Category: Semester

Kripa Lamichhane, BMC ’26

Lifecycle of a Product: From MVP to Testing

Praxis Course: Technical Product Management 201 

Semester: Fall 2025 

Faculty Advisor/Professor: Alyssa Pivirotto 

Community Partner: FSH Technologies 

Field Supervisor: Ryan Hendry 

Praxis Poster:

11 Kripa_Lamichhane_PosterPresentation_KripaLamichhane Revised

 

Further Context:

This semester, I worked as a Technical Product Manager at FSH Technologies, a Philadelphia-based software company that develops software platforms to help municipalities improve city operations. As a Computer Science major interested in the intersection of engineering, product development, and public-impact technology, I designed this course to understand how technical product management functions inside a startup environment and how it supports the full product lifecycle. 

My fieldwork provided exposure to the practical side of product development, which is an area with limited formal coursework. I focused on learning product methodologies, understanding how engineering and product teams collaborate, and observing how ideas evolve from minimum viable products to refined, test-ready tools. 

In FSH Technologies, most of my time centered on three core responsibilities. I built demo-ready web application prototypes in Replit for government RFPs, which taught me to translate requirements into functional, presentable products. I developed and maintained a Notion-based knowledge-management system to centralize company information, streamline workflows, and introduce lightweight automation across teams. I also conducted QA testing, including edge-case exploration and user-flow evaluations, to identify usability gaps and recommend accessibility and functionality improvements. 

Here, integrating course readings with hands-on work was essential in understanding how product decisions are made and how tools, processes, and stakeholders need to shape the trajectory of a product. This process of creating my own learning path while experimenting with industry practices and working closely with professionals helped me build a clearer sense of the product skills and mindset needed for a future career in product management. 

Hazany Palomino, HC ’26

Seminar: CITY420: Seeking Spatial Justice

Semester: Fall 2025

Faculty Advisor/Professor: Lauren Restrepo

Community Partner: HNTB

Praxis Site Supervisor: Danelle Hunter

Praxis Poster:

5 Hazany _Palomino_Hazany Palomino Praxis Poster Revised

 

Further Context:

This semester, I spent my time as a Transit Planning intern at HNTB. I sat with the Planning team in the Philadelphia location. I had the opportunity to intern at the company over the summer, and I had such a great experience that I wanted to continue my time there! 

In re-starting my internship through the Praxis program, I developed objectives and goals I wanted to guide my experience at HNTB this semester, specifically as it relates to the course theme of spatial justice. The three objectives I created are: 

1) Reflect on the ethical responsibilities of planners and practitioners by examining how decisions about space impact equity, inclusion, and community well being. 

2) Thoughtfully engage with community members to strengthen the connection between planning practice and community priorities. 

3) Gain the ability to translate theoretical ideas about spatial justice into accessible frameworks that can inform dialogue and action amongst practitioners and community members. 

These objectives not only serve as a framing reference for my experiences at HNTB, but these are also framing objectives I plan to carry with me into future endeavors. Specifically, as it relates to the role of planners and practitioners in thoughtfully engaging and delivering equitable projects—at any scale—is a consideration I have thought extensively on as I prepare myself for a career in planning. 

One project I worked on over the semester was a micromobility pitch for a potential client. This project consisted of conducting spatial analyses identifying gaps in Philadelphia’s bike and micromobility network and proposing solutions to bridge this gap to enhance connectivity across the city. 

The main project I worked on for much of my time at HNTB was an extension of my work over the summer. The project is a major roadway and transit redesign project for Roosevelt Boulevard, a 14-mile corridor in Northeast Philadelphia. This project is a planning study that will propose one roadway redesign: a Neighborhood Boulevard and Partially Capped Expressway and one new transit service: a Subway, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), or Light Rail Transit (LRT). The main objective of this project is to create a safer and more reliable Boulevard for all users, including pedestrians, bikers, transit riders, and drivers. Work on the project has included preparing materials for upcoming rounds of community engagement. This has included analyzing data to identify areas for improved engagement, creating educational and promotional materials, and attending community outreach events to inform the public about the project. This project has offered me thoughtful insight into the processes and impacts of infrastructure projects on local communities. Importantly, I have learned that transit solutions are not prescriptive. Effective mobility strategies must adapt to local context, priorities, and constraints rather than follow a one-size fits-all formula. This is accomplished by thoughtfully engaging the communities about the project impacts because when residents help shape decisions, solutions gain legitimacy and better reflect lived experience.



Judy Xie, HC ’27

Seeking Spatial Justice Through County and Community Planning

Seminar: CITY420 Seeking Spatial Justice 

Faculty Advisor: Lauren Restrepo

Community Partner: Montgomery County Planning Commission 

Praxis Site Supervisor: Stephen Zbyszinski

Praxis Poster:

6 Judy_Xie_Praxis Poster (1)

 

Further Context: 

 This semester, I had the amazing opportunity of interning at the Montgomery County Planning Commission (MCPC), based out of Norristown, PA. MCPC, a sub-division of Montgomery County, has over 40 full-time planning staff who work on county-wide and municipal-level planning projects. Examples of their work include writing comprehensive plans, creating future land use and inventory maps, and publishing resources on planning topics.  

MCPC’s planning staff work in a range of departments: community, county, design, environmental, GIS, open space and trails, transportation. During my internship, I mainly worked on county and community planning projects. For county planning, I prepared materials for future housing publications aimed at helping municipalities implement policies that address residents’ struggles with housing affordability. I wrote a series of white papers, each one focused on a less traditional housing typology that can helpexpand the county’s housing stock. I wrote about tiny homes, missing middle housing, and residential adaptive reuse conversions. These short papers provided definitions of each type, along with benefits, considerations for constructions, local examples, and additional sources. Initially, I knew very little about the housing types I wrote about. However, as I scoured the web and sifted through MCPC’s drive to do research for these papers, I learned about the ways these housing types can be incorporated into existing communities and the types of housing needs they can meet. For community planning, a major project I worked on was assisting with the Parks and Open Spaces section of an updated comprehensive plan for the Central Perkiomen Valley Region. My main task was updating a collection of charts showing the names, classifications, acreages, and amenities of all the publicly-owned open space facilities in each of the region’s municipalities. I did this by using county GIS data, reaching out to community planners assigned to each municipality, and looking through municipal websites and open space plans. 

My internship with MCPC was a wonderful experience for which I will forever be grateful. The staff I met were kind, passionate, and supportive, and the experience gave me insight into the daily work lives of planners, the kinds of issues they aim to address, and the constraints their work faces. It reaffirmed my desire to pursue a career in planning and left me with important questions to ponder as I continue my education and work in this field. I wonder how governments and developers can best balance their fiscal constraints with provision of high-quality affordable housing and other necessary resources. I also want to learn more about public participation processes and how they can be made more inclusive. 

Jana Stemple, BMC ’27

Praxis Course: Education and Incarceration in the United States 

Semester: Fall 2025

Faculty Advisor/Professor: José Vegara 

Community Partner: Petey Greene Program 

Praxis Poster:

10 Jana Revised

 

Further Context:

 I interned with PGP’s College Bridge Program for my praxis on incarceration and education. As part of this Praxis, I did readings that touched on the state of the education system in the United States, how access to education varies in different communities, the U.S. carceral system, how individuals are educated when they are incarcerated, and much more.  

College Bridge aims to provide high-quality education to incarcerated individuals to prepare them for higher education. Where the state has historically failed to provide meaningful access, College Bridge allows those inside to access this high-quality education, as well as an opportunity to obtain higher education that they likely would not otherwise have gotten.  

Through my work at PGP, I have seen how the organization is striving for high-quality tutoring and education by finding instructors who are experts in their fields and tutors who are knowledgeable and dedicated.  

My main project was researching professors at colleges near facilities where the college bridge provides programming. Through this research, I identified professors and graduate students who had focuses that made me believe they could be good fits to teach with College Bridge.  

Through this research, I realized how isolated the communities surrounding prisons are, and how difficult it can be to find quality instructors who are passionate about the work that PGP is doing. My readings and my time at PGP have taught me how difficult this work can be to start, but how important it is to be able to foster genuine connections and bring education inside, where historically it has been rare to find dedicated instructors.  

 

 

 

 

Rachel Rosenstein, BMC ’27

Seminar:  CITY420: Seeking Spatial Justice 

Semester:  Fall 2025 

Faculty Advisor/Professor:  Lauren Restrepo 

Community Partner:  HIAS-PA   

Praxis Site Supervisor:  Rona Gershon   

Praxis Poster:

8 Rachel_Rosenstein_Immigration and spatial justice (24 x 36 in)

 

Further Context:

This summer, seeing the horrors being forced upon immigrants, I realized that I could not simply sit back and watch; I needed to get involved. I researched immigration nonprofits in Philadelphia until I found HIAS-PA, the incredible organization that became my praxis site. The organization first began as a nonprofit that was focused on aiding Eastern European Jewish immigrants in the late 1800s until 1979, when they opened their doors to immigrants of all backgrounds. The history of HIAS immediately appealed to me because of my own family’s immigration history. My grandparents came here from Eastern Europe, and they faced significant challenges upon arrival. HIAS helped immigrant families just like mine but in Philadelphia settle smoothly in America, and I felt called to give back in the same way that HIAS-PA is now open to all. My family has been living in the United States for three generations, and I am secure enough now to help those who need assistance now. When my grandparents came to the United States, they were fleeing persecution, and now, when people try to do the same, they are met with violence and hate. My goal in working at HIAS-PA was to counteract as much of that hate as I could by showing the people I spoke to that I cared about them, and that we would do our very best to help.  

I was on the intake team at HIAS. Once I began my work, I fell into a smooth rhythm: I would find out who was waiting for an intake call, call them, ask them the intake questions, enter it into the computer system, and let the attorneys know that the intake had been completed. This usually went smoothly. The more difficult part was hearing the immigration stories that these people experienced. Trauma and fear filled the questionnaire as I took notes on the answers to the questions I was supposed to ask. I learned quickly that no one came here simply for “a better life.” Everyone I had spoken to was escaping something, and it broke my heart that the country they chose to come to was treating them as though they were criminals. One question I had to ask was whether they had been arrested for a crime in the United States, and the answer was almost always “no”. And yet, our country continues to pretend that everyone who crosses the border is a criminal. I felt my anger expanding with every call I made as I understood more and more of the injustices these people had faced.  

I gained a lot from this experience, and I learned a lot about myself in the process. Firstly, I got the opportunity to put into perspective how lucky I am that I was born here, and therefore I do not have to live in fear every day. I learned that speaking to individuals carries so much more meaning than looking at statistics—I had seen all the numbers prior to the start of my work, but hearing individuals speak made me feel so much more connected to the issues immigrants face. I learned that I might want to consider immigration law as a career path because I have developed so much respect for the attorneys at HIAS and the work that they do, and I want to be a part of it one day. I learned that a little bit of kindness and patience goes a long way by seeing the gratitude I received after checking in with potential clients who did not know when they would hear back. I learned that everybody has a story to tell, and listening is often so helpful by itself, even if HIAS did not have the capacity to offer full services. Overall, I learned how important immigration work is, and I am forever appreciative of my experience at HIAS-PA.  

 

Natalie Schliekelman, BMC ’26

Environmental Justice Through a Legal Lens: A Praxis Experience

Seminar: CITY420: Seeking Spatial Justice

Semester: Fall 2025 

Faculty Advisor/Professor: Dr. Lauren Restrepo 

Community Partner: Public Interest Law Center 

Praxis Site Supervisor: Priscilla Ruilova 

Praxis Poster:

7 Natalie_Schliekelman_Schliekelman_Praxis Poster_Revised

 

Further Context: 

This semester, I interned with the Public Interest Law Center as an Undergraduate Environmental Justice Intern. My main focus was with community garden protection, which I did through data analysis (tracking garden parcels through Philadelphia’s legal docket) and outreach (visiting gardens and talking to people!). The internship aligned perfectly with my Environmental Studies and Growth & Structure of Cities majors. Community gardens are integral community green spaces in the urban fabric, especially in Philadelphia, which has a vibrant community garden scene.  

I was fascinated to learn more about the public interest legal world through my internship. I attended weekly staff meetings, through which I was able to hear about all of the incredible work that the attorneys at the Law Center were doing. I also attended, and helped at, the Law Center’s annual fundraising event, which was a window into what it takes to fund and maintain a non-profit, something I also learned about through conversations with the Law Center’s grant-writer. Overall, this internship gave me an amazing opportunity for a window into environmental justice work in Philadelphia, and what high-impact legal work looks like on the inside. 

Francis Perrigo, BMC 26’ 

Museum Studies Fieldwork: Harriton House

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: HART 420 Museum Studies Fieldwork

Faculty Advisor: Monique Scott and Sylvia Houghteling

Field Site: Harriton House 

Field Supervisor: Laura Carpenter 

Praxis Poster:

HART_FrancisPerrigo_Poster

 

Further Context:

As part of my praxis course, I interned at Harriton House, a local historical site once owned by Charles Thomson, the secretary of the Continental Congress. During my time there, I completed a range of archival projects that deepened my understanding of historical preservation and organizational recordkeeping. I organized and archived the records of Nancy Walker, a former president of the Harriton Association, as well as materials from two related groups: the Music Study Club and the Lower Merion Society for the Detection and Prosecution of Horse Thieves and the Recovery of Stolen Horses. I also transcribed handwritten correspondence from Paul Maier, another past association president, which offered insights into collection management and the vast number of uncatalogued materials that Harriton holds. In addition, I worked with Harriton’s book collection, helping to inventory and preserve its holdings. My work took place both in person and remotely, depending on the nature of each project, and I often juggled multiple tasks simultaneously. Beyond archival work, I had the chance to care for Harriton’s animals and interact with visitors.  

During my internship, I spent most of my time in the Archive Room, which is located in Harriton House. It was slow and meticulous work, but it taught me a lot. I learned quickly that attention to detail and focus are incredibly important, and you need to have a good idea of your organization system going in. Even little choices like how to group things or what to label a folder can make a big difference in your final product. As I sorted through the bins and file cabinets, I started to get a feel for how collections come together. I got better at recognizing different types of letters based on typeface and paper, and I could recognize different handwriting such as Nancy Walker’s. It was quiet and time-consuming work, but it made me realize how important backstage effort is when running a historic house.   

Without the efforts of archivists, many important documents like original blueprints or association bulletins could be overlooked during research. I also learned some basic preservation skills such as flattening, removing paper clips and paper pins, and sorting documents into acid-free folders and archival boxes. It was very illuminating to learn just how much work needs to go into preserving documents, even modern ones. I realized that my ability to focus is a valuable asset that I hadn’t previously considered. I also got better at trusting my judgment, staying organized, and managing multiple projects. It increased my already high regard for archival work and all the effort that goes into archival departments, no matter how large or small they are.

Lily Petteway, BMC 25′

Educational Research and
Interpretation at Harriton House

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: HART 420 Museum Studies Fieldwork

Faculty Advisor: Monique Scott and Sylvia Houghteling

Field Site: Harriton House 

Field Supervisor: Laura Carpenter 

Praxis Poster:

HART_LilyPetteway_Revised

 

Further Context:

My work at Harriton this semester was detail-oriented and research-focused, contributing to the house’s current goal of reinterpretation for its various visitors. Historical homes are often small, intimate spaces, and Harriton certainly falls into these categories. Located just a few minutes from Bryn Mawr’s campus, Harriton House has been standing since 1704 and is best known as the residence of Charles Thomson, Secretary to the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1789. Harriton highlights the critical role that local histories play in shaping historical engagement, interest, and education. 

My work centered upon Hannah Harrison Thomson, the inheritor of the Harriton property and Charles Thomson’s wife. After his political career that took Hannah from city to city, Thomson decided to retire the two to Harriton. My goal was to find as much information on Hannah as possible, whether that be through memorandum books or epistolary commentary on Charles’ political affairs. This had me not just digging through Harriton’s archives, but also visiting Philadelphia-based institutions like the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the American Philosophical Society, and the Independence National Historical Park Library. I sifted through and transcribed any letter I could find that was even tangentially related to Hannah, often having to read between the lines given how much historical commentary is focused on Charles instead. This was quiet, independent work but with a scavenger-hunt edge. Hannah’s letters were frequently witty, irreverent, and full of personality, which made highlighting her story at Harriton an exciting undertaking. 

Towards the end of the semester, I began compiling a Girl Scouts “Playing the Past” activity curriculum for girls aged 9-11 visiting Harriton. This ended up being more challenging than I had imagined as I had to think about how I wanted to interpret and synthesize my research for a younger audience. For the badge, girls visit a historical site and step into the shoes of a woman related to the site. I wanted to include a mix of activities that showed the potential limitations for late-eighteenth-century women but also show how women could still carve out spheres of influence for themselves; after all, Hannah’s life experience was so variant given her sudden shift out of the urban, social sphere into the homestead setting of Harriton. Letter/diary writing, mock portrait making, and exploring the house to locate Hannah’s influences were some activities I incorporated. 

Something I came to appreciate throughout my time at Harriton was how community-oriented the site is. The house is very receptive to outside visitors, nearby residents, volunteers, donors, and members that I frequently got to interact with. Harriton has become a staple of the surrounding community and serves not only to preserve that community’s past, but also consider its future. By hosting numerous events that celebrate Lower Merion’s history, running children’s programs, and even simply caring for the goats so beloved by visitors, Harriton fosters engagement that keeps local stories alive. 

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.