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Empowering high school students through speech and debate
Renee Liu standing outside of the Netter Center office with arms crossed

Speech and debate enriched Renee Liu’s personal and professional development. Now, she partners with two West Philadelphia high schools to bring tailored, long-term speech and debate programs to local students based on school-identified needs.

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Empowering high school students through speech and debate

In an internship through the Netter Center for Community Partnerships, third-year Renee Liu developed a comprehensive afterschool speech and debate program that responded to needs identified by students and faculty in two West Philadelphia high schools.

3 min. read

A summer of research and teaching with Scribe Video Center
Sarah Attia sits at laptop with three kids.

As part of a summer internship at Scribe Video Center, rising third-year student Sarah Attia taught students at the Jubilee School in West Philadelphia how to use archives to find primary sources about John Coltrane’s life in Philadelphia.

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A summer of research and teaching with Scribe Video Center

Through the Summer Humanities Internship Program, rising third-year Sarah Attia has honed her research and interviewing skills and taught archival skills to elementary students.

2 min. read

Partnering with local digital leaders to promote violence prevention
(from left to right): Social media creators Manny 215 [Manny Clark], Prince Dre, Fis Banga, and Ant Brown on stage with facilitator Tamara Russell at the Creators for Community Safety Summit. Brown is speaking and holding a microphone. The slideshow in the background reads: "Panel: Violence Prevention and Conflict Resolution"

(From left) Social media creators Manny 215 [Manny Clark], Prince Dre, Fis Banga, and Ant Brown on stage with facilitator Tamara Russell at the Creators for Community Safety Summit. Brown leads the content creator team that is developing the CUREiculum campaign set to pilot at select Philadelphia public schools this fall.

(Image: Courtesy of the School of Social Policy & Practice and the Annenberg School for Communication)

Partnering with local digital leaders to promote violence prevention

A team of Philadelphia-based content creators is collaborating with Penn public health experts to develop a comprehensive anti-violence campaign tailored for youth across the City, with youth-focused workshops and educational materials to be piloted in select Philadelphia public schools this fall.

5 min. read

Lessons from the Schuylkill River on community-engaged research
People kayak on the Schuylkill River.

Image: Bethany Wiggin

Lessons from the Schuylkill River on community-engaged research

A historian working on both sides of the Atlantic, Bethany Wiggin, a professor of German in the School of Arts & Sciences, is interested in how historic legacies—including pollution—shape modern landscapes and how changed landscapes impact human populations.

3 min. read

When partnership becomes practice
Academy at Penn students visiting a Penn Vet classroom.

Academy at Penn students visit Penn Vet during their summer session.

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When partnership becomes practice

Penn GSE and the School District of Philadelphia are co-creating solutions—in areas from algebra to AI—by listening first, aligning priorities, and turning research into real-time change across an urban school system.

From Penn GSE

2 min. read

Documenting architecture and memories of a changing neighborhood
"On Exactitude in Science (Watts)" showing on screen at the Barnes.

Image: Erica Moser

Documenting architecture and memories of a changing neighborhood

A film by Penn fine arts professor David Hartt about Watts, a historically Black neighborhood in Los Angeles, is one of five videos included in “Freedom Dreams,” an exhibition at the Barnes in Philadelphia that centers the “memories, dreams, and histories of Black Americans.”

3 min. read

Penn filmmaking class shares the stories of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods
Two students take video of archivist holding up newspaper clipping.

Student filmmakers Harper Prentice and Hosaena Tilahun interviewed Alisha Davis, a former history teacher who has served as the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Hyperlocal Heritage archivist since August 2025. As part of America 250, Davis has been surveying collections held at Parkway Central Library and identifying archival materials for digitization, use in programming, and preservation.

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Penn filmmaking class shares the stories of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods

Graduate and undergraduate students in Alissa Jordan’s course partnered with community organizations to create five short films that touch on education, archiving, and grassroots organizing in Germantown, Northeast Philadelphia, and West Philadelphia.

3 min. read

Empowering unhoused patients through comprehensive eye care
From left to right: Justin Wang, Janine Haros, and Eric Lee in a clinical room at the Scheie Eye Institute, holding documents and smiling together

Justin Wang (left), Janine Haros (center), and Eric Lee (right) in a clinical room at the Scheie Eye Institute, holding documents and smiling together.

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Empowering unhoused patients through comprehensive eye care

Penn fourth-years Eric Lee, Janine Haros, and Justin Wang will use a President’s Engagement Prize to elevate vision health in unhoused individuals across Philadelphia through free eye screenings, tailored care coordination, and interactive patient education.

4 min. read

Penn’s community engagement progress at the turn of the century
An elementary school student (left) and Penn affiliate (right) are interacting while the student writes in his booklet, in a classroom setting.

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Penn’s community engagement progress at the turn of the century

The third installment in the limited series “Chapters of Change” explores how Penn has led community engagement efforts in public education, economic development, and neighborhood prosperity during a time of widespread change in the nation’s cities.

5 min. read