Tag Archives: DIY

Keep Philadelphia Beautiful and Science Leadership Academy Team Up!

Keep Philadelphia Beautiful and the Science Leadership Academy’s new Beeber Campus are excited to announce our new year-long partnership!

KPB is teaching four mini-courses, eight sessions each, focused on turning recyclable materials in to community problem solving tools. Students will work together to carry out five do-it-yourself (DIY) projects, each focused on sustainability, as a prism for discussing public policy efforts underway in the City.

These projects will allow students to discuss how and whether simple activities, completed collectively and for little money, can make an impact on problems we experience in our communities; these activities will also show how every item can have a “second life,” and how that second life can help solve seemingly large and unsolvable problems.

After those five projects are completed, students will spend the last three weeks of the course creating and completing their own do-it-yourself projects geared toward addressing a community-based problem that they experience and care about in their own neighborhoods. Not only will students gain critical thinking skills, but they will learn about their City and their neighborhood through a process of research and discovery designed to motivate and illuminate. At the end of the school year, we will hold an event open to the public to showcase the work of each student.

We believe that cultivating thoughtful, civic-minded Philadelphians involves allowing students to get their hands dirty, work together, and lead projects that will solve the problems they most care about. These beliefs are the underpinnings of this mini-course.

We’re in the midst of our first cohort of students, and loving every minute of it! So far we’ve made seedling pots out of newspaper and tape, reusable bags, and more. Check out pictures on our instagram – and stay tuned for our next steps with this project!