El Centro students document the neighborhood. Images from the Kensington Art of History blog.
This past Friday I spent the afternoon at Norris Square Presbyterian Church for the Kensington Art of History Project. There, students from El Centro de Estudiantes, a school started in 2009 by the non-profit Big Picture Philadelphia in association with Congreso de Latinos Unidos, presented their findings on the history of Kensington and Norris Square neighborhoods in an exhibition called “Threads of History: A Living Museum of Kensington’s Past and Present.” The multimedia presentation, which included photos, texts, old maps of the neighborhood, and most notably, performances by the students, was informative and entertaining. Most impressive was the depth of research done by the high-school students and the engaging way they presented the material. The project was devoted to relating the experience of past immigrants of Kensington and the problems they dealt with — like the necessity of child labor — to the experience of recent immigrants to Kensington today and the struggles they face. I really enjoyed the humorous interaction performed by two students, playing John B. Stetson and one of his employees, in which the employee begrudgingly accepts a meager amount of cash offered by Stetson out of his own deep pockets. Visit the Kensington Art of History project’s blog for more about the students’ research, including photos and video. Read more about Big Picture Learning’s project-based schools here, here, and at the Philadelphia Public School Notebook blog.
