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Murals outside University City High School, located at 36th and Filbert streets, illustrate the school's close relationship with the community. Credit: Andrew Townley , Andrew Townley

Before University City High School closes its doors, it will impart its last batch of advice on its students this summer.

This summer marks the fourth annual Leaders of Change internship program through UCHS. Each year, students from the program — with help from Penn student mentors — research problems facing their community and how they can be fixed.

Although UCHS is one of the 23 Philadelphia public schools being closed at the end of the year, organizers plan to continue the program. However, they haven’t yet found a location for Leaders of Change and hope that they can use a Penn facility.

For the first time, about 40 to 50 students from Sayre High School and 40 to 50 students from West Philadelphia High School will join approximately 100 UCHS students for the program. It is also open to rising sophomores and juniors this year, instead of just rising seniors. This summer, the program will focus on barriers to obtaining education.

“[Underclassmen] will be figuring out how they can be successful in high school and 12th graders will be focusing on how they can be successful as a senior,” Program Coordinator and Director of the UCHS Student Success Center Patrice Berry said.

Students in the program will be divided into “teams” to do different research.

Penn student mentors will help the high school students with approaching people and with their public speaking skills. The program also provides workshops to help the high school students with their own college admissions efforts.

One team, made up of 10th graders, will circulate surveys among their peers and teachers to determine the most useful information for their classmates about being successful in high school.

The second team — the college access and completion group — is further split into three groups. One group of rising juniors will also use surveys and interviews particularly of college admissions professionals to find out about college admissions.

Another group, made up of 12th graders, will talk to peers and alumni from University-Assisted Community Schools to glean what seniors should know about the college admissions process. The other will interview people from across Philadelphia and college admissions professionals on information students should learn about completing college.

“Leaders of Change provides a really unique opportunity for these students to go through self introspection,” former mentor and 2012 Engineering graduate Andrew Brown said. “[They] go through a period of personal and professional development.”

“They didn’t even know to think about things that we asked them to think about,” summer 2009 mentor and 2011 College graduate Jessie Spellman said.

Each group will organize its data into charts and graphs to create a larger presentation at a community forum. They will also use their data to create a manual for their respective grade.

According to Spellman, the program was a “life-changing” experience for both mentors and students.

“I fell in love with these students, each day I wanted to come back,” College sophomore and summer 2012 mentor Melanie Young said. “Their lives are important to me and their success is important to me.”

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