January 17, 2008 Issue
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Classified Chestnut Hill Local Don't Miss an Issue, Tell us what you see or Winner of Two |
Local NewsSpiral Q brings Jenks students together with art
Eighth grader Sharifa Garvey came into the art classroom at the J. S. Jenks Elementary School and greeted Robin Kearney with a huge hug that lifted the short, redheaded fifth grader off the ground. Moments like these are not common in a school where students sit in a classroom with other students at their grade level all day long and socialize only with those peers. Students admittedly rarely talk to students in lower grades, let alone greet them with large, friendly hugs. But the 17 students that participated in the Spiral Q art program at Jenks spent an entire semester learning how to work with students on various grade levels.
On Monday, Jan. 21, nationwide hundreds of thousands of volunteers will hit the streets to carry out neighborhood service projects in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy of civil rights and community advocacy. While the man behind the national holiday has inspired projects across the country, it was a Mt. Airy native who first helped to inspire the service learning projects that dominate what would otherwise be just another day off from school and work. Todd Bernstein was working with Harris Wofford, the future U.S. Senator, in the office of Governor Robert Casey in 1988, two years after Martin Luther King day was declared a federal holiday. Bernstein, founder and director of the Greater Philadelphia King Day of Service, said that, at the time, he and Wofford were sitting around contemplating the new holiday, distressed over America’s inclination to honor these holidays by simply taking the day off. “The irony was that so many people fought for the recognition of King as a federal holiday, yet for millions it was just another day off with little or no recognition of King,” Bernstein said last week, sitting in his home-away-from-home, the High Point Café in Mt. Airy. “It seemed, in many ways, like a wasted opportunity.”
Nutter connects crime to school issues in Mt. Airy talk
In his first Mt. Airy appearance as Mayor, Michael Nutter spoke at the Germantown Jewish Centre on Jan. 12, making a connection between educational problems and the city’s crime rate. His remarks, though peppered with humor, focused on the city’s educational deficiencies, from school district funding to college graduation levels. The crowded temple audience was receptive yet critical. “We [Philadelphia] have a 45 percent dropout rate,” Nutter said, referring to the school district’s high school dropout rate. “We are the fifth largest city, Phoenix notwithstanding,” Nutter said, jokingly. “I keep hearing that Phoenix claims to be the fifth largest city in the country and that they have dry heat. It’s 107 degrees — I don’t care if it’s dry or wet.” With only 18 percent of those working in the city holding bachelor’s degrees coupled with the highest wage tax and poverty rate in the country, Nutter said a high crime rate was no surprise.
Looking to volunteer in the community? The Chestnut Hill Community Association was founded in 1947 by a group of dedicated residents wanting to improve this community. In the words of the first chairman of the association, Sidney B. Dexter, the association was organized “to coordinate the efforts of the community in securing the improvements which were so much desired by the residents and business people of the Hill” (Source: Suburb In the City, David R. Contosta).
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