Category: Praxis Independent Study

Melanie Golden, BMC ’25

Climate Science and Communication

Semester: Fall 2024

Faculty Advisor: Don Barber

Field Site: The Discovery Center

Field Supervisor: Bria Wimberly

Praxis Poster: 

Melanie Golden Praxis Poster_Final

 

Further Context:

Ever since I participated in Bryn Mawr’s 360 course cluster on “Climate Change: Science and Politics”, I have been intrigued by environmentalism and its specific manifestations in the Philadelphia area. Luckily, I was able to pursue this goal by participating in a Praxis independent study at The Discovery Center of Philadelphia (TDC), which has been providing a sanctuary for Philadelphians for over 6 years. Through this Praxis I was able to practice climate communication, research previous reports, learn about the local community, and employ my academic knowledge. I accomplished many of these goals through the numerous projects I took on with my field supervisor, Bria, and my fellow Praxis student, Emily. We helped host TDC’s first Environmental Justice Resource Fair, spoke with students at the Community College of Philadelphia (CCP), facilitated middle school field trips, and created a resource focused on Indigenous history. All of these projects prioritized the interests of the Strawberry Mansion community.

During one of my first in-office days at TDC, Emily and I spoke with one of the center assistants, a woman born and raised in Strawberry Mansion. From a first-hand perspective, I learned about how the neighborhood has changed as well as the present-day environmental issues. I also learned about the area from various readings and a study done by Philadelphia’s Office of Sustainability. Between the written work and conversations, I gained a multi-faceted understanding of the neighborhood. Overall, the area is rich with community but is harmed by gentrification, inadequate trash pickup, and high rates of asthma. Eventually, these issues became the basis for our Environmental Justice Resource Fair.

The Environmental Justice Resource Fair was the first of its kind at TDC and aimed to connect community members with environmentally focused organizations. This included the Strawberry Mansion Neighborhood Action Center (NAC), the Clean Air Council, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Brewerytown Garden, and more. We contacted these organizations through The Discovery Center’s existing contacts as well as cold-calling and emailing.

The event took place at The Discovery Center’s space and utilized the Civic Engagement Mini-Grant from the Career & Civic Engagement Center. The grant money provided the capital to provide snacks and small giveaways to encourage attendance as well as the money for a speaker from the Strawberry Mansion NAC. We also provided a handful of environmentally focused crafts for children who came. Overall, we had a decent turnout and provided a great space for organizations and community members to come together and learn from each other.

Hosting this event provided the space to practice climate communication as well as re-affirming the difficulties of event planning. Although the Environmental Justice Resource Fair was the largest project I undertook at The Discovery Center, the other smaller projects provided excellent learning opportunities as well. I practiced science communication through helping facilitate middle-school field trips and speaking at a class at the Community College of Philadelphia. These events covered a variety of different ages and varying prior knowledge regarding environmental issues. The Discovery Center’s relationships with nearby schools and other community spaces facilitated these opportunities. These interactions emphasized the importance of environmental education and the fostering of relationships with nature and space.

Overall, I learned quite a bit about the nonprofit world and the importance of community engagement and support. The Discovery Center provides a valuable space for community members to gather and connect with nature. Their mission of engaging and serving the local community is admirable and evident in their actions. Their work has renewed my interest in the environmental world and shown how my academic skills can contribute to the professional world. Ultimately, I look forward to following what The Discovery Center does in later years and seeing how they develop the Environmental Justice Resource Fair.

Lily Wallis, BMC ’25

A Centennial Study of Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Show

Semester: Fall 2024

Faculty Advisor: Matthew Feliz

Field Site: Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Show

Field Supervisor: Sharon Strine

Praxis Poster: 

Lily Wallis Final RSFAS POSTER

 

Further Context:

As my internship with the Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Show (RSFAS) comes to a close, I’ve been reflecting on the rewarding experience of preserving the history of this iconic event. Founded in 1928 by local art students who displayed their works on clotheslines in Rittenhouse Square, RSFAS has grown into the oldest outdoor fine art show in the United States. Today, it serves as a vibrant platform for over 140 professional and student artists, showcasing diverse media twice a year in the spring and fall. During my internship, I focused on uncovering and narrating the show’s evolution, ensuring its legacy is both preserved and celebrated as it approaches its centennial.

One of the most fulfilling aspects of my experience was conducting detailed historical research using archival materials. Working with old binders, photographs, board agendas, and meeting minutes, I pieced together the story of RSFAS’s development and its enduring impact on the arts community. The process of cataloging, analyzing, and summarizing these documents deepened my appreciation for the dedication and vision of those who have shaped and sustained this nationally recognized event over the years.

In addition to archival work, I conducted interviews with past and present board members, artists, and community partners to gain firsthand insights into the show’s influence and background. These conversations revealed the greater meaningful connections between RSFAS and the Philadelphia community, highlighting how the event has fostered artistic talent, enriched local culture, and brought people together year after year.

Furthermore, learning about and witnessing firsthand the behind-the-scenes operations of RSFAS provided me with a nuanced understanding of managing a long-standing cultural event, from coordinating logistics to nurturing relationships within a broader artistic network.

Looking back on my time with the Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Show, I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to contribute to such an enduring and beloved tradition. While my work specifically focused on examining how the show has developed into the cherished bi-annual event it is today, I am also proud to have been part of a project that genuinely honors creativity and community. I hope the Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Show continues to inspire and unite artists and audiences alike for years to come.

Emily Short, BMC ’25

Climate Science and Communication

Semester: Fall 2024

Faculty Advisor: Don Barber

Field Site: The Discovery Center

Field Supervisor: Bria Wimberly

Praxis Poster: 

Emily Short_FinalPoster

 

Further Context:

This semester, I developed a curriculum based on building community resilience to climate change, specifically in communities that have historically faced issues with environmental justice. I was fortunate enough to work with The Discovery Center in Philadelphia, an organization dedicated to connecting local residents with nature. Working with The Discovery Center under my field supervisor Bria allowed me and my fellow Praxis student, Melanie to practice this curriculum through the creation of science communication projects, the development of an environmental justice resource fair, and the facilitation of field trips. More importantly, through my work this semester, I assisted The Discovery Center in better connecting with the neighboring Strawberry Mansion community, a neighborhood that has faced an array of challenges due to environmental racism.

As previously mentioned, one of my biggest projects I worked on this semester was assisting The Discovery Center in creating the first environmental justice resource fair to provide materials to members of this community. To do this, I first connected with community leaders to hear first hand what environmental problems they see in their communities. Then, I reached out to other environmental organizations specializing in these topics to come and table at the event. This is when we started to hit real obstacles; at first, we were only able to get 2 organizations to commit to our resource fair, and were continually receiving rejection emails or no responses from organizations. We started cold calling and emailing organizations, and even physically went to a few organizations to drop off information about the event in the hopes we would get a few more participants. By the end of our search, we reached out to around 40 organizations in total, and had about 10 organizations commit to tabling at our resource fair.

Reaching out to organizations and understanding what resources the Strawberry Mansion community wanted were only the first steps to planning the environmental justice fair. There was also the matter of providing food and activities to attendees. We were able to utilize the Civic Engagement Mini-Grant from the Career & Civic Engagement Center to assist in funding the event. Through the assistance of the Career & Civic Engagement Center, we were able to provide food and small giveaways to encourage attendance, as well as hire a guest speaker from the Strawberry Mansion Neighborhood Action Committee, an organization dedicated to promoting community and providing assistance to individuals in the neighborhood. Overall, the environmental justice resource fair was an overwhelming success; we had a decent amount of participants and were able to connect with other environmental organizations in the Philadelphia area.

In addition to the resource fair, I also assisted in a few field trips that came into The Discovery Center and gave a brief talk to the students about conservation. Similarly, I assisted my field supervisor, Bria, in giving a talk on environmental justice at a community college in Philadelphia. Through these experiences, I learned that I enjoy working with students and simplifying complex scientific information to appeal to younger audiences.

Overall, I had a positive experience working with The Discovery Center. I learned how to connect with people from diverse backgrounds, build connections in communities, and condense complicated information into ways that appeal to a broad audience. This experience has made me interested in future work in the nonprofit world, and has made me realize the value in connecting with other people.

Chloe Schmeltzer, BMC ’25

Education & Early Development

Semester: Fall 2024

Faculty Advisor: Jim Martin

Field Site: The Haverford Center

Field Supervisor: Susan Zickler

Praxis Poster: 

praxis poster chloe schmeltzer_Final

 

Further Context:

This semester, I developed an Independent Study course at The Haverford Center, a childcare center for children ages 6 weeks to 4 years. Under the supervision of Susan Zickler, the director of The Haverford Center, I had the opportunity to work in one of the toddler classrooms with students ages 2 and 3. The curriculum I developed aimed to examine the social-emotional and language development of young children. My role involved engaging with the children in group settings, such as reading books, initiating student-to-student interactions, and providing guidance to promote age-appropriate and prosocial communication.

I had been working at The Haverford Center for a year prior to my Praxis course, and it has been an incredible experience watching all the children grow and progress. Alongside learning practical life skills like feeding and dressing, they have been developing skills of sharing, emotional regulation, and empathy. Even over the course of just a few months, the children have made noticeable progress. I have seen some of the children who hardly spoke any words become talkative and children who snatched toys from other kids’ hands start asking for turns.

I’ve also learned a lot from both teachers in the class about how they worked to support each child’s growth. Watching how each teacher handled situations differently opened my eyes to how to pick effective strategies when it comes to helping and handling the children as they navigate this early time in their lives. I also learned from them how to conduct and organize the classroom setting to be a fun and nurturing space for children to learn safely and successfully.

I’ve had a great time working with The Haverford Center, and I really treasure the connections I have formed with each of the students. I’m grateful for this opportunity to work with the school, Susan Zickler, and my faculty advisor, Jim Martin. A quality early childhood education is essential to helping to set children up for success throughout their school years, and I’ve had a great opportunity to learn the importance of it through my Praxis course.

Anna Kimsey, BMC ’25

Beth Shemesh: Sherds and Data

Semester: Fall 2024

Faculty Advisor: Jennie Bradbury

Field Site: Penn Museum

Field Supervisor: Katy Blanchard

Praxis Poster: 

Anna Kimsey Final Poster

 

Further Context:

When Katherine Blanchard, Keeper of the Near Eastern Collections at the Penn Museum, accepted my request to be my field supervisor for my independent study project, she sent me a list of potential projects that fell within my scholarly interests that she had on her agenda. Of the five projects she listed, the description of Beth Shemesh was the longest entry and it piqued my interest. Beth Shemesh, an ancient town located approximately 18 miles west of Jerusalem, was occupied from the Middle Bronze Age IIA period through to the Iron Age IIC (2000-650 BCE). As a result, it features an incredibly diverse range of both locally produced and imported ceramics. For about 30 years, the bulk of the excavated materials that were exported from Palestine were housed at Haverford College, in Sharpless Hall, with a few study collections scattered across American universities. In 1961, the Penn Museum acquired the collection, and at that time accessioned the whole objects and small finds. However, the majority of the 5,000-odd sherds from Beth Shemesh laid un-processed and un-catalogued.

So, my goal at the Penn Museum was not to process all of the sherds, but rather to establish a system for future accession and to do as much as I possibly could in one semester. At the museum, I catalogued each sherd, recording its type, findspot, and excavation date along with generating a description of the color, ware, decoration, and any other interesting features. I later entered this data into a spreadsheet in order for it to be uploaded into the Museum database. The other aspect of this process was photography, which was exclusively shot-down in this instance. I was able to process two boxes of sherds, which may not sound like much but does amount to almost 400 sherds.

Through this process, I learned to keep an open mind about what I was seeing, and not make assumptions about the material based on what I expected to see. This opened my eyes to the true diversity of the ceramics at Beth Shemesh. However, my final project for PRAXIS is not based on ceramic analysis. Ultimately, the provenance of this material became the driving force behind my research paper as I grew increasingly interested in Haverford College’s one archaeological excavation. I supplemented readings suggested by my Faculty Supervisor, Jennie Bradbury, with archival research carried out at the Penn Museum Archives and the Quaker and Special Collections at Haverford College. I was able to access the correspondence and photographs of Elihu Grant, the biblical studies professor who carried out the excavations.

This process has truly pushed me out of my comfort zone and exposed me to a whole new way of thinking about archaeology. The combination of hands-on experience and my research into the historical context of the excavation has given me a vastly more nuanced perspective on Beth Shemesh and its ceramic material than I started this independent study off with.

Angelina Rogatch, BMC ’25

The Surface Chemistry of Quantum Dots

Semester: Fall 2024

Faculty Advisor: Xuemei M. Cheng

Field Site: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Field Supervisor: Eliza K. Price

Praxis Poster: 

Rogatch, Angeilna - Praxis_Poster_Final

 

Further Context:

This semester, I worked remotely with the Tisdale Lab in the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT. My project was an extension of my on-site MIT Summer Research Program (MSRP) internship. The Tisdale Lab focuses on developing nanoscale materials and exploring their applications in energy conversion and optoelectronics.

Our work centered on a novel material called quantum dots (QDs) – tiny semiconducting crystals so small that they exhibit quantum effects, resulting in size-dependent properties. This unique characteristic allows quantum dots to be tailored for specific applications, making them valuable for technologies like QLED displays and solar cells.

A quantum dot consists of an inorganic core surrounded by surface molecules. To expand engineering control over QD properties, techniques for exchanging these surface molecules are actively being developed. However, the limited understanding of QD surface chemistry hinders efficient nanomaterial design and functionalization. In this project, we compared QD systems prepared using different methods to better understand their surface chemistry and guide the development of more effective surface molecule exchange techniques.

We synthesized the material following a specific experimental procedure and then replaced its surface molecules. Then, we incrementally added either the original or new surface molecules and monitored changes using magnetic resonance spectroscopy – an analytical technique that provides insights into the structure of molecules. Additionally, we developed a MATLAB script to analyze the data more efficiently, extracting valuable quantitative details about the material.

The insights gained from this analysis helped us evaluate the effectiveness of the molecule exchange process and improve the experimental methods. Ultimately, the results of this project aim to improve molecule exchange techniques for customizing QD surfaces, paving the way for advanced material designs and broader technological applications.

Through this project, I had the opportunity to refine my computational skills and apply them to a clearly defined research problem. I also connected with graduate students and postdoctoral researchers at MIT and received valuable scientific and career advice. Additionally, I enhanced my science communication skills by presenting my work to audiences with varying levels of expertise. I am deeply grateful to my research mentors, the Praxis Independent Study course staff, and my Praxis faculty advisor for this incredible opportunity!

Alexa Fraiman, BMC ’26

Environmental NGOs and Action

Semester: Fall 2024

Faculty Advisor: Don Barber

Field Site: Youth Art & Self-Empowerment Project

Field Supervisor: Turning Green

Praxis Poster: 

Alexa Fraiman Praxis Poster Fall 2024_Final

 

Further Context:

Something I’ve done often with Turning Green is summarize how an experience was in five words, so I wanted to share that my Praxis with Turning Green was inspiring, encouraging, growth-inducing, interdisciplinary, and community-oriented.

My focus throughout the semester was on Project Green Challenge (PGC), which is a 30 day climate action journey with different eco-themed challenges each day. It empowers high school, college, and graduate students to continue their climate activist journeys. The top 14 participants become finalists at the end of October and travel to California for the PGC Finals in November.

While PGC took place in October, preparation work for the challenge started over the summer and continued through September. To give a little background, each day of PGC focuses on a different environment topic and includes an overview of the topic, three different levels of challenges for students to choose how engaged they want to be, and resources for students to expand their knowledge even further if they’re interested. As an intern who came back to Turning Green for my second summer, I got the opportunity to edit each challenge and make suggestions for rewrites. I also worked on adding new climate resources for each day so students had updated places to go if they wanted to learn more. Many stages of editing happened before the challenges could be uploaded to the website and ready to go live on October 1st. One of my favorite parts of the editing experience was getting to suggest new ideas for the different levels of the challenges, which is where participants take what they learned about the day’s topic and apply it in a creative, hands-on manner. An addition I am particularly proud of is having participants make their own (short) podcast. They listened to Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s podcast Is Water Alive? of which my favorite quote from it was, “What would it look like if we really lived as if we loved the future and all the possibilities it holds?”. I hope all the participants of PGC and you reading this are just as inspired by the quote as I am!

Another aspect of the PGC journey that gave me a new perspective on environmental topics, education, and outreach was getting to read all of the participants’ submissions to the challenges. It was refreshing and filled me with hope to see young people making artwork promoting environmental awareness. While there is so much negativity and fear, rightfully so, around the environment, these students are empowering others to take action by demonstrating what using our voices can look like. It brought a new freshness to not only how I approach my school work, but also how I think about our + the environment’s future.

Similarly, I got to engage with students on social media, talking to them directly about what stood out to me about their work. I loved getting to talk with students from around the world and encouraging them to keep going with the amazing work they were doing in PGC. These kids truly are next generation leaders! I also wanted them to know that we all were there for them throughout their PGC journey.

In addition to using social media to connect to PGCers, I also worked on designing and creating newsletters to go out to all those engaged with Turning Green. As I mentioned in my poster, each format of communication I was involved in required a different style of writing. It was a growing experience for me to practice writing in different styles, especially in ones that are so different from academic writing. Newsletters were a great chance to share a recap of what happened in PGC throughout different times of the month and highlight the work of the students participating.

In culmination of all the outreach, writing preparation, reading participants’ work, and meaningful interactions we got to have with them, November was time for the PGC Finals! 14 top participants were named finalists and flown out to California for an environmental summit! I am grateful to have the opportunity to be an ambassador to a finalist and look forward to helping her with her Climate Action Project (CAP) that she will present in April during PGC Finals Part 2. As a student myself, I learned a lot workshopping through ideas and encouraging her before she went on stage to talk about her CAP idea to the other PGC Finalists.

This Praxis journey, my interaction with those at Turning Green, and with the students participating in PGC reminded me of the value that comes from trusting ourselves. When we feel empowered to take action, and come together with others to do so, that is when real change happens. Our voices have power just as our actions do – I’ve been reminded this semester to never forget that!