Rationale
Horace Howard Furness is a public neighborhood high-school in South Philadelphia with strong administration, high teacher retention, and a long history of celebrating its impressive student diversity. In the 2020 – 2021 school year, more than half of our seven-hundred young people brought knowledge from living in countries outside the United States and shared linguistic resources from twelve different spoken languages. Our program for teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages has a city-wide reputation for excellence, and our end-of-year Multicultural Fair has attracted local dignitaries such as the Mayor of Philadelphia and photographer Zoe Strauss. While our school may be rich in culture and community support, 100% of our students are considered economically disadvantaged, creating very real challenges for emotional wellbeing and educational attainment. By adapting a college-level research course for our ninth grade students, I hope to welcome them to high school with a unit developing science and engineering skills, posing interesting conversations in English, and practicing the joys and urgency of “actually doing science.”
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