Photo from Drexel.edu.
Two West Philly schools received a hefty financial boost this week.
The Exelon Foundation and PECO are donating $500,000 to Drexel University, which will use the funds to develop new STEAM (science, technology, art, engineering, and math) courses at two neighborhood schools – Samuel Powel and Morton McMichael.
The PECO and Drexel partnership to create new educational opportunities for local students began in 2011 with a $1 million grant for the University Assisted Schools (UAS) Initiative, which focuses on the unique needs of Powel and McMichael schools. Since its inception “the program to improve educational options and learning opportunities for students in the Mantua and Powelton communities ha[s] been incredibly successful,” Drexel President John A. Fry said in a statement.
The program provides universal screening of all students’ literacy and math skills, development of a unique schedule for academic enrichment and intervention, development of a customized education plan for every student, and more. Also, K-8 students at McMichael and K-4 students at Powel have been visiting or received instruction from representatives of the University City Science Center, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Franklin Institute, the Philadelphia Zoo, and the Mural Arts Program.
More information about the grant and the program is available here.
June 15th, 2015 at 5:45 pm
Although it is nice that this donation has been made, in terms of the amount of money Drexel takes in versus giving back to the community this is like giving a homeless person $1000 bucks and telling them to make a new life. Not to mention this money would be much better just given to the actual school and have them decide what needs improvement. Also I am sure some of the pay that goes into this project will come from this money, which probably will shave a big chunk off of it. I also am not a huge fan of assessments and tests of students because you can learn much more by actually just talking to them. I do admit that this is a great start but not enough from a school that makes such a profit from being in this community. To be honest I also may be a bit biased of Drexel considering I went to their grad school and I can tell you they didn’t care much for the actual students they taught. I was actually harassed in their student teaching program and then blamed for it and given no support at all, so its hard to trust that their intention is actually coming from a place of actually being caring and generous versus not just doing this as a publicity stunt. When they build a few more much needed schools and programs then I will have more faith in their intention.