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Academy Charter School students get new experience with community service

Junior Nadia Bazmore, 16, paints a picnic table green during the "Get Ur Good On" day of service May 26 at the Academy Charter School in Baldwin Borough.

From the back yard of The Academy Charter School in Baldwin Borough, students can see the Pittsburgh skyline as well as the rooftops of some of the city's oldest neighborhoods -- communities where they grew up and got off track.

When they enter the school's campus, once a J&L Steel research facility, it is often the last chance they have to earn a high school diploma. The school exclusively admits court-adjudicated adolescents from Pittsburgh.

Combining curriculum and counseling, trade skills and team sports, the 200-student charter school has earned Adequate Yearly Progress, a hallmark based on standardized test scores that is achieved by fewer than 40 percent of urban public high schools, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

As students look at the view from their campus of the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning, they may change their perception of higher education, seeing it as an attainable goal rather than a missed opportunity. Similarly, some of them change their own life stories.

That's what attracted Meg Schreck, an assistant with the nonprofit Pittsburgh Cares, to partner with the school for "a new way to volunteer" called "Get Ur Good On."

"These kids have so much potential," she said. "[Volunteering] helps them realize they don't need to be labeled in a negative way."

During a day of community service recently held at the academy, 50 of the school's juniors and seniors rotated to various stations. They made pillows for a women's shelter, assembled care packages for the homeless, decorated candles for a school for blind people and painted picnic tables for veterans. In addition, they attended a college fair.

"Most of these kids grow up thinking of community service as a bad thing. This is an opportunity for them to see that it can be fun and rewarding," said Bill Styche, the school's executive director.

Emphasizing community service and teamwork while building social skills and self-esteem is part of the curriculum, he said.

"We have a unique student, and we have to educate in a unique way," he said. "For most of these kids, it's their last chance to get an education."

Orion Muldrow, one of those students, will graduate this year. When he was enrolled two years ago, his social skills were so poor that he didn't talk to people, Mr. Styche said.

"Now he's giving a speech at graduation this year as the class valedictorian," Mr. Styche said.

Orion is going to Clarion University in the fall and plans to major in education.

"I just want to help people," he said.

On the community service day when the temperature came close to reaching 90 degrees, he sat under tents with classmates, making no-sew pillows.

"This is very different," he said. "I'm making a purple and green pillow for the women's shelter. I've never done anything like this before."

Another senior and classmate, Charles Ellis, agreed.

Charles, attending his first college fair, said: "There are some schools here I've never even heard of. It's a big thing to get these schools here."

Among the schools represented were California University of Pennsylvania, Thiel College, Geneva College and several trade schools and technical institutes.

Charles isn't sure where he wants to go to college, but he's certain he wants to go.

One thing, he said, that he has learned at the charter school is "if there's something you really want to do, go for it. The goal is not that far away."

One of the goals of the teaching staff is fulfilled by the day of service, according to Ashley Contristano, who has been an English teacher at the school for the past three years.

"We try to teach the students to really work together, and they're learning the value of reaching out to the community at the same time," she said. "It is so nice seeing them working together and having fun."

Candy Woodall, freelance; suburbanliving@post-gazette.com.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10154/1062658-55.stm#ixzz0vUtXBVg0
 

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