Category: Praxis I and II

Aya Daterra (BMC ’28) and Lori Ackerman (BMC ’27)

Praxis Course: AFST234: Advancing Racial Justice

Semester: Fall 2025

Faculty Advisor/Professor: Dr. Bailey and Sarah Spath

Community Partner: Neighbors Helping Neighbors on the Main Line

Praxis Site Supervisor: Muneera Walker

Praxis Poster:

4 Aya_Daterra_Final project_revisedfinalversion

 

Further Context:

Neighbors Helping Neighbors on the Main Line (NHN) is a grassroots organization providing a range of services to support underrepresented neighbors and transform other entities that exist to support them in Lower Merion Township. NHN’s goal is to help create an empowered community where every person has equitable access to what they need to thrive. NHN has three primary areas of focus: Education Empowerment, Food Security, and Outreach. & Resource Connections. NHN has several recurring programs and runs events for the community. NHN runs a food pantry distribution every Thursday and Saturday from 10 AM-12 PM. They deliver meals to 130+ families every week. From 3-5 PM every Monday-Thursday, community members join the “Homework Club,” a free homework help and tutoring space for students of all ages. NHN puts-on several large events that are open to all! We attended a car show block party and “Tails on the Trails,” a dog walk and run to benefit NHN.

I, Lori, feel like my cup is overflowing in a beautiful way thanks to my work with NHN. Something that I was immediately struck by is the familiarity between everyone who comes to NHN events. They truly create spaces for genuine connection, which feels so vital in a time period defined so much by forces that stoke fear among community members and isolation from communal resources. I hope to continue supporting their work in future semesters.

I, Aya, am deeply grateful to be a part of the work NHN is doing. My time with NHN has helped me grow as a photographer, a learner, and a teacher. There is so much love and care present at NHN – it’s a space of inclusive and intergenerational community where neighbors support one another and help each other to thrive. Working with children at NHN has been a real blessing, giving me the chance to learn how to teach and how to support others in their learning. I am working to create ongoing fundraisers as well as clothing and food drives for NHN at Bryn Mawr and Haverford. I look forward to continuing my involvement with NHN beyond this class.

To help support NHN, you can contribute to NHN’s work directly on their website, share the work they are doing, attend the events they throw, and volunteer on site. Help is especially appreciated during the Homework Club, the food pantry, and packing food deliveries.



Jai Abbott (BMC ’27) and Autumn Kelly (BMC ’27)

Praxis Course: AFST234: Advancing Racial Justice

Semester: Fall 2025

Faculty Advisor/Professor: Dr. Darlyne Bailey & Sarah Spath

Community Partner: The Outley House with Self Incorporated

Praxis Site Supervisor: Troy Mouzon

Praxis Poster:

3 Autumn _Kelley_Advancing Racial Justice Poster_REVISED

 

Further Context:

Group Reflection:

– For this fall semester, we had the opportunity in our Advancing Racial Justice Class to partner up with various social impact organizations throughout Philadelphia. Committed to counteracting societal presumptions about the unhoused/homeless, we decided to work with site director Troy Mouzon and the Outley House (through the Self Incorporated organization), a shelter dedicated to housing and providing aid for unhoused adult men throughout Philly. Our work with Troy and at Outley has not been perfect, but nonetheless incredibly enriching and memorable. In our initial meetings with Troy, we discussed what he had learned during his time at Outley and how we could best assist him, the case workers, and the residents there.

– After this, we devised several different activities we would do during our 5 or so visits to Outley. This included a creative writing workshop, a teach-in on legal rights (interactions with the police), and a session on navigating academic and legal jargon and how to parse through more elitist language. While these events were more structured and planned in advance, some of the other, less formal work we did at Outley included one-on-one interviews with the residents (although it should be noted that these were often more like informal conversations rather than proper interviews) and helping where needed, such as organizing the various clothing rooms at Outley.

– The events we hosted at Outley were well-received, and we deeply enjoyed our time volunteering at and getting to know everyone there. In-person interactions with the system enriched our previous academic understanding of institutional inequality and the necessity for economic and racial justice. This experience provided both the framework and the confidence to be used in further civic action projects.

Jai’s Personal/Additional Thoughts:

I, Jai, was excited but nervous to start my work at the Outley house. I’m someone who has complained at length about the problem of academia in general, and Bryn Mawr in particular, separating itself from the communities it is stationed in and claims to serve. I was an exemplary case of this, however, as I had no prior experience working in homeless services, and was concerned that the presence of a somewhat sheltered college student would be more irritating than engaging for the residents I set out to serve. I underestimated myself and them, finding that the interest in sharing and connection was immediate and meaningful. The services Autumn and I provided were based on conversations we had had with residents, our site supervisor, and each other about what would be beneficial for this population. While we sometimes struggled in recruiting participants, those who attended were quickly engaged, spoke freely and earnestly, and tried, even when doing something they’d never done before, to get something out of it. This experience was a growing one, and I feel more prepared now to enter the communities I inhabit, talk to people, and not let assumptions, mine or theirs, get in the way of connection or care.

Autumn’s Personal/Additional Thoughts:

Similar to Jai, I was also very nervous but very excited to start volunteering at the Outley House. While diving headfirst into new and unfamiliar environments for me can sometimes feel uncomfortable and/or awkward, I knew, with the social biases towards the homeless in mind, that this work would be important. We discussed in class that community aid is not supposed to be easy, and although easier said than done, to embrace any feelings of discomfort and worry without putting yourself into too much strain. I had many worries about my ability to step up to the task of working at Outley, and to be honest, I still carry some of those concerns. However, now, I feel that my time at Outley has given me the skills to better manage any doubts I may have and how to channel them into the work I do— whether it was through the more formalized interviews with residents or getting to hear them share their various life experiences during creative writing sessions. Going forward, I want to make sure that my time at Outley doesn’t remain a one-off experience. Be it at Outley again or another organization, I want to continue to push myself out of my comfort zone and do more mutual aid and social justice work. I am really grateful for my time at Outley House and the wonderful community there. I feel that my time here, again like Jai, has given me the tools needed to continue doing more community work and helping others.

 

Adara Alexander (BMC ’26), Margeaux Thompson (BMC ’28), Sav Mucher (BMC ’27)

Praxis Course: AFST234: Advancing Racial Justice

CEL Site Supervisor: Kristopher Pittman

Professors: Darlyne Bailey and Sarah Spath

Praxis Poster:

2 Adara Alexander, Margeaux Thompson, Sav_revised

 

Further Context:

SELF Inc. is a Philadelphia-based organization focused on helping unhoused individuals to achieve self-sufficiency and secure permanent housing. They offer a range of housing services, including shelters, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing, all of which provide mental health support programming. Ife Wellness Center is one of SELF Inc.’s five emergency housing shelters in Philadelphia. Ife specializes in serving those struggling with addiction and mental health challenges. It’s a long-term housing facility that aims to secure stable housing for residents before they leave. They offer a few emergency overnight beds. It is co-ed and for adults, but also has a small youth program for teens and young adults. Ife is rare in that it allows residents to rejoin the sober living community after relapsing if they are able to make a plan with their care team. 

After discussing with our CEL Site Supervisor and each other, our group landed on utilizing Ife’s existing framework of group activities and therapies as the basis of our project. We each chose to focus on a different theme for our group based on our interests, majors, and ideas expressed by residents and employees at Ife. We decided that each week, we could come on Fridays to Ife and gather interested residents in the cafeteria at several large, close tables to encourage an open, collaborative, social environment. We would then take turns introducing an activity, each within the focus of our own group, united under an overarching weekly theme. In practice, participants came in and out throughout our time present each week, so rather than having highly structured activities, we instead laid out all of the activities on the table and explained to each person as they came in what we each had to offer. Participants could then select whatever activity or activities appealed to them and work as a group. Throughout this time, we listened to music, chatted about the activities and their purposes as well as life generally, and often formed relationships with participants.  

Adara’s group, Mind and Meaning, attempted to foster an environment for participants to articulate emotions and experience through creativity, and to empower participants by providing tools to strengthen emotional regulation and self-agency.  Each week, Adara designed artistic activities with therapeutic or mental health-focused elements. By chatting while working on these projects, the group was able to integrate mental health discussions through community conversations and reflective dialogue.  

Sav’s group, Creative Voices, included a multi-week “poetry club” packet in which participants could read a series of quotes about the importance of poetry and creative self-expression, read about a specific poetic theme each week that aligned with the overarching weekly activity theme, read examples of poems in this theme, and then complete a series of poetry prompts. These prompts varied in length, complexity, and tone, and they helped to inspire those who were already interested in writing poetry and to introduce poetry to those with less experience. This group aimed to encourage storytelling as a tool for self-discovery and empowerment. Residents generally responded very positively and were often inclined to share their own previous writings or writings they created during the group with students and other residents aloud. Residents were generally very supportive of each other’s share-outs and often encouraged the CEL Site Supervisor to participate.  

Margeaux’s group, Community Threads and Self Care, focused on creating two-part activities with a creation element and a self-reflection/group discussion element. Activities emphasized the development or strengthening of self-care skills and reflection on building community. Another goal of the group was to gain an understanding of participants’ experience with social work and social workers to inform and improve future career endeavors and social work experiences.  

 

Jiya Iyer (BMC 27′), Didialendy Linares (BMC 27′), Celia Huey (BMC 27′), Callie Rabins (BMC 25′)

Food and Community

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: SPAN 247: Gastropoetica Latinoamericana

Faculty Advisor: Juan Suárez Ontaneda

Field Site: Puentes de Salud, ACLAMO

Praxis Poster: 

SPAN_Group 3_Praxis Poster

 

Further Context:

Over the course of this semester, our class has had the pleasure of working directly with two different community groups as part of our course, Gastropoetics of Latin America. As part of the conclusion of this course, we have put together this Praxis Poster that answers the question of how food has fostered a sense of community this semester in the classroom and working with our community partners. Our overarching answer to this question is that cooking, eating, and talking about food together is a powerful tool for creating long-lasting communities. The first community-engaged learning section of our poster describes our first community partner, Puentes de Salud, which is a nonprofit organization that serves the Latin community in South Philly through medical services, educational programs, and other services that support the health of the community. We have included a photo we took during one of our visits to Puentes of part of the mural in the building’s lobby, which shows a woman grinding corn using traditional tools called a mano and metate. This mural connects with one of the projects we did with Puentes; as smaller groups, we researched and wrote lessons on common ingredients in Latin American foodways, which we then presented to the students at Puentes so together we could learn more about the histories, preparations, and usages of ingredients like the corn mural.

Pictured in the middle of the poster are tostadas, which are one of the many dishes that we were able to collaboratively make with Puentes students during another visit to the partner organization. Through making dishes like tostadas, salsas, and guacamole together, we were able to share memories and recipes that are important to our families and cultures. Preparing food and sharing a meal with our friends at Puentes was a fantastic experience as we were able to connect with the students on a deeper level through these conversations about our commonalities and differences with food and recipes.

Our other community partner this semester was ACLAMO, an organization in Norrisotown focused on supporting the Latinx community through educational programs, medical services, social welfare, and other resources. ACLAMO strives to help the Latinx community to reach their full potential in life. We also had the opportunity to share a meal with the students from ACLAMO, although this time it was Bryn Mawr dining hall food instead of food we made ourselves. Sitting together and sharing a meal still provided the chance to sit together and talk, first about the dining hall food, and then about our broader respective familial foodways and school experiences.

The Praxis experience is all about meeting and connecting with community members, which can be intimidating at first, but for us it was made easier by consistently being able to connect with our community partners about food. We all have opinions about food, whether it’s certain ingredients we don’t like or specific ways our family cooks a well-known dish. Because of this commonality, we have found that it is always possible to strike up a lively conversation with someone about these opinions and in doing so, share something about our cultures and connect more deeply with one another. Overall, cooking and eating together create community as a way to share our cultures and learn about new cultures and foodways in a way that is fulfilling and meaningful.

Kyle Coll-Camalez Galindez (HC ’25), Georgia Svoboda (BMC ’26), Leah Sutton-Smith (BMC ’25), Arlene Ulloa (BMC ’28)

How has Food Restored a Sense of Community this Semester?

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: SPAN 247: Gastropoetica Latinoamericana

Faculty Advisor: Juan Suárez Ontaneda

Field Site: Puentes de Salud

Praxis Poster: 

SPAN_Group 5 Poster

 

Further Context:

This semester, our class worked with students in the after-school program at Puentes de Salud. When we first met them they were excited about the prospect of doing cooking projects with us. For our next visit, we prepared recipes to cook with the students, working together in groups to make foods like tostadas, pico de gallo, and mangonadas.

Working with the students to make these recipes was a unique way to connect with them. We were brought together by the opportunity to work together with the goal of creating a final product that we could all enjoy. The process not only encouraged collaboration, but also gave us a chance to bond with them over favorite foods and cooking experiences, and helped everyone feel more comfortable and open with each other.

Through this experience, our class bonded both with the students at Puentes and with each other. The collaboration and work required in preparing and executing the recipes built trust and a sense of teamwork. Making the recipes with the Puentes students helped us connect with them because in addition to getting to know them and sharing experiences, we worked together to make something exciting, which brought us all together. Sharing all our efforts at the end of the day and eating together was a special moment because everyone had contributed, not only to the food but to the sense of community that we had developed.

Zoe Beer (HC ‘26), Ferida Mohammed (BMC ‘26), Kripa Lamichhane (BMC ‘26)

Discovery Center: Bird Data

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: DSCI 310: Data in Action

Faculty Advisor: Jennifer Spohrer

Field Site: The Discovery Center

Field Supervisor: Bria Wimberly

Praxis Poster: 

DSCI_PraxisPoster_KripaLamichhane_ZoeBeer_FeridaMohammed

 

Further Context:

This semester, our team collaborated with the Philadelphia Discovery Center to analyze their bird observation data. Situated in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park, the Discovery Center emerged from a collaboration between the National Audubon Society and the Philadelphia Outward Bound School. A century-old abandoned reservoir was transformed into a unique wildlife sanctuary and vital stopover for over 100 bird species migrating along the Atlantic Flyway. Since opening in 2018, the Discovery Center provides a space for Philadelphians to discover themselves in nature, practice leadership, and work toward a greener city. Audubon Mid-Atlantic uses the Discovery Center as a facility for research and science-based conservation initiatives and educational programs throughout the Philadelphia region. The Center protects a unique habitat rarely found in a major urban area and provides programs that build community across Philadelphia. The Discovery Center fosters community engagement through bird-watching and environmental stewardship.

Our team’s objective was to support the Audubon Mid-Atlantic’s mission to conserve and restore Pennsylvania’s natural ecosystems, benefiting biological diversity. Early in our project, during our weekly check-in meetings with our field supervisor, Bria Wimberly, we identified two primary but underused data sources on birds that the Center pulled from. First, the Center had been manually archiving data on physical paper tally sheets using a checklist system where visitors could mark their bird observations. This complicated data storage and analysis. Second, the Center uses the eBird.com website which contains valuable digital data observations on birds seen at the East Park Reservoir location. However, the information is not clearly visualized and does not fully present the data in an understandable manner to individuals outside the birding community. Our team worked to address these challenges by developing more efficient data collection strategies and exploring new visualization techniques.

Considering both long term implications and time constraints, our team divided tasks, set realistic milestones, and defined tangible deliverables. Our initial projects started broader in scope and were then streamlined into smaller, targeted projects aligned with each member’s data analytical strengths. Throughout the semester, we maintained a larger purpose as we made our deliverables and met our goals: render bird data at the Discovery Center more accessible, understandable and engaging for the local community and visitors, enhancing their interactive experience with data and nature. 

When it came to data visualization for our bird observation project, we prioritized creating the simplest and clearest analytical representation possible. Initially, we experimented in RStudio and with Plotly Express instead of the more common Matplotlib and Pandas packages, as Plotly offered superior interactive mapping capabilities essential for geographic data. Our first approach displayed observation counts according to bird names and time period, which had notable advantages. Observers could identify how frequently specific birds were spotted without needing taxonomic knowledge. However, this method created problems: the resulting map was cluttered and difficult to interpret without hovering over data points. Additionally, the scale disparity between rare sightings (1 observation) and common birds (up to 3,000 observations) meant data points for uncommon birds virtually disappeared on the map. To address these issues, we pivoted to grouping birds according to The Discovery Center’s standardized taxonomic categories. This significantly improved readability while reducing visual clutter. We preserved detailed information by programming hover functionality that displays specific bird names and observation counts within each category when users interact with data points. Adding distinct color coding for different categories enhanced visual differentiation and intuitive understanding.

We then faced the challenge of making the visualization accessible to users with minimal coding experience. We implemented a dropdown feature that allows users to select any year they wish to visualize, making the interface more user-friendly and eliminating redundant code.

For distribution, we initially considered Google Colab but recognized limitations for non-technical users who would need to understand code execution. Instead, we created a website hosted on GitHub Pages, similar to an interactive visualization encountered in another data science class. This approach makes our visualization accessible without requiring coding knowledge. One current limitation is the complex interactive elements require a larger screen for optimal viewing, making mobile access challenging. However, we’re currently refining the code to make the website responsive, with plans to at least provide a static version for mobile users in the future.

We believe our work lays a foundation for future bird data visualization and analysis at the Discovery Center. While the current graphs rely on static, locally collected data, future iterations could integrate the eBird API to automate data collection and allow for periodic updates. Visualizations can also be refined to focus on specific species, offering more targeted insights that could help the Discovery Center create environments better suited to the needs of those birds. The Google Form we developed provides a starting point for a digital approach to recording and archiving monthly bird sightings, making long-term data management more efficient and opening the door for more dynamic visualizations. We hope the Discovery Center shares these visualizations with the public to gather feedback, which can guide future improvements and encourage greater community engagement with local bird populations.

Through this project, we developed new technical skills and deepened our understanding of data visualization and analysis. We strengthened our RStudio abilities by working with new packages and creating clear, insightful visualizations tailored to complex ecological data. We also learned to clean and filter large datasets using Python, and explored different types of visualizations using libraries like Matplotlib and Plotly Express—gaining insight into which tools and features (like hover effects and interactivity) work best for different types of data. Beyond the technical aspects, we learned the importance of flexibility, iterative testing, and thoughtful design choices when presenting data in a way that highlights key trends and supports meaningful interpretation.

Cynthia Chen (BMC ‘25), Maika Kogawara (BMC ’27), Nayja Shah (BMC ‘27)

Centralizing Data Collection

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: DSCI 310: Data in Action

Faculty Advisor: Jennifer Spohrer

Field Site: Harriton House

Field Supervisor: Laura Carpenter

Praxis Poster: 

DSCI_Harriton House Praxis Poster_Revised

 

Further Context:

For this project, we collaborated with Harriton House, a historic house near the college that housed many influential figures, including Charles Thompson. The Harriton Association maintains it and was seeking access to funding so that it could retain its independent operations. To help Harriton House receive funding, we worked on centralizing their data collection systems, generating headcount forms, and creating guides for staff for easy maintenance.

We primarily used Excel forms, OneDrive, and Excel sheets as our tools for data collection and storage. To gather information from roamers, we created an Excel form with a QR code containing questions about demographics and group sizes. The QR code provides a convenient and accessible way to collect headcounts digitally, requiring only a few taps on a phone.

One major issue Harriton House faced was finding an efficient way to house their volunteer check-in and check-out system. Prior to this project, the Harriton staff had been using paper copies to track volunteer hours, which was not ideal for students in the nearby area to demonstrate their volunteer participation for credits and fund proposals.

We decided to explore Microsoft Excel as the macros function was perfect for our goal of creating an easy, simple, and quick method for volunteers to track their hours. Microsoft Excel is also free on the App Store for volunteers to download and check in and out from their devices. Through trial and error and adapting from codes we found on YouTube channels such as Barb Henderson, we were able to generate a fully automated Excel sheet that can track what time volunteers clocked in and out, and the total hours they worked throughout the week. We implemented volunteer ID numbers as a way for volunteers to clock in and out swiftly. These volunteer ID numbers are unique 4-digit numbers that Harriton staff can assign based on the volunteer’s birthdate. Our hopes for this Excel sheet is for it to relieve the workload off of Harriton staff and have quantitative data on hand for fund proposals. But this spreadsheet only works for regular volunteers. For event-specific volunteers, we created another Excel form for volunteer logins during specific events. Volunteers must record their start and end times on this form.

This project helped cultivate community connections with the Harriton staff, taught the importance of patience, and allowed for the practice of data governance. This praxis, Data in Action, focuses on a variety of topics, one of them being data governance. How do we ensure that the data is being stored safely, not being taken advantage of, and can be reproduced? To implement data governance, we worked to ensure that users consented to their data being used, the information was reproducible, and not identifiable. We informed the people filling out our headcounting survey about why we were asking for this information and asked for their permission to use their information for head counting. Then, in order to ensure reproducibility, we created guidelines, specifically for the volunteer check-in and check-out information. We created instructions on how to clean the dataset and conduct analyses for staff, as well as instructions for the volunteers who were going to fill out the form. The third aspect was fulfilled by creating four-digit ID numbers to identify data rather than using the personal information of people who filled out the forms, preventing re-identifiability.

This project aimed to help digitize the Harriton House’s data and to make it easier for them to fulfill data aggregation to receive funding. We are excited to see the staff use our materials and are hopeful that the Harriton Association will, in due course, receive funding for them to continue operating independently.

Ruth Tilahun (BMC 26′), Kelli Eng (BMC 26′), Jenny Le (BMC 26′), Gioanna Zhao (BMC 26′), David Dai (HC 26′)

Automating Data Collection and Analysis for Solar Energy Initiatives

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: DSCI 310: Data in Action

Faculty Advisor: Jennifer Spohrer

Field Site: Philadelphia Solar Energy Association (PSEA)

Field Supervisor: Liz Robinson, Rob Celentano

Praxis Poster: 

DSCI_Jenny_Le_RevisedPraxisPoster

 

Further Context:

During our time in the Data in Action course, we gained the opportunity to explore a crucial question in terms of data and social impact: What does it take to use data responsibly in service of social good? Over the semester, we explored the legal, ethical, and historical dimensions of data use, while partnering directly with local non-profits to co-create a data project that reflected their values, needs, and mission. We learned to critically examine how data is produced and interpreted, and how thoughtful design and communication can make data more useful. Through hands-on work, we gained insight into both the power and the responsibility that comes with using data in the public sphere.

Our team partnered with the Philadelphia Solar Energy Association (PSEA), a non-profit that promotes solar energy adoption across Pennsylvania through advocacy, education, and community engagement. PSEA’s main challenge was related to data collection and visualization. Solar installation data was scattered across different platforms, inconsistently formatted, and difficult to update. This limited their ability to create timely, effective visual materials to inform the public and support clean energy initiatives. The goal with our project was to streamline the data collection and visualization process that was often compiled by one person. We developed a sustainable, code-based process to gather, clean, and visualize solar data from public sources like AEPS, SEIA, and PJM. Using Python, we created scripts that automated data extraction and analysis, providing a final deliverable of user-friendly, updatable plots delivered in a Jupyter Notebook format. Each team member contributed to the project in a unique way. One member focused on scraping and organizing the data, experimenting with different Python libraries to handle inconsistent formats and shifting web structures. Another led the visualization efforts, creating clear and interpretable charts like histograms, bar graphs, and bubble plots to illustrate trends in solar adoption. Other teammates documented the full workflow and assembled the project deliverables, ensuring our work would be easy for PSEA to maintain long-term. Throughout the semester, we met biweekly with PSEA staff to present our progress and adapt our approach based on their needs. By the end, we had a working system that helped streamline their outreach efforts and gave us a real sense of what it means to do data work that matters.

One experience that stood out during this project was the pivot in our final project deliverable format. In the beginning, our team members aimed to create a product that would require no work on the back-end from PSEA. This manifested in the use of an API that would run visualizations based on our Python scripts and deploy them to a separate website. In discussing with our supervisors, we decided that this format would ultimately not serve PSEA’s goals, so we pivoted to Jupyter Notebook. Initially, this felt like a setback because the scripts then required some efforts from PSEA to download external data sources. However, in troubleshooting this issue, we wrote documentation for the data import process. Our final deliverable decreases the overall workload for PSEA, if not being 100% hands-off, and this experience gave us deeper insight into how crucial it is to openly communicate with partners about technical limitations and updates.

This course and partnership with PSEA allows us to gain technical skills as well as tools for data analysis, collaboration, and project design. We learned how data can shine a light on possibilities for community advocacy, and we’ll take with us the ability to communicate our work clearly while handling data responsibly.

Sarah Stephens (BMC ’25) Maya Carlino (BMC ‘26), Karen Angel Aguirre (BMC ‘26) Elise Cameron (BMC ‘27)

Crating Community through Cooking

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: SPAN 247: Gastropoetica Latinoamericana

Faculty Advisor: Juan Suárez Ontaneda

Field Site: Puentes de Salud, ACLAMO

Praxis Poster: 

SPAN_Group 1 Poster- Elise, Maya, Karen, Sarah

 

Further Context:

Throughout the semester, our class has learned about the history and significance of food in Latinx communities. From corn, which is an indigenous crop central to Mesoamerican civilizations, to cacao, originally from southern Asia and spread through colonization. We’ve seen how food tells stories of migration, resistance, tradition, and memory. These crops are ingredients in many of today’s Latinx dishes. Just something as simple and essential like the corn tortilla.

As part of our learning, we visited Puentes de Salud, an organization that supports the Latinx immigrant community in Philadelphia. Our class through Praxis and this course created interactive projects to teach teenagers about staple crops like corn, yuca, plantains, quinoa, cacao, potatoes, beans, pineapple, coconut, and aji (chili pepper). We as a class designed fun group activities like drawing, games, and tasty snacks to introduce these ingredients and their cultural roots in a meaningful way.

After our first visit, during a group reflection with Puentes de Salud, we realized the kids were craving more than just activities; they wanted food so the next time, we delivered. Our class was divided into groups, where we each prepared a dish that highlighted one or more of the crops we studied. The food that we made included pico de gallo, guacamole, mangonadas, chocoflan, and tostadas de tinga. Our group picked tostadas de tinga which was a new and fun experience for us since it was our first time cooking together.

We followed a special recipe passed down from Karen’s mom who makes tostadas de tinga at least once every week. It’s a family favorite. We cooked everything in the ECC kitchen beforehand and brought it to Puentes de Salud, along with toppings that include lettuce, sour cream beans and queso cotija. One thing we learned while making it, is that if your tomato sauce comes out too acidic, a little sugar helps balance it out. Everyone was allowed to build their own tostadas. It was a creative and collaborative way to connect over food, allowing each child to make the meal their own. While we were reflecting at the end of this trip, one of the volunteers Lucia shared a memory that was really meaningful. She said that when she first reunited with her mother in the U.S., she saw a small window with the kitchen light on. Inside, her mother stood at the stove with the stove on and a pan of tinga chicken. She hadn’t had tinga since then. The tostadas de tinga brought that memory rushing back to her.

What started as a class praxis project became something deeper. It became a shared experience rooted in tradition, storytelling, and community. Recipes are more than instructions, they’re bridges between generations. They stay with us for life. Cooking and eating together at Puentes de Salud wasn’t just fun, it was healing as well. It was a reminder that food keeps us grounded in our own cultures and how food also opens doors to understanding others. Through tostadas de tinga, we honored Karen’s family recipe, celebrated the kids’ curiosity, and brought someone back to a memory of home. And that? That’s the real power of food.

Hannah Cosgrove (BMC 25′), Rachel Dopico (BMC 26′), Ema Eig (BMC 25′), Isabel (Izzie) Hoffman (BMC 27′)

Community Building through Culinary Connection

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: SPAN 247: Gastropoetica Latinoamericana

Faculty Advisor: Juan Suárez Ontaneda

Field Site: Puentes de Salud

Praxis Poster: 

SPAN_Group 2

 

Further Context:

As a part of our Praxis course, “Gastropoetics of Latin American Culture”, we had the opportunity to work with various partner organizations in Philadelphia to discuss how food traditions and foodways have shaped culture and discourse in Latin America. In class, we engaged with theory, manuscripts, short stories, cookbooks, and movies across a range of disciplines to begin to understand the complex ways that food has been recorded, categorized, and understood over time and space. Comparing indigenous narratives, colonial interactions, and shifting constructions of gender, we partook in field trips and community collaborations as an opportunity to put these concepts into practice.

For one of our partner collaborations, we visited Puentes de Salud, an organization in Philadelphia that offers medical, dental, and educational services to the local Latine and immigrant community. Part of this programming includes a group called Lanzando Líderes (Launching Leaders) that focuses on providing high-school aged kids with mentoring and workshops that encourage leadership skills, academic support, and confidence. Topics generally discussed by the group include post-highschool planning, social-emotional skills, health, wellness, and social justice. Volunteers from local partners, like Bryn Mawr College, often come in to help lead sessions related to their area of expertise.

Our journey with Puentes de Salud consisted of three visits. The first visit was an informational session and the others involved workshops related to food pathways. In the first of these sessions, we gave presentations and led students through activities on different foods, such as potatoes, pineapples, cacao, beans, etc, essential to Latin American identity. Incorporating feedback from this session, we came prepared for our last visit with enough recipes to create a community meal. As we cooked, we led the ‘Launching Leaders’ group in discussions on the history of food origins in Latin America related to the specific recipes and dishes. In small groups we shared our personal connections to the created dish while cooking the meal together. At the end of each session, we were able to share our takeaways with our group while enjoying our delicious homemade meal!