Students discuss community service at Kellogg Conference

For some students, classes aren't held only east of 40th Street. Monday marked the third and final W.K. Kellogg Conference, entitled "Linking Intellectual Resources and Community Needs" and held at Meyerson Hall. Over 100 students, faculty members, administrators and community leaders gathered to discuss Penn's relationship to the surrounding community. The conference discussed Academically Based Community Service Courses at Penn, which are made possible thanks to a 1996 Kellogg Foundation grant. Three years and $500,000 later, ABCS courses -- in which students go into Philadelphia and incorporate the community into their course work -- are flourishing, with 20 percent of seniors taking part in one or more of them. Ira Harkavy, director of the Center for Community Partnerships, gave a warm welcome to the audience. He enthusiastically noted a "marked increase" in the number of courses that incorporate community service into their curriculum. The next speaker was College of Arts and Sciences Dean Richard Beeman, who admitted that he was once a skeptic of ABCS courses. However, he said his opinion changed as Penn's successful programs became models for other schools. "Is this [ABCS] the business of a modern research institution?" Beeman asked the audience. "I think the answer to this is unambiguously yes." The large group then convened in smaller sessions for the remainder of the day, discussing topics such as "Optimizing Outreach" and "Society and Social Issues." In a role reversal, panels were composed entirely of students and their professors sat in the audience. Panelist and Engineering junior Leonne Tanis' English class went to West Philadelphia High School, where the two groups of students learned and discussed poetry together. But an added bonus of the program was to give high school students a taste of college life. "[This] was an opportunity to use myself as an example and say 'Look, you can go anywhere you want to go,'" Tanis said. Kira Wills, a junior at West Philadelphia High enrolled in the English course, was amazed at the heavy workload but enjoyed her time with Penn students. "It was a real good experience," Wills said. "I hope to have it again next year." Conference coordinator Chantal Francois explained that students, instead of professors, were chosen as panelists because of their importance to the ABCS program. "The students are the ones who make these courses happen," Francois said. During the conference, audience members learned new ideas for ABCS courses and discussed areas that need to be improved. "This is a critical time for assessment -- an explosive time for what's happening in [ABCS]" said Karl Nass, Director of Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development. Hillary Aisenstein, a College senior and former chairperson of the Civic House Steering Committee, is confident that this effort will continue. "In the last three years, ABCS has skyrocketed," Aisenstein said. "Kellogg can pull out now and let that momentum carry on."