Blog: February 2016

Sharing the Love Over Valentine’s Day Weekend
February 25, 2016

We shared the love of trekking! The UrbanTrekkers mixed it up this past weekend; instead of exploring a new place we seized the opportunity to hang with our sister program, Trekkers, from Maine. The Maine Trekkers were making their way down the Northeast coast on their Ride through History tour; we thought what better way than to share the history of our very own city, Camden. From the boom of the industrial era in the early nineteenth century to the continuation Camden’s maritime history right in our very own boat shop, it was definitely a city tour for the books. My favorite was our pit stop at Phoenix Park, once the site of a factory now transformed into 5 acres of open space on the river with remarkable views of Philadelphia. Thanks to our guide Jeff and students who shared not only Camden’s past but also glimpses into its promising future.

After our Camden tour, we did some early spring cleaning at the boat shop and ended the night with reflections from our day. It was encouraging to see dialogue and a coming together of young people from Maine and Camden. We definitely look forward to visiting the Maine Trekkers in their hometown during our annual From the Hood to the Woods trip this August!

Keep on Trekkin’, 

Vicki

UrbanTrekkers Environmental Educator 

Visiting the Theater
February 10, 2016

I’m sure many of you have been to the theatre at some point in your life. But have you had the opportunity to sit in on a rehearsal? Yeah, it sounded like a possible snoozer to me too, but seeing as Ms. Higgins and daughter/actress Christina were nice enough to put the trip together, I thought I’d at least do what I do best; drive them there and help eat the pizza! How surprised was I to see how much fun this trip was! The students got to meet the director for some Q & A before the actors began rehearsing, listen as the cast went back and forth on changes they felt needed to be made, watch the actors rehearse a scene from the play, then follow up with another conversation with the director. I think all of us were amazed at how much work goes into a play and how detailed they are in rehearsing and staging the play. Since these UrbanPromise Academy students read the script in the weeks leading up to the play, they were familiar with what was going to happen, but actually surprised that it played out different in person than what they expected in their heads. Now they have even more reason to look forward to the play, “Lobby Hero”, which they will be seeing as soon as it opens. A big thank you and shout out to Christina for arranging this special night, and to the students for representing UrbanPromise so well at the restaurant and in the theatre! Thank you all!

-Dan Higgins, UrbanPromise Volunteer

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