Power of Place: Visions for Our Mill Creek Neighborhood

Mr. Campbell's Eighth-Grade Class
Spring 1997

Glenn Campbell:

This project has been a labor of love. We began in September 1996, not unlike the world's great explorers-unsure of what lay ahead, but ready to meet any challenges which awaited us. Professor Anne Whiston Spirn's courses from the University of Pennsylvania, "Transforming the Urban Landscape" and "Power of Place: Water, Schools, and History, were the vehicles which allowed my students to teach each other. As they shared knowledge and research methods, both groups of students used cultural exploration to shatter cultural and academic myths and create a powerful partnership across secondary school and university levels. Together, we developed a curriculum for the millennium, drawing on the rich geography and diverse demographic past of West Philadelphia's Mill Creek community.

This dynamic study of Mill Creek was the catalyst which caused learning for my students to become "real." I endeavored daily to teach across the curriculum, incorporating every phase of the Mill Creek Project into math, Science, and Social Studies. As both student groups collaborated, an interesting synergy developed. Surely we increased our knowledge base; however, for me, the most significant achievement was the genuine sense of mutual respect which developed. I feel certain all students (and teachers) ultimately gained a profound understanding of the "power of their place."

I express my appreciation to Professor Anne Spirn, the students from Penn, my special students from Sulzberger's section 281, and all who helped to make this experience "real."

Anne Whiston Spirn:

In fall 1996, my students at the University of Pennsylvania and I embarked on an adventure with teachers and students at the Sulzberger Middle School. Our goal was to explore how a new curriculum organized around "The Urban Watershed" could combine learning, community development, and water resource management. This book is one product of that quest.

The whole neighborhood was the classroom with the school at the center. At the heart of the story was Mill Creek, a stream which once flowed across the field where the school playground is now, and still does flow, buried in a sewer which runs right past the school.

Together, Penn and Sulzberger students learned to read the neighborhood's landscape, to trace its past, understand its present, and envision its future. The tools they used were their own eyes and imagination, the place itself, and primary documents - old maps, photographs, tax records, census tables, stream-railroad timetables, city plans - windows into otherwise hidden dimensions. Penn students gathered these materials and shared them with the eighth graders. Sulzberger students made drawings, conducted interviews, and even wrote a rap song about Mill Creek and it effect on their neighborhood. Penn students designed outdoor classrooms for water play, study, and storm water detentionon vacant lots around the school and over the old creek. The eighth graders decided to do the same, and this book is the result: The visions of an extraordinary group of students for the future of their neighborhood.

This book, inspiring as it is, is the tip of the iceberg of what happened that year. The learning was magical. Everyone was both teacher and student. I am grateful to Glenn Campbell, master teacher and learner, the wonderful group of kids in SMS 281, and the dedicated Penn teacher-learners in "Transforming the Urban Landscape" and " Power of Place."

Credits:

This book presents the work of students in Glenn Campbell's eighth grade class during 1996-1997. Martin Knox proposed making the book as a way to document that work, designed it, and supervised its production in May-June 1997. He , Charles Neer, and Elizabeth McPherson, hekd a drawing workshop at Sulzberger to help the class present their ideas in drawings and produced the book. Yu-Ting Lee assisted with the production.

Support for this project was provided by grants from thePhiladelphia Urban Resources Partnership, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and by the Graduate School of Fine Arts,and the Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania. We are also grateful to Janet Samuels, University-City High School Cluster Leader and Patricia Parente-Sophia, Acting Principal of Sulzberger Middle School, and Hayward Ford, President of Aspen Farm Community Garden for their support.

"Your great ideas show your special care for your own neighborhood. With visionaries like you, Philadelphia's future will be great!"

Edward G. Rendell
Mayor of Philadelphia

"Anyone with any doubts about the power of our young people in shaping the future of our City and its neighborhoods should read this book. I commend this pioneering effort of these young "city planners" in envisioning greener neighborhoods for Philadelphia in the 21st Century."

Happy Fernandez
Councilwoman-At-Large

"Congradulations and best wishes to the excellent eighth graders at Sulzberger! Your creative ideas and plans will save your community. I am proud you in City Council."

Jannie L. Blackwell
Councilwoman

"What an extraordinary thing you are accomplishing! You are healing the land and learning from it as well. You're bringing nature back to your community. You're creating power places and sacred places that people will enjoy for generations. I hope you continue your work - that this will light a fire in you to continue."

Susan Mockenhaupt
National Urban Resources Partnership Coordinator

"I am amazed by both the sophistication and simplicity of these design ideas. I encourage the Sulzberger students to continue developing their neighborhood vision and their interedt in natural resources."

Patrice Carroll
Director of Philadelphia Urban Resources Partnership

"How exciting to see young people involved in and concerned aboout the environment and their community."

State Representative Kathy Manderino

"I would love a copy of your book to show teachers that I work with the wonderful, creative work that can be done by middle school students. I train teachers and work with students in urban watershed education. Your book is inspiring. Thank You!"

Vivian Williams
Stroud Water Research Center of
The Academy of Natural Sciences

"A perfect example of young minds at work when steered in a positive direction."

Hayword J. Ford
President of Aspen Farms Community Garden

" 'This project has been a labor of love,' Mr. Campbell, Teacher. The transforming power of love is again apparent. This is a fantastic project and I hope it is replicated!"

Phyllis Martini
Director of economic Development
Impact Services Corp.