kids taught the little kids how to plant [the seeds]. It was amazing.”
Ruiz said the idea is for the students to start not only growing, but tasting fresh vegetables and fruits.
“[This is about] taking ownership of the park and what’s around us,” Ruiz said. “And at the same time learning about science and having fun and really learning what community is about.”
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
Other 2012 Difference Makers
/ Joe Barbuto / Ella Best / Paul Bryson / Nicole Canale /
/ Jasmaine, Jeannine & Jenielle Cook / Erin Dougherty /
/ Duane Davis / Frank Franzini / Adé Fuqua / Bennie & Hilda Hudson /
/ Ray Innaurato / Ed McBride / Jeannine McGuire / Carrolyn Minggia /
Teri Ruiz & Leah Vodila / Jeffrey Rush / Rev. John Stabeno /
/ Marina Stamos / Anne Stanfield-Hagert / Charles Stecker / Megan West /
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