Ebony graduated from Temple this past May with a major in Adult and Organizational Development and a minor in History. Ebony is a photographer, people watcher, and museum hopper. Ebony is a former 12+ Temple Chapter volunteer, and she now comes to 12+ as a Fellow at KHSA.

Vianca offered the warmest welcome to the new Fellows at Kensington Health Sciences Academy. She was the first student I met at KHSA and since that day our relationship has blossomed. The foundation of our bond started with our mutual love for art. We share images we have captured, drawings, poetry, and creative writings. Gaining this bond with Vianca is just one of the many things I’d like to highlight about my journey as a fellow. I interviewed Vianca about her experiences with 12+ and her involvement with the PLUS Center this year. During my interview with Vianca, I asked her to share as much as she was comfortable with. We also took a few pictures as we walked the streets surrounding KHSA.

So, tell me about yourself!
“My name is Vianca. I always wanted to have my grandma's last name, Cancel, but my dad said no! I love photography, drawing, poetry, and writing stories. I’ll be a writer one day. I love interacting with people! Like if someone needs help or advice, I love talking and helping people through personal problems. I think I get that from my dad. He is my biggest inspiration. He gets advice from his aunt all the time and passes her advice to me. I also want to learn Spanish, so I can talk to her.”

Read on for more...

Ciara is a Jersey girl and Yankees fan (we don't hold it against her), who graduated from Southern Connecticut State with a double major in Library Science and Psychology and William Paterson University with her masters in Clinical and Counseling Psychology. Outside of 12+, you can find Ciara running and exploring Philly with her dogs, Rocco and Curtis. Ciara brings her wide range of celebrity impersonations and humor to the Kensington Health Sciences Academy PLUS Center this year. 

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” I find myself asking some variation of this question daily. As seniors at Kensington Health Sciences are finalizing college applications, juniors and underclassman are beginning to chat about their college plans. My first questions always pertains to, “Well, what do you want to do?” Some students launch into detailed descriptions of their ideal job, degree and even anticipated salary. Other students list five to ten unrelated career paths, with intention of conquering the entire list. Others still, respond with a blank stare flavored with a horrifying realization of the future. I was oblivious to the pressure conveyed with my question until I was put in the hot seat myself. 

Read on for more...

Shaunette (call her Shaunie) is a Brooklyn-grown graduate from Daemen College. She comes to 12+ after working in marketing and sales at highly innovative software company. Shaunie is obsessed with reality TV and hair design. This year, her sparkling personality and positive energy fills the Kensington Health Sciences PLUS Center. 

My life as a Fellow revolves around the Kensington Health Sciences Academy (KHSA) PLUS Center. This year the KHSA Team, also known as K-Squad, is an all-female team. Since the beginning of the school year, only the students that are frequent visitors to the Plus Center remember our names. Therefore, we have retired our official names and now respond simultaneously to any student that say, “Miss.” Although the majority of students have not yet learned my name, the past two months of my Fellowship experience has been phenomenal.

Read on for more from Shaunie...

Jennifer (call her Jenn) comes to 12+ after graduating from Bryn Mawr College with a degree in English. Outside of Penn Treaty, where she serves as a Fellow, you can find Jenn at Bikram yoga or at home with her four lovable cats.  Widely talented, Jenn can do it all from whipping up the perfect baked goods to breathing fire. As a Fellow, Jenn brings her set of talents to her students, showing vulnerability and celebrating successes.

When the new class of Fellows was in training, we heard a lot about how hard the year ahead would be. We had conversations about the ways our students struggle, and how it can be so difficult to listen without being able to solve every problem. We heard, over and over, that the best parts of the year would involve building relationships and celebrating successes.

I thought I was prepared, but I still went into Penn Treaty ready to be humbled. I’m glad that’s the way I started, because every day I’ve discovered new and different things that I’m not actually great at. I’m a terrible dancer, for one, and the students are not shy about making sure I know that I’m embarrassing them.

Read on for more from Jenn

Ernest is a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (where he's volunteered with 12+ from the start!) and passionate fan for the 76ers and all Philly sports. Ask him to beat-box or about his quest to watch all released animated Disney/Pixar films. Ernest is the inaugural Fellow at Hill-Freedman World Academy. In this post, Ernest breaks down the formation of a PLUS Center.

Building a PLUS Center

[face]

When I stepped into the Hill-Freedman PLUS Center for the first time, there really wasn’t much to look at: a big old desk, an empty filing cabinet, a dirty mirror with paint chipping off its frame. As part of the new 12+ team, I knew we had big shoes to fill – the PLUS Centers at Kensington and Penn Treaty oozed a sense of welcome and warmth that filled you and made you feel safe and happy…and ours was just a big empty square. That being said, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of affection for the room, knowing that it would be my home for the next year. That affection quickly turned into excitement as we began our task of transforming Room 112 into more than a room.

Read on for more...

Introducing...the 2015-2016 Class of Fellows! These incredible individuals have dedicated the year to serving in partner schools and developing relationships with students. Follow along this year for an inside look into the life of a 12+ Fellow.

Meet Frank: Graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a major in biology, candidate for a masters in biotechnology, diehard New England Patriots fan, obstacle course racer, and Fellow at Penn Treaty.

So I’m finally sitting down to write this reflection. Ideas have been floating around in my head, but it took a while to confront the blank page before me. Perhaps the reason I’ve been delaying this moment is because, subconsciously, I haven’t been able to categorize and interpret everything I’ve come across thus far. It’s a bit unsettling. In the short month that I’ve been at Penn Treaty, I’ve seen students experience a spectrum of emotions, make amazing strides in maturity, and delve deeper into their own ambitions and insecurities than I have in the last 24 years of my life. 

On my end, it’s been daunting trying to analyze all the emotions I’ve felt.  Admiration, awe, guilt, frustration, pride, exhaustion, inspired, enthusiastic, driven, dejected, betrayed, humbled, respected, trusted, enlightened. (There are so many I can’t even keep my parallelism straight!) I won’t pretend to understand what this all means. Instead, I’d like to share the moments—the vignettes if you will—of students who’ve absolutely stunned me. 

A Proud Senior

When I first met him, I instantly pegged him as the class clown. He’s funny and charming, but also quick to walk away whenever confronted with anything serious. He’s overflowing with confidence and has no problem speaking to adults about his future. (Unbeknownst to him, he became my rock as I waded through the intimidating first week of school.) However, it wasn’t until I unintentionally sat in on his math class that I saw the cracks in this facade. 

It took some prodding and coercing, but we finally sat down together to look at his math homework. Within 5 minutes, the bravado and jest that I was accustomed to became humility and anger. Phrases like “Man I’m too dumb for this” and “This is why I ain’t goin’ to college” seemed like only clichés before this moment. But despite his outward aversion towards fractions, there was a hungry determination to learn. We persevere, another 15 minutes pass, and now it’s, “Do another, do another” and “See mister, told you I’d get it”. 

A couple days later I pop in his math class again, and he flags me down with a sheet of paper. It’s a 100 on his quiz. And there it is—pride, in its sincerest form.

Read on for more...

We recently celebrated the second outgoing Fellows cohort in true 12+ fashion – gathered in the living room of our CEO’s home, surrounded by food, flowers, and photos to remind us of the year. Congratulations to each of you Fellows for the completion of the Fellows Initiative! You have had countless conversations with students, shared innumerable stories, and filled many rooms with laughter. Whether you are moving on to opportunities near (as close as within 12+) or far (across the country), you will always have a home in Philly at 12+. 

Where will they be next? Read on for details, final reflections, and advice to future Fellows!

ALEX -- University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration

This experience also allowed me to re-affirm what my strengths are and not second guess them. I am a developer. I am a counselor and healer. I am an educator. These are the things I am taking away from this year and I will forever be proud of being a part of 12+.

JULIA -- Visit Center Coordinator in Communications and Marketing at Drexel University

It has been a roller coaster of a year and a great learning experience. I believe that this Fellowship has and will help me with any future career...Getting to know the students and seeing them grow and mature throughout the year has been a humbling and wonderful experience.

DUSTIN -- Harvard Graduate School of Education; Technology, Innovation and Education

12+ isn’t just at the frontlines fighting the disparity in public education. 12+ is in the homes and hearts of the Penn Treaty and Kensington Health Sciences community. Our names will be written onto the memories of our students...We are counselors, mentors, brothers, mothers to these students, invited to pool parties and introduced to baby siblings, whispered secrets.  

AELITA -- Staying with 12+!

You come in and you want to help, and sometimes it takes a moment of conflict to learn that to help is not to do, or to attempt to live a life that is not yours to live. You are just a visitor in our students’ lives, so listen and support, but do not presume to know. 

JAZZMIN -- Admissions Officer, Pomona College

Improvisation was a big part of supporting our students. Many situations we had puzzled even experts in things like financial aid or college access and it meant that we sometimes had to be creative and okay with ambiguity. Our students are complex, sometimes difficult, but always worth it, and I think this experience threw me into figuring out how to best help them overcome at least some of the obstacles on their way through high school and into a postsecondary track. 

CHRISTINE -- Staying with 12+!

Every point throughout the year can be a learning opportunity. If you let your pride get in the way, it often times leaves you discouraged and frustrated. But humility, grace, and perseverance helps you not only breakthrough perceived barriers, but also to build your own confidence as you make strides forward. As I look back on this year, although there are things I think I could’ve done better, the only things that stay at the forefront of my memories are the times of laughter, closeness, and victories that I experienced with my team and my students. It reminds me that at the end of the day it’s not about me, but the students we serve, and moving forward, I know that this year has only better prepared me for the year(s) to come.

Advice from the Fearful

The seniors at Kensington are graduating in 5 weeks, and I have been thinking of what I can say to them; of what I can ask of them before they leave.

This is all that I am sure of, and from here I will make my request:

Vulnerability, honesty, and compassion make us human.

~

There are invisible walls that we build around ourselves, as protection, and as a remedy to fear; fear of dismissal, fear of failure, fear of genuine self-reflection. They separate us from realities that we do not want to face, and from all those who call into question the perfect image that we wish to project. Walls that are meant for protection however, will only end up isolating.

You will feel your flaws anyway. You will be afraid anyway. Not because you’re doing something wrong, not because you are not smart enough, or attractive enough, or eloquent enough, but because we live in a world of unknowns, and you will always have questions. You will be afraid, and in being afraid you will be amongst the 7.2 billion people worldwide: people who are afraid to go home, people who are afraid to leave home, people who are afraid of taking a step forward for fear that there won’t be any ground beneath them. This is a fact of life, and we do no good by pretending otherwise. Do not deny the reality you are living in, do not deny the people who hold up mirrors and ask you hard questions.

Read on for more...

“What is a PLUS Leader?”

Often I hear students ask this, wondering what exactly a “PLUS Leader” is and what is the process of becoming one. Well, according to our programming description, a PLUS Leader is someone who internalizes our core values of Believe, Act, and Inspire through workshops, college visits, and service projects. They join a community of leaders on campus to assist their peers in the pursuit of postsecondary education and help cultivate college-going culture within the school community. But honestly, it’s so much more than that.

I don’t think my words can fully illustrate the impact of the PLUS Leader program, or describe just how much I love watching my students grow as individuals and as leaders.

Read on for words from recently graduated PLUS Leaders.

An open letter to future fellows:

dearest recent college grad,
you are equipped with the tools that will enable you to pursue opportunity;
your future looks bright, teeming with potential and possibility.
you are empowered, sprinkled with thoughts of hope and change--
with just the right hint of shameless idealism.
you learn that poverty and injustice are true realities, 
and deeply entrenched within the fabric of our society.
yet your passion for real change is unfazed, undeterred, &
consistently tugs at the margins of your consciousness 
to the core of your very being.
in the quietest hours you begin to question: 
you want to know the "how" or "what," 
but most importantly, the "why."
therefore i challenge you--
to live out your values,
to see every moment as an opportunity to create lasting impact. 
become part of an organization that carries more than just heart,  
but conviction in its practice; radically give, learn, and receive.

This summer, 12+ welcomed six new talented individuals to the team through the 2014-2015 Fellows Initiative. These Fellows are commissioned to implement workshops, to provide academic assistance, and to serve our students in the PLUS Centers of our partner schools, Kensington Health Sciences Academy and Penn Treaty School. Here, we document their stories. 

Alex studied Communications, LGBTQ & Sexuality Studies, and Community Action & Social Change at the University of Michigan. He is passionate about racial, economic and queer/trans justice and sexual violence prevention and education, and he loves One Direction, going to concerts, and cooking. Alex brings these interests to Penn Treaty, where he inspires students to spread school-wide culture. In this post, Alex offers ten lessons to his students.

This summer, 12+ welcomed six new talented individuals to the team through the 2014-2015 Fellows Initiative. These Fellows are commissioned to implement workshops, to provide academic assistance, and to serve our students in the PLUS Centers of our partner schools, Kensington Health Sciences Academy and Penn Treaty School. Here, we document their stories. 

Aelita graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a major in Psychology and minors in Religious Studies and Japanese. Aelita is a Fellow of many talents, including salsa dancing and touching her tongue to her nose, but most of all, she works tirelessly to inspire students at KHSA. Read on for anecdotes from Aelita, learning to let students lead her.

This summer, 12+ welcomed six new talented individuals to the team through the 2014-2015 Fellows Initiative. These Fellows are commissioned to implement workshops, to provide academic assistance, and to serve our students in the PLUS Centers of our partner schools, Kensington Health Sciences Academy and Penn Treaty School. Here, we document their stories. 

Julia is our resident Penn State expert, world traveler (she's been to twelve countries!) and pizza lover, coming to 12+ after graduating with a degree in Rehabilitation and Human Services and working in Penn State Admissions and Campus Visits. Julia reflects on several months at Penn Treaty School with 13 reasons she loves being a 12+ Fellow.

This summer, 12+ welcomed six new talented individuals to the team through the 2014-2015 Fellows Initiative. These Fellows are commissioned to implement workshops, to provide academic assistance, and to serve our students in the PLUS Centers of our partner schools, Kensington Health Sciences Academy and Penn Treaty School. Here, we document their stories. 

Christine, a native to the Philadelphia area and graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, came to 12+ with a heart to serve inner city youth. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Biblical Counseling and enjoys sharing her love of dance and fashion with her students. 

This summer, 12+ welcomed six new smart and talented individuals to the team through the 2014-2015 Fellows Initiative. Here are their stories.

Dustin, a Philly native and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, shares his insights about his time at Penn Treaty School.

This summer, 12+ welcomed six new smart and talented individuals to the team through the 2014-2015 Fellows Initiative. Here are their stories.

Jazzmin, a proud graduate of Yale University and lover of cheesy romantic comedies, joined 12+ after teaching in an after-school program in Southern California.  After the first two weeks of the school year, Jazzmin reflects on her time at Kensington Health Sciences Academy (KHSA).