Jason Allen's Blog (11)

On Tuesday, March 11, 2008, a team of CHAD, Charter High School for Architecture + Design, students won the championship title in “The BIG Pitch” advertising competition defeating two-time champions Roxborough High School. CHAD students on the winning team were: Jovan Ellis, David Mullowney, Keshava Stanford-Carter, Kevin Valentin, and Rattanak Yin. The Big Pitch is a competition created in 2004 by David W. Brown and his Philadelphia-based advertising agency, BrownPartners, as a way to expose i… Continue

This is the third year of Interboro’s Freshmen Mentoring Program. In light of its success at entrusting students with the responsibility for creating an inclusive school culture, Mr. Andy Costanzo, Interboro High School’s Activity Coordinator and Mr. Bob Tryanski put on a seminar for rising senior who will be Freshmen Mentors next school year. Out of a list of 76 students who wished to take part in the Freshmen Mentoring program, the 5 mentoyeers employ the Freshmen Mentors, and faculty members… Continue

I spoke to 6 classes of students at Thomas K. Finletter ES about my career as an educator, the importance of Education and how dreams can motivate anyone to work hard to achieve their dreams. Several other speakers from Temple University, Wachovia Bank and from the music industry also spoke to the students about their careers and the importance of education to their respective careers. I was led from class to class by Daniel a very astute 5th grade student from Finletter. The program was set up… Continue

The name does not do this extravaganza justice: it should be called Celebration of Students. Somewhere between 75% and 85% of the Springfield HS (Delaware county) students take part in this annual ritual. The walls of the school are lined with images created by students and displays of student work occupy seemingly every nook and cranny of the HS. Student work also includes architectural models, advanced carpentry, wood-working and sculpture. The highlight for us at PennCORD was the W… Continue

Led by Ms. Kathleen Hauger, the Social Studies Chair, Ms. Mary Rodgers, the Service Learning Coordinator and the Art Department, Abington HS has taken 26: Student Advocacy Kit along with their renowned service learning program and created something special. One of Ms. Hauger's student's, used 26 as a template to describe how other young people and adults use concepts from 26 to become change agents in their own communities and solve problems. This project is organized as an 8 minute DVD… Continue

66 Students from Cheltenham High School worked together in 8 groups to come up with 8 different proposals to be considered by a mock Cheltenham board. The 8 proposals were: combating the achievement gap; expansion of the senior independent experience; improving facility maintenance; raising PSSA performance; the negative impact of proposed block scheduling; monitoring an open campus at CHS; creation of a green campus at CHS and; healthier food choices in the cafeteria. The mock school board wa… Continue

Chichester HS has created a student organization called the Chichester Students for Civic Involvement, CSCI, which has been heavily involved in civic activities in the Chichester school district as well as the community of Chichester. CSCI is a group of underclassmen who want to help others gain a better understanding of civics and appreciation of civic involvement. The central idea of CSCI is learning through activities, such as mock elections, tutoring, community service, service learning proj… Continue

3 teams of students from MLK High School, Imotep High School and Parkway Northwest High School presented their We The People: Project Citizen projects to State Representative Dwight Evans, Governor Ed Rendell, and an esteemed panel of judges. All 3 programs have been implemented in each school and have all been a positive influence in their respective school environs. MLK High School was crowned the winner, but both Parkway Northwest and Imotep had excellent projects and powerful presentations. Continue

Law Day & Juror Appreciation Day (May 8th 2008) Judicial Outreach program US District Court: Allentown PA Case: Scott v. Harris 550 U.S. ___ (2007) William Allen HS in Allentown and Saucon Valley HS in Hellertown came to the Federal Court House in Allentown to celebrate Juror Appreciation Day by acting as jurors in the case of Scott v. Harris. The questions of law for the jury of students to consider were: 1) Does a police officer who stops a high-speed chase by ramming a fle… Continue

Fight for the Franchise: House Bill 520 In the Easton Area HS auditorium students from Easton, Pen Argyl, Nazareth, Bangor and Fox Chapel High Schools testified in front of the Pennsylvania House State Government Committee in favor of an amendment to the Pennsylvania State Constitution that would allow 17-year-olds to vote in Democratic and Republican state primaries if they will be 18 by the time of the Presidential election in November. Known as House Bill 520, this bill would align Pen… Continue

Law Day On the 50th anniversary of Law Day, 1st proclaimed by POTUS Eisenhower, the Pennsylvania Bar Association celebrated by inviting Chester High School's Youth Court to Philadelphia to demonstrate their court system for the assembled judges from around the Keystone State, including 1st Lady Marjorie O. Rendell, and the US. The Chester HS students did a wonderful job displaying their legal prowess in a mock trial session. At Chester HS the decisions of this court are binding for the s… Continue