The prospective history major is brushing up on her journalistic skills on her Center for Peace and Global Citizenship-funded internship this summer.
When Ellen Schoder '19 met Michaela Ward '16 through the Education Reading Group last fall, she didn’t know that it would change the course of her summer. But Ward introduced her to the Philadelphia Public School Notebook, an independent, nonprofit news service that provides a voice for the supporters of quality and equality in Philadelphia’s public schools and the site of Ward's previous summer internship. And now, the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship is funding Schoder to follow in her footsteps.
The prospective history major is learning a lot about Philadelphia’s public education system on a daily basis. She completed a report on a new health center that opens at Kensington Health Sciences Academy this fall, for which she had to familiarize herself with the concept of community schools, visit the school personally, and interview several students, Community Schools Director in the Mayor’s Office of Education Susan Gobreski, and the Academy’s Principal James Williams.
“I love that there is something different to do every day. One day I might go to a graduation ceremony, and on another, I’m visiting a school in Philadelphia,” says Schoder, who has also covered two graduations, attended a celebration for a family program, and written a few stories related to early childhood literacy during her time with the Notebook.
At Haverford, Schoder writes for The Clerk, Haverford's independent student newspaper, and she is interested in potentially pursuing a career in journalism.
“This experience has made me more passionate about journalism," says Schoder, "and gotten me interested in education policy."
—Katya Konradova '19
"Summer Centered" is a series exploring our students' Center-funded summer work.
