Category: Semester

Lucy Cambefort (BMC 25′), Angie Quiroz (BMC 26′), Fiona Shen (BMC 27′)

Data Visualization for Reservoir Concentration

Semester: Spring 2025

Praxis Course: DSCI 310: Data in Action

Faculty Advisor: Jennifer Spohrer

Field Site: Discovery Center

Field Supervisor: Bria Wimberly

Praxis Poster: 

DSCI_WaterProject_Revised_PraxisPoster-compressed

 

Further Context:

This semester, our team collaborated with The Discovery Center to create a visualization model demonstrating the evolution of abiotic factors over time, using data collected from Lake Vickers on the Bryn Mawr campus, provided by Professor Tom Mozdzer. The reservoir at The Discovery Center spans 38 acres and is just under 8 feet deep. Structurally, it resembles a bathtub, with steep walls leading down to a flat bottom composed of concrete and brick. Originally, water was pumped in from the Schuylkill River, but it is now primarily replenished through precipitation. It is currently the largest body of freshwater in Philadelphia.

By collecting and publishing data on the water chemistry of the reservoir, the community can learn more about the biodiversity and in turn improve the environmental conditions of the center. This will also make Professor Mozdzer’s data available for the college to further research on the sustainability of the campus. To make this work, we reproduced the graphs from Zentra Cloud in R, and created a StoryMap using KnightLab to make the data accessible and informational to the public.

We were able to use the data continuously uploaded in real time to the ZentraCloud platform through the sensors installed in Lake Vickers by Tom Mozdzer. Months worth of information on the environment and chemistry of the water stored on Zentra proved to be an invaluable source we could work with to create our model. However, Zentra is only accessible through obtaining the credentials of an account, which is expensive and in turn creates difficulties for allowing more people to use the data.

We took on the added challenge of recreating a graph from Zentra using R Studio, which is public and free, that would serve as a model for making this data accessible to Bryn Mawr. This would also allow for the data to be used in other classes and further the research started by Professor Mozdzer. We were able to write out the code for plotting graphs using csv files, which would be the outline for the Discovery Center to use once they collect their own data from the reservoir using sensors they intend on installing. This process pushed our coding skills and our ability to make use of the resources provided by the college, such as the office hours held by the Digital Humanities department.

In order to display the graphs created with R Studio, we searched for a platform that allowed The Discovery Center to present monthly water chemistry data from different locations in the reservoir and ultimately embed it onto their website. We found StoryMap, a user-friendly tool from KnightLab that allows users to add descriptions and graphs to various locations using coordinates which are important to graph points in the reservoir. This would be a great way to incorporate advanced graphs using R to customize visualizations. While StoryMap focuses on spatial data, StoryLine is another tool used to display information uploaded from spreadsheets to create interactive graphs. This tool also has the option of including descriptions for specific data points, allowing the public to understand changes in levels of dissolved oxygen, pH and temperatures over time, as well as other chemistry data.

Our next steps for the Discovery Center is to present the code we have been working on and our data visualizations to the staff in a virtual presentation in May. We hope for them to use our visualization model as an example and apply it to their own water data. In the long road, they would produce code that updates their visualizations regularly with real time data and embed the StoryMap onto their website. This would allow for communities and the public to view their water data and gain insights on water chemistry like temperature, DO, pH, etc at the center, while also including biotic factors as well like aquatic insects. This will help their goals in measuring how those populations vary over time in different locations, seeing what is affecting them.

Salem Boyer (BMC ’28), Makayla Coleman (HAV ’26) , and Jess Smith (BMC ’25)

Internal Process: Neighbors Helping Neighbors on the Main Line

Course Instructor: Darlyne Bailey

Field Site: Neighbors Helping Neighbors

Field Supervisor: Muneera Walker & Rachael Omansky Chou

Praxis Poster:

ARJ_Internal Process_Combined

 

Further Context:

This semester, we had the opportunity to volunteer at Neighbors Helping Neighbors on the Main Line (NHN) as the Internal Process team. NHN is a non-profit organization that supports underrepresented youth and communities in the greater Philadelphia area.

NHN has many different programs; however, we focused on the Education Empowerment program, which offers free in-person after-school homework help, one-on-one tutoring through a hybrid platform, and year-round youth mentoring. As the Internal process team, we aimed to review the structure of NHN to find strengths and weaknesses while also growing the program organically to include new features. Specifically, we focused on cursive writing, promotion, family engagement, large group reading, and cataloguing.

Our first project was catalogs. The catalogs consisted of documenting and digitalizing the book and games offered at NHN on the Main Line. This process was tedious. After taking pictures of everything, we put them onto a google doc. Then, we made them into catalogs to highlight the expansive library with many popular books and detail the skills learned by the games. This project was just an inventory project. It revealed a need for books for kids above the age of 12 at NHN.

Our second project was CursiveLogic. CursiveLogic as offered by our Praxis supervisor, Muneera, is a cursive writing program that tries to use colors, shapes, and catchphrases as a way of trying to make learning cursive more comprehensive and more accessible. We first began by researching the history of cursive writing to which we created a timeline that goes from the 1500s to the present day. Alongside the timeline, we offer a brochure that includes the research done about the benefits of cursive and our investigation of CursiveLogic. The last part of the brochure includes the way that CursiveLogic can be implemented at NHN.

Our final project involved adding family engagement events. We developed a series of family-oriented programs and organized them in a detailed spreadsheet. We planned five events to take place throughout the year, with the ultimate goal of increasing parent involvement and fostering a sense of community among families. The programs include Open House/Back to NHN Night, Reading Workshop, Career Day, Community Cookout, and a Gardening Workshop. We first created an event planner spreadsheet that can be used as a template for organizing any future events at NHN. We filled the planner out for each of the five events to provide a complete event description, logistics, objectives, and to-do tasks. We also included a post-event evaluation section that can be used to track the reach and impact of each event to analyze how they can expand over time. Lastly, we created mock flyers for each event, which can be edited and used for NHN promotional use. We wanted to provide both the spreadsheets and flyers to give a clear picture of what we imagine the events to be and make the implementation process seamless.

I, Makayla, really thought I knew about racial justice, but I was wrong. I thought I knew what most NGOs behaved like, but I was wrong. I had an amazing experience with NHN and the overall community that upholds the shared commitment of the four pathways: radical love, cultural humility, forgiveness, and compassion. This experience has forever changed my perspective on ongoing racial issues within the environmental justice movement. I believe that if we can heal people, then the next step is to heal the world.

I, Jess, really enjoyed my time at NHN and am very grateful for the growth opportunities and insights into what racial justice can look like. I learned how much of a difference community-based education can make as a supplement to traditional schooling and how it is in many cases a more effective environment for teaching because of the extra intentionality behind the methods of youth mentoring. I also observed how process improvement efforts can happen organically and not always need a systematic approach. The mission of Neighbors Helping Neighbors inspired me to pursue a role in process improvement, as this experience gave me insight into how that can be achieved naturally within a community-based organization.

I, Salem, am very appreciative of the opportunity to work with NHN. Having been involved with similar yet less successful educational organizations in the past, it was really enlightening to observe how NHN is actually enacting racial justice. I think it boils down to immense care and patience at every structural level. I learned about applying academic concepts and research to real life contexts, which, being community-based, differ from traditional settings. I feel emboldened in my ability to contribute to the communities in my life, on both an organizational and personal level.

Hana Sandomirsky (BMC ’26), Peyton Roberson (BMC ’26), and Diane Gentry

Creative Data: Exploring intersections of Data and Community with Neighbors Helping Neighbors on the Main Line

Semester: Fall 2024

Course Instructor: Darlyne Bailey

Field Site: Neighbors Helping Neighbors

Field Supervisor: Muneera Walker & Rachael Omansky Chou

Praxis Poster:

ARJ_Creative Data_Combined_Reduced

 

Further Context:

Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN) on the Main Line is a grassroots organization supporting underrepresented communities and youth in the Greater Philadelphia region. One of the three cornerstone initiatives of NHN programming is their Education Empowerment work. During the school year an important part of this work takes place during their Homework Club which provides Free in-person after-school homework help and healthy snacks, Monday through Thursday. Tutors include retired teachers and students from Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges. Our praxis project focused on collecting and analyzing data to both qualitatively and quantitatively measure the success of the NHN Homework Club program. We aimed to understand and illustrate how NHN’s efforts effectively support their participants’ academic success, using both qualitative insights and quantitative metrics.

We had to redefine the project several times as we had to be particularly careful about the data we were collecting since the work we were doing was with children; permission forms and ethics, and protecting privacy were especially important. Defining those rules and making sure we understood those parameters took some exploration and help from our mentors.

Next, understanding how to best frame our survey questions to present information in a format that the children would connect to was challenging. After two days of implementing paper surveys with lukewarm reception, we were inspired by a class reading to pursue a community data collection method called photovoice. Making data collection FUN drastically changed the levels of excitement in participating – no participant opted out, and several tried very hard to convince us to take the survey twice so they could take additional photos.

Finally, data sorting, labeling, and interpretation are the biggest remaining chunks of work that our team is left with, and in retrospect, we think collecting the data should have been half the project and an entire separate semester could have been dedicated to sorting and interpreting the data.

Our Creative Data team is left still wanting to better understand how to represent and communicate the data we have collected to clearly define next steps, maybe not for our project, but to leave the work we have done in a better place for another project to be able to use the photos and paper surveys as a foundation for their own photovoice work with NHN. One semester was just too short a timeline to accomplish a project of this scope. Our group’s final step will be the sorting and labelling all of the images that we collected with their corresponding descriptions collected verbally from the children as the photos were taken. Following this, we hope the photos could be used as tools in a series of discussions at NHN to find themes and meanings, perhaps using the 10S Framework, and drawing inspiration from the Photovoice project and the teachings of Paulo Freire.

Nada Elshafey, BMC ’26

Visualizing the Germantown YWCA

Semester: Fall 2024

Faculty Advisor: Min Kyung Lee

Field Site: Friends for the Restoration of the Germantown YWCA

Field Supervisor: Ann Doley

Praxis Poster: 

Elshafey_Final poster_resized

 

Further Context:

“Visualizing the Germantown YWCA” is an independent study that builds on my work as a Digital Scholarship Summer Fellow, where I collaborated with a team to create a website preserving the history of the Germantown YWCA. My role focused on the building page, where I developed an interactive floor plan map that allowed users to explore the building
through clickable rooms, revealing their functions and history. However, the lack of architectural documentation limited what I could achieve in representing the building. Recognizing the potential for further research, our project director, Professor Min Kyung Lee, suggested continuing the project as a Praxis independent study.

The study has three main phases: collecting archival materials, improving the floor plan map, and creating a new architectural visualization based on my findings. Research formed the foundation of my work but proved to be a far more iterative and ongoing process than I anticipated. My first task was exploring Temple’s Special Collections, marking my first experience as a researcher in an archive. I spent four hours examining historical materials,
discovering floor plans and reconstruction blueprints. While many lacked sufficient detail, they were valuable as the only resources available at the time.

Archival research required adaptability and persistence. I often didn’t know what I would find and had to remain open to new directions. This study also highlighted the importance of connecting with professionals and seeking guidance. My field supervisor, Ann Doley, continuously helped me understand what the Germantown community needed our preservation work to be like. She also connected me with community members who shared memories that answered some of my questions and provided photos revealing more of the building’s interior than what is available online. Librarian Molly Ward at the Joseph E.

Coleman Library was also instrumental in pointing me to critical resources, including The First 100 Years of the Germantown YWCA book. She also helped me locate the building on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, which revealed that the Athenaeum of Philadelphia held 12 blueprints. Visiting the Athenaeum was a turning point. There, I found the detailed, scaled plans, sections, and elevations I had sought since the beginning. These documents are the closest we have to being inside the building which makes them the foundation for creating new visualizations, ensuring the building’s architecture and history are accurate, preserved, and accessible.

What surprised me most was how research is never truly “finished.” Each step led to another, requiring constant reassessment of my goals. This iterative process extended the research phase far beyond my initial timeline but also deepened my understanding of the building and its context. The journey of discovery—layering findings, refining representations, and adapting my approach—became integral to the project itself.

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.