Mgmt. 100 group helps community

Members of a Wharton Management 100 group gathered yesterday afternoon with Snyderville residents to celebrate the opening of a community garden in South Philadelphia. To fulfill the Management 100 requirements, the Lot Squad -- a group of 14 Wharton transfer students -- worked with students at Horace Howard Furness High School in the South Philadelphia neighborhood and several community children to complete the Adopt-A-Lot Project. The project had two goals -- beautifying the neighborhood and mentoring high school students. "We try to integrate what we learn in class with the actual community -- it's the best way to have a hands-on experience," said Wharton junior and Management 100 Project Coordinator Judy Kawaguchi, who is also the teaching assistant for the Lot Squad's class section. "They can practice what they learned in the classroom and apply it to the real world." In addition to cleaning up a 16-by-55 foot vacant lot at 7th and Emily streets and planting bushes, flowers and trees in the space, the Lot Squad worked with the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network to fund a mural for the building next to the lot. To determine what should be painted on the building, the Lot Squad held a mural design contest for the Furness students. The winning design, "The Evening of Hong Kong" -- which will be professionally painted -- was created by Furness freshman Chu Tin Kok. The mural -- which the city will partially fund -- will be completed by September, when the lot's official opening ceremony is scheduled to take place. Raphael Rodriguez, who won second place with his design, "Emily's 7th Heaven," said working on the project "was amazing." "After the mural's up, it will look even better," the Furness freshman said. "It's been a pleasure helping." At yesterday's celebration, the Lot Squad gave out certificates of achievement to the participating high school students. In return, the Wharton students received T-shirts and letters from the high school thanking them for their help in educating the students. The letters thanked the Lot Squad for teaching "teaming skills, communication skills, fundraising skills, finance/budgeting skills, landscaping skills, citizenship and responsibility." In conjunction with the project, Wharton and Engineering sophomore Armaghan Farooq led the Furness students on tours of the Wharton School and School of Engineering and Applied Science laboratories while they were on campus to discuss the project. The students also did soil tests on the lot -- which is intended to be a model for similar vacant lots in the community -- incorporating the project into their science classes. Snyderville Community Development Corporation Executive Director C.B. Harris-Ramsue participated in the lot's ribbon-cutting ceremony. "It was a good mentoring-type program for all levels of students," she said. "More of these types of programs should happen to show the local youths that they can achieve." The Lot Squad will formally present their project to their Management 100 class this Thursday. Local residents and members of the Youth Risk Program -- comprised of local youths between the ages of 8 and 17 -- plan to maintain the lot.