Category: Praxis Independent Study

Saule Aoki, BMC, 24′

Montgomery County Coroner

Semester: Fall 2023

Faculty Advisor: Maja Šešelj

Field Site: Montgomery County Coroner’s Office (MCCO)

Field Supervisor: Jessica Bisch

Praxis Poster: 

Saule Praxis Poster - Copy

 

Further Context:

During the fall of 2023, I had the opportunity to participate in a praxis course designed around an internship with the Montgomery County Coroner’s office. The county coroner is responsible for determining the death’s cause, manner, and circumstances through medical examination and investigation. You may see the profession portrayed in crime TV shows, but real life is much different. In addition to homicide and deaths involving criminal activity, the coroner’s office is responsible for investigating suicide, accidents–such as falls or drug overdoses, sudden death,
deaths in-custody’s-or during police intervention or incarceration.

During my internship, I participated in various steps of the medicolegal process. I attended and assisted with autopsies every day during my training. I measured and recorded organ weights, took fingerprints, and helped everything run smoothly. While assisting in the morgue, I observed
how the medical examiners determined the cause of death and had the opportunity to ask many questions. I learned a lot through hands-on participation and witnessed how pathological signs discovered during an autopsy indicate the cause of death.

Last summer, I interned with the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science in Houston, Texas, through Bryn Mawr’s summer internship program. My prior experience with medicolegal cases in Houston provides a basis for general comparison with the patients I observed in Montgomery
County, which has a median income twice that of Houston. Houston had many more daily cases, more homicides, and people who did not have access to healthcare during life. Yet, Montgomery County has huge wealth disparities; patterns of wealth were highly associated with the number of cases and circumstances of each death.

Overall, I’m grateful for the opportunity to intern with the Montgomery County Coroner’s office. I have gained a lot of insight into the field, and I plan to use the connections I’ve made to continue a career in forensic science.

Palmer Jones, BMC, ’24

Healing Futures Through Restorative & Transformative Justice Practices

Semester: Fall 2023

Faculty Advisor: James Martin

Field Site: Youth Art & Self-Empowerment Project (YASP)

Field Supervisor: Felix Rosado

Praxis Poster: 

Healing Futures Poster (5)

 

Further Context:

This was my third semester working with Healing Futures in the Youth Art & Self-Empowerment Project. This program aims to focus on connecting with youth to teach them the importance of accountability and engagement with their community. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office sends eligible cases to the Healing Futures team and if the capacity and resources are there (often a challenge with non-profits such as this), the responsible youth (demeaning language is avoided) will be enrolled and immediately begin meeting with a team of two facilitators. We then connect with the person harmed (notice the dignifying language) to begin making connections and assisting them with their needs throughout the process. By the end of the sessions, the responsible youth will have written an apology letter and have been prepared to share it with the person harmed at their Restorative Community Conference. This conference utilizes the indigenous circle process, highlighting the importance of creating an intentional space. Using restorative and transformative practices, facilitators guide the circle and provide people a chance to share how this impacted them or caused harm. All involved will then create a restorative plan that the responsible youth typically spend 4-8 weeks completing.

Throughout this entire process, we continue to provide transportation, food, or any other support (within our means) needed in order for them to be successful. Once completed, there is a community celebration where we present a personalized award to honor the responsible youth (and occasionally the person harmed) for their strength and determination. This semester, I focused on gaining confidence in my facilitation skills through learning from the program manuals. I worked one on one with other facilitators to brainstorm how the current curriculum could be expanded or made more accessible and implemented new workshop materials. Guided by my mentors, I focused on the nature of healing connections and how programs that engage with the community help people to build ecosystems of care. I previously compared the youth in the program to seeds, reflecting the health of their environment and the things that pour into them.

If we continue to pour positive, confidence-building energy into the youth, they will learn to better care for themselves, which allows them to better care for their community. Through this, there is a reimagination of what community care can look like and hope beyond our current systems of accountability.

Olivia Kaplan, BMC, ’24

The Clearly Collective

Semester: Fall 2023

Faculty Advisor: Matthew Feliz

Field Site: The Clearly Collective

Field Supervisor: Olivia Cleary

Praxis Poster: 

Cream Simplified Professional Portrait University Research Poster-3

 

Further Context:

Clearly Collective, a visionary custom silk scarf company, stands at the intersection of art, fashion, and architecture. This women-owned startup specializes in crafting exquisite silk scarves inspired by monumental architecture from any location. Each scarf is a canvas, meticulously designed to capture the essence and beauty of iconic landmarks, structures, and lifestyle; the Clearly Collective transforms these elements into wearable masterpieces. These intricate patterns, details, and motifs are thoughtfully curated and placed together to evoke a sense of connection and appreciation. The heart of the company lies in its commitment to
celebrating cultures, lives and memories through its designs. The scarves serve as a visual journey, showcasing the unique charm and significance of various locations.

As a college senior, the significance of real-world experience cannot be overstated. While academic knowledge forms a solid foundation, the transition from classroom learning to practical application is where true growth and readiness for the professional world occur. Real-world
experiences I have gained from working with The Clearly Collective have offered me invaluable insights into the complexities of various industries, providing me with the opportunity to apply problem solution and analysis skills to actual situations.

These experiences not only enhance problem-solving skills but also open up the world of opportunities ahead. The exposure to real-world challenges has instilled a sense of confidence and self-efficacy, empowering and strengthening my interests.

While working at the Clearly Collective, I have been given the opportunity to learn and grow in my academic and career interests. I have also been given the chance to be a member of a small team working to make a big impact. The ability to learn and grow with the company has offered exposure and skills unlike anything else I have experienced.

A large part of the work, besides working on designing scarves, has been a combined effort to learn client outreach, business development, and media skills. These expertise and trials ensure the development of effective and engaging content, enabling the company to offer unique and high-quality product and customer experience. Business development skills have been
fascinating, learning from a women-owned and founded company, how strategic growth, including market analysis, client acquisition, and partnerships building to expand the reach and impact of the brand. Meanwhile, media development play a pivotal role in crafting compelling
narratives, creating visually appealing content, and finding desired and few clients, continuing to grow platforms for marketing and brand building.

The Clearly Collective engages with its audience across various platforms, creating a community that shares a passion for art, fashion, and architectural marvels. As time goes on, the collective hopes to bring in more stories and memories of places: towns, neighborhoods, and communities, to create meaningful pieces anyone can enjoy.

Katie Manyin, BMC, ‘23

Gender Socialization and Gender Specific Education

Semester: Fall 2023

Faculty Advisor: Elise Herrala

Field Site: Girls Inc.

Field Supervisor: Brionna Pendelton

Praxis Poster: 

Praxis Independent Study Poster Final

 

Further Context:

In addition to my work in the classroom facilitating Girls Inc. curriculum, one of my goals for this independent study was to analyze how Girls Inc. ‘s gender-specific educational programming affected girls’ understanding of their gender identity. I was able to do this analysis through recording field notes after my classes, and then coding the field notes for patterns
relating to the girls’ gender expressions and behaviors. At the end of the semester, I wrote a memo summarizing my findings throughout all of my classes. Here is an excerpt from that memo:

The two major themes that stood out to me after looking through my Girls Inc. field notes were the girls’ fixation on beauty and physical appearance and their lack of self-confidence. While these patterns aren’t surprising to me, I was surprised by the contradiction I observed between the girls’ astute awareness of societal inequities and the pressures put on women, and their occasional inability to identify these issues in class. For example, the 7th grade students in my media literacy class consistently demonstrated that they are aware of the harmful beauty standards that our society pushes on women, yet they are clearly still affected by this all-encompassing messaging, and sometimes even perpetuate harmful beauty standards
themselves. The contradictions that my students in Girls Inc. have demonstrated with regard to beauty standards highlight the very human experience of being able to identify when something is harmful and wrong, yet struggling to completely divorce oneself from societal pressures.

The girls in my classes have consistently demonstrated both a keen awareness of the pressure put on women to look, dress, and act a certain way, while also making comments in class that are hypercritical of their own and even other people’s appearances. One key example of this contradiction happened during my second week at The Community Academy of Philadelphia. During this session, we had the girls look at and analyze different advertisements. One of the “advertisements” I gave a group of girls to look at was really just a cover of Seventeen magazine. This cover featured a picture of Camilla Cabello, and one of the most
prominent headlines on the cover said “Get OMG Hair While You Sleep! (Seriously).” Right away, the girls in the group called out how ridiculous the idea of “OMG” hair is, as one girl mockingly asked, “What does OMG hair even mean?” Her tone told me that she understood that the idea of “OMG Hair” is so abstract and subjective, and that by using this phrase, Seventeen is implying that our hair has to look a certain way to be considered beautiful and worthy of praise.

Yet, just a few moments after the girls started making fun of the idea of “OMG Hair,”, the conversation turned to a critique of Camilla Cabello’s hair and outfit on the cover of the magazine. The girls declared that she did not have “OMG hair,” and then went on to talk about how horrible her outfit was. Therefore, even just after recognizing that it is unnecessary to put
pressure on women to look a certain way, and in this case have “OMG hair,” the girls started pulling apart a woman’s appearance. While the girls demonstrated the ability to recognize and call out misogyny in the media, they also still participated in the culture of critiquing women’s appearances themselves. This illustrates how incredibly hard it is for the girls to break out of the sexist fixation that our society has on women’s appearances, even when they recognize the harm that this fixation can cause.

Throughout my fieldwork at Girls Inc., I have also seen many girls fixate on their own physical appearance, even when we were not discussing any related topic. For example, when we did an assignment called “What’s Special About Me” with the fifth graders in which they had to write something they liked about themselves, many of the girls wrote about an aspect of their physical appearance that they liked. While it is beautiful and powerful for girls to voice what they like about their physical appearance, the fact that they went straight to that part of their identity instead of aspects of their personality speaks volumes about what young girls are taught to value about themselves. In addition to many girls struggling to write things that they liked about themselves in the “What’s Special About Me” activity, girls in all three of my placements communicated to me, in various ways, that they believe that they are ugly. Because these girls
are constantly receiving the message from the world that they should put incredibly high value on the way they look, they start to be highly critical of their physical appearance, which can contribute to lowering their self esteem.

The observations I made of the girls’ behavior in my Girls Inc. classes only reinforced for me how important it is to talk to girls about sexism and societal pressures from a young age. In my opinion, we can’t reach girls soon enough.

Tarin Martinez, BMC ’23

Representing Spaces

Semester: Spring 2023

Faculty Advisor: Gary McDonogh

Field Site: Voith & Mactavish Architects

Field Supervisors: Daniela Voith & Isabella Bartenstein

Praxis Poster: 

Tarin Martinez_Praxis Poster_Final

 

Further Context:

For my Praxis course this semester, I continued an internship I had at Voith & Mactavish Architects. One of the firm’s founding partners, Daniela Voith, is a Bryn Mawr alumna and Architecture studio professor; I had taken her course in Fall of 2019, which is where I discovered the architecture field and found my passion in it. Voith & Mactavish Architects (VMA) is an architecture, interior design, and historical preservation firm in Center City, Philadelphia. They primarily specialize in cultural and educational spaces, such as independent high schools, churches, college dorms, and residential. Daniela once described it as “spaces where people care about the space.” This intrigues me, as it gives the opportunity (and budget) to really consider and design meaningful and purposeful spaces, and consider what goes into that design. As I had done in my previous time at VMA, this semester I continued my support in producing renderings of current and past projects. These renderings mainly consist of elevations, plans (of both buildings and campuses), and sections. The buildings I have worked on are primarily educational settings – classrooms, dorms, administrative spaces.

The process starts with the designs being drawn into a modeling or drafting software such as CAD or Revit. In my time at VMA, I have been able to pick up a working knowledge of both programs, as well as Photoshop. The drawings need to be “cleaned,” by simplifying them. The purpose of this is to most clearly convey the purpose of the drawing – some are for presentations, some are for interviews, or the website. The goal is to make the drawings easily readable to anyone, students, other design professionals, visitors to the website or our social media pages. In addition to being readable, the goal is also to make them beautiful and distinctly VMA. After the drawings are “cleaned,” for any unnecessary or distracting lines or items, the linework is put into Photoshop. Here, using brushes and standard company colors, the renderings begin to come to life. The tactics used to create the VMA look are derived from founding partner Cameron Mactavish’s hand water colors that were an important part of the company’s original designs and work – their identity, even.

My skills come in through the cleaning, and then the reading of the drawings, working to figure out what each line represents in the real site, and what is important to convey the vision for the space to the viewer, as well as what is visually appealing. I work with the project architects to do this, they tell me what they want the rendering to convey or focus on, and what’s what in the drawing. I add in wall poche, coloring in the walls and adding in weight. After that comes programming, for plans. Programming is the delineation of spaces by function. To convey this artistically in a rendering, we use different standard colors to signify the usage of those spaces clearly (blue for a bathroom, or orange for a study, for instance). In renovations or additions, I also often usually am asked to depict the difference between existing and new walls. If I am doing a larger site plan, I may investigate the surrounding area via Google Earth to be able to produce a more comprehensive picture. The final touches are adding in trees and other relevant landscaping, as well as artistic fades and highlights. Depending on the “cleanup,” time and clarity of the original drawing linework, a rendering can take anywhere from a few days to a week or more. Part of this time is spent reviewing the work I have done with the project architect or my supervisor, Isabella Bartenstein, who taught me the company standards and tricks of the trade. Their feedback comes in the form of “redmarks,” their red markings on the drawing being instruction on how to tweak the renderings.

My experience at VMA has given me an incredibly valuable insight into the industry. What is it like to work in this type of environment? A smaller firm, a creative environment, a woman-owned business. I’ve been able to observe the day to day life of interior design professionals, architects, and the business administration of a firm like this, and consider what I want my life to look like. While I had hoped to have found a clearer vision of what exactly I would like to do as a career, this experience, like my experience at Bryn Mawr, has taught me that there are more paths than I could have ever imagined existed. I have also found that even after several years of immersion in architecture education and the industry, I still find that practically anything architecture related interests me. My work rendering, and past work drafting in the studio at Bryn Mawr and at VMA, is something I can become pleasantly highly engaged with and lose track of time doing. Beyond just observations, I have also made an effort to talk to my coworkers about their experiences. I feel this has provided me a real inside-look at the architecture and design industry that many don’t get the chance to experience until after they graduate. Besides the technical skills that VMA has imparted me with, my time with them has enhanced my professional and communication skills within an office. I am very pleased to not only have learned about the industry, but also about myself and my work style. I enjoy project based work, with a balance of logical creativity. I hope to continue my relationship with VMA, improve my hard and soft skills, and find a way to be as valuable as possible to the company!

Palmer Jones, BMC, ’24

Healing Futures

Semester: Spring 2023

Faculty Advisor: Darlyne Bailey & Gwenn Prinbeck

Field Site: Youth Art & Self-Empowerment Project (YASP)

Field Supervisor: Felix Rosado

Praxis Poster:

Palmer Jones_Praxis Poster_Final

 

Further Context:

After being placed with Healing Futures in a praxis class a previous semester, I wanted to continue my involvement and co-created an Independent Study. Healing Futures is Philadelphia’s first youth-focused pre-charge diversion program, tackling youth incarceration. Through Healing Futures, I gained more trust and confidence in myself by facilitating Restorative Community Conferences, which are the last step in a restorative justice process when a young person causes harm to someone else in the community. Following the Circle Process, derived from indigenous practice, the person harmed, responsible youth, and invested community members gather together to address the harm caused. Together, we create a Restorative Plan for the responsible youth that aims to resolve the harm to the best of their ability whilst instilling confidence in the community’ ability to resolve conflict without problematic interference. My role also consisted of running weekly workshops in preparation for the conference as well as skill development in my administrative abilities including, note-taking and record keeping.

My experience working with the organization, community, and youth has helped shape me into a more informed and motivated individual. I found that my engagement with the program encouraged me to better myself so that I could continue being supportive despite the harsh realities I witnessed. In relation to my major, I believe we cannot have environmental justice without having individuals who want to see such justice be carried out. “Empowered people empower people” is a phrase I found myself repeating often. By empowering youth to take accountability for the harm they cause (rather than villainizing and punishing them), they build trust in themselves and others and become reacquainted with what it means to be in a community, and are thus better positioned to be mindful of how they interact with the environment.

Trying youth as adults and their resulting displacement from their communities due to the corrupt juvenile court system can be metaphorically compared to seeds trying to grow in bad soil. When a seed is not sprouting, it is more likely that the soil in which it is trying to root is not sufficient, rather than being a faulty seed. Just as the polluted soil can stunt the growth and development of seeds, the injustice system can hinder their growth and development. This can result in long-term negative consequences, including the perpetuation of poverty, crime, and social inequality. To address this issue, we must work to remove the toxins from the soil and provide the necessary resources and support for youth to grow and flourish. This involves addressing the root causes of systemic racism and disempowerment in society, investing in community-based programs and services, and reforming the juvenile justice system to ensure that it provides a rehabilitative and restorative approach to justice for all youth.

Keon Parsa, HC ’24

Equity & Active Transportation

Semester: Spring 2023

Faculty Advisor: Gary W McDonogh

Field Site: The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia

Field Supervisor: Patrick Monahan & John Boyle

Praxis Poster:

Keon Parsa_Praxis Poster_Final

 

Further Context:

During the 2023 Spring semester, I interned with the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, located in Center City.  The main project I was working on was the Connecting Communities project, which sought to address one crucial barrier that was preventing residents from underserved communities from accessing the Circuit Trails, a network of hundreds of miles of shared use bike and pedestrian paths across the greater Philadelphia area.

The barrier in question was a lack of access, be it a lack of information or a lack of a safe route to get from the trail to their house.

The map shown on the poster is of Trenton, New Jersey.  When driving, residents would be routed mainly through busy arterial roads that are designed to move cars quickly.  These roads are not usually accommodating to people walking or biking.  The map highlights alternative routes that help connect neighborhoods to the trails on low-stress neighborhood streets, which most people who drive likely would not have known about.  This can sometimes be challenging because car-centric planning deliberately seeks to discourage through-traffic on neighborhood roads, instead pushing it to busier streets.  This can result in longer, more awkward navigating when walking or biking.  In addition, things like creeks, highways, and railroads act as physical barriers that significantly reduce the number of routes, generally only to select busy roads.

This is why, in addition to providing information to residents, the project seeks to identify important stretches that should be targeted for improvement in the future, such as including a bike lane, crosswalk, or improved sidewalk.

Aside from making the maps, I was also involved in preparing visual content to present these maps to the community and interested parties.  This involved using a tool new to me: ArcGIS StoryMaps.

Interning at the Bicycle Coalition was a very positive experience for me because I was able to directly engage with the Connecting Community project, along with others, while developing relationships with my mentor and faculty advisor.  I was able to practice previously learned skills, including mapping and technical work, while also developing new ones, like graphic design and bicycling related research.  It has also helped to prepare me for my upcoming summer internship at the Washington Area Bicyclist Association in Washington DC.

 

Jasmin Diaz Tello, BMC ’23

Diverting Youths’ Cases From the Courts to a Restorative Justice Process

Semester: Spring 2023

Faculty Advisor: Darlyne Bailey & Gwenn Prinbeck

Field Site: Youth Art and Self-Empowerment Project (YASP)

Field Supervisor: Felix Rosado

Praxis Poster:

Jasmin Diaz Tello_Praxis Poster_Final

 

Further Context:

This spring I was able to continue doing my Praxis study at the same organization that I did last year, Youth Art-Self Empowerment Project (YASP) – in their Healing Futures diversion program. I am absolutely grateful to have been able to go back and create a bigger impact in the program. Last semester I was mostly an observer and participant in our sessions with the young kids, this semester I carried the same duties as a Healing Futures facilitator. I facilitated most of the sessions every time I went into the office (3 times a week). I helped organize events such as Restorative Community Conferences (RCC) and Fun Days for the responsible youth. I have felt like a true social justice leader with my time in the Healing Futures program and have learned how to connect with the Philadelphia youth even further. I fully embraced empathy, trust, and the unexpected – the three most essential things in this kind of work.

I adore spending my time and effort at YASP, and I am happy to share that I will continue doing so into the following year even though I am graduating in May. I have received American Friends Service Committee’s (AFSC) Robert Andrew Stuart Fellowship. With this fellowship I will be continuing to work with Healing Futures and with AFSC’s Emerging Leaders Cohort (ELL). I am lucky enough to continue doing what I love to do in not just a familiar setting but in a new one as well that will push me to grow into an even better leader. With my experience at YASP and the help of my faculty supervisor, Dr. Bailey, I have unlocked a love for social service and will be getting a master’s in social service in the following years to be able to create an even bigger impact for change.

The way the Healing Futures program works is as follows: we receive referrals from the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office of young people who have been arrested for a variety of crimes. If the youth choose to enroll into the program, we reach out to the person(s) harmed. For weeks we then prepare everyone for a RCC where all parties come together with two of our facilitators and community members to talk about what happened and what needs to be done to put things more right. At the RCC, a restorative plan is developed that the responsible youth then must complete for the next few months. Once the plan is completed, all charges are dropped, and it is as if the arrest never happened. This allows them to move on in life without carrying the burden of a permanent charge on their criminal record society has made it to be for something that youth did when they were young.