Freire Charter School Hosts Annual Take
Back the City Event
Two-day symposium on persistence, empathy, teamwork, and
conflict-resolution skills
Once each year, students at Freire Charter
School’s high school campus at 2027 Chestnut Street take a break from their
regular class schedule to come together as a community to address important issues
facing our students. Take Back the City is a two-day
character-building workshop for our students and staff. One of the character
traits the staff at Freire would like to highlight this year is persistence. We
want to illustrate that the most successful people work through their
difficulties to achieve their goals
Through small-group conversations, panel
discussions and illustrated lesson plans, students will interact with each
other outside of their normal grade-level groupings to work together to tackle
such questions as how to define success, how to persevere in the face of
hardship and how to navigate relationships with those with whom you may never
see eye-to-eye.
Ultimately, the goal of Freire Charter
School’s annual Take Back the City event is to build a stronger sense of
community. School culture is one of the most highly-valued assets at Freire
Charter School, and administrators agree that taking these two days away from
regularly-scheduled classes brings the community together in ways and over
topics not usually covered under the day-to-day curriculum.
“Take
Back the City is a chance for our school community to take a step back from our
rigorous academic program and examine the culture of our school,” says Dave
Shahriari, Head of Academic Supports at the high school campus. Shahriari has
been the primary planner and organizer for this year’s event. “In an environment
where test scores are often viewed as the be-all and end-all, it is easy to
lose sight of the fact that every school is a community of human beings that is
built on relationships. This event allows us to examine those relationships,
identify where we are doing well and where we can do better, and then make the
needed changes to strengthen our entire community and attain new levels of
success.”
Take Back the City provides
reinforcement to the charter school’s mission, which is to “provide a
college-preparatory learning experience with a focus on individual freedom,
critical thinking and problem solving in an environment that emphasizes the
values of community, teamwork and nonviolence.”
The final session of this symposium is an
open forum to summarize the activities and students’ own experiences of the
two-day event. Members of the media are welcome to attend. Please join us at
10:00am on Friday, April 26 at First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphia.
For additional information, please contact Jessica St. Jacobs, Assistant to the Head of School, at 215-592-4252, x1367 or jessica.st.jacobs@freirecharterschool.org.
