A rising junior at Masterman:
One student we spoke with commutes about 12-15 minutes by car each way, her dad drives her daily. She commented that some classmates live further from the school. They must wake up at “the crack of dawn” to take SEPTA. They often switch at multiple points, or carpool to get to school. Despite this difficulty, the school has a strict late policy.
Most of her friends live in Northeast Philly rather then in her neighborhood. She loves to stay after school because that is one of the few opportunities she has to hang out with her school friends. She stays in touch with friends via email over the summer, but rarely meets up face to face. She finds Masterman to be very diverse.
This past year, she particularly enjoyed her biology teacher because of her enthusiasm. She says she appreciates teachers who are strict but in a good way and who really challenge the students to do their best. She has an IEP for her physical disability. She feels as though the school accommodates her needs well. In general, she loves her teachers however she feels as though they could “possibly lecture less.” She also would prefer a later lunch period, eating at 10:30 is “too early.”
Like many Masterman students she is very involved with extracurricular activities. Clubs are held before school, during lunch, or after school. During the school year she is involved in photography, writing, and orchestra. This summer she is involved with the Philly young playwrights, an organization she was introduced to through Masterman. She volunteers at Spells Writing lab and at el futuro program in Mighty Writers. She aspires to be a writer, but commented that she may need a more “stable” job.
One student we spoke with commutes about 12-15 minutes by car each way, her dad drives her daily. She commented that some classmates live further from the school. They must wake up at “the crack of dawn” to take SEPTA. They often switch at multiple points, or carpool to get to school. Despite this difficulty, the school has a strict late policy.
Most of her friends live in Northeast Philly rather then in her neighborhood. She loves to stay after school because that is one of the few opportunities she has to hang out with her school friends. She stays in touch with friends via email over the summer, but rarely meets up face to face. She finds Masterman to be very diverse.
This past year, she particularly enjoyed her biology teacher because of her enthusiasm. She says she appreciates teachers who are strict but in a good way and who really challenge the students to do their best. She has an IEP for her physical disability. She feels as though the school accommodates her needs well. In general, she loves her teachers however she feels as though they could “possibly lecture less.” She also would prefer a later lunch period, eating at 10:30 is “too early.”
Like many Masterman students she is very involved with extracurricular activities. Clubs are held before school, during lunch, or after school. During the school year she is involved in photography, writing, and orchestra. This summer she is involved with the Philly young playwrights, an organization she was introduced to through Masterman. She volunteers at Spells Writing lab and at el futuro program in Mighty Writers. She aspires to be a writer, but commented that she may need a more “stable” job.
She loves to stay after school because that is one of the few opportunities she has to hang out with her school friends.
A middle school student:
She feels as though her teachers connect well with their students, although she does feel they are sometimes “too strict”. Unlike the high school, her typical school day begins by gathering in the patio, which is reserved for the 5th and 6th graders. In addition lunch is at a much more reasonable hour at 12 noon. She is involved in many extracurricular activities including orchestra and Reading Olympics. In addition, this summer she has been in an intensive gymnastics program.
She feels as though her teachers connect well with their students, although she does feel they are sometimes “too strict”. Unlike the high school, her typical school day begins by gathering in the patio, which is reserved for the 5th and 6th graders. In addition lunch is at a much more reasonable hour at 12 noon. She is involved in many extracurricular activities including orchestra and Reading Olympics. In addition, this summer she has been in an intensive gymnastics program.
Although Masterman does not have a strong presence in the Spring Garden community, the community within Masterman is incredibly strong.
A Former Masterman Middle and High School Student
She came from a neighborhood elementary school and found the transition to Masterman to be difficult because her Masterman teachers expected her to know certain things coming into middle school that she had not covered in her previous school. She stated that she was “lucky enough to get into the middle school” because almost no one from her elementary school went to Masterman. She said it was a “big leap” for her and that her parents made her apply to the high school when the time came, although she was happy to stay because she knew it would be good for her.
The middle school (grades 5-8) has about six sections of 30-33 students per grade. In eighth grade, all students must reapply to get into the high school, which means only about a half of the students in the middle school continue their schooling at Masterman. In her experience, many of her friends went to Central High, Girls High, SLA, and Palumbo. She told us that at the start of high school, many of her friends had not be readmitted and changed schools, so she was forced to reevaluate who her friend group would be in high school. Some of her friends chose not to continue at Masterman because they wanted a larger high school like Central, a school of thousands of students compared to Masterman’s 100 students per high school grade. She herself was happy to stay, but did suggest that staying with the same group of students from grade 5-12 can mean it is time for a change after graduation.
She described the academics as fixed class schedules for all underclassmen. She remembers choosing her first electives and AP classes in her junior year. Overall, her interactions with teachers at Masterman were positive and that she could go to them for help. She felt that being there for so many years allowed her to build strong relationships with a lot of the teachers in the school. She has kept in touch with a few of her middle and high school teachers and has even become Facebook friends with some of them (they post on her wall for her birthday).
She feels that the diversity at Masterman is high in the middle school, but that there is a dramatic shift into the high school. According to her, many minority students tend to go somewhere else or not get readmitted into the school for high school. In the middle school however, she mentioned that there are a good mix of students from different places in the city, students of different races, and students from different socioeconomic backgrounds.
She lived in southwest Philadelphia, so she took the trolley and changed at 15th street to take the subway all the way up to Spring Garden. It took her almost an hour to get to and from school so she had no connection to the community around the school. She mentioned that students often go to liberty place to hang out with friends after school. Although Masterman does not have a strong presence in the Spring Garden community, the community within Masterman is incredibly strong. She gave the example of the library in Masterman closing because of the lack of funding for a librarian, and the parents who pulled together to donate money to keep it open.
When we asked her if there was anything else she wanted to share about Masterman, she discussed the value in the name of the school. When she tells people that she attended Masterman, their reaction is generally very positive. She benefits from the name so she is happy with the school, however she understands that “there is only one Masterman and not everyone gets to have that experience.” She then went on to explain that a lot of neighborhood schools get the reputation of being ‘reject schools’ because they are comprised of the ‘leftover’ students who did not get into the special admit schools in Philadelphia. She also mentioned that many parents do not know about Masterman when their children are young which feeds into this divide between those who can and cannot attend a school like Masterman. She does not blame Masterman, however, she thinks the school district is the group that should be trying to remedy this situation.
She came from a neighborhood elementary school and found the transition to Masterman to be difficult because her Masterman teachers expected her to know certain things coming into middle school that she had not covered in her previous school. She stated that she was “lucky enough to get into the middle school” because almost no one from her elementary school went to Masterman. She said it was a “big leap” for her and that her parents made her apply to the high school when the time came, although she was happy to stay because she knew it would be good for her.
The middle school (grades 5-8) has about six sections of 30-33 students per grade. In eighth grade, all students must reapply to get into the high school, which means only about a half of the students in the middle school continue their schooling at Masterman. In her experience, many of her friends went to Central High, Girls High, SLA, and Palumbo. She told us that at the start of high school, many of her friends had not be readmitted and changed schools, so she was forced to reevaluate who her friend group would be in high school. Some of her friends chose not to continue at Masterman because they wanted a larger high school like Central, a school of thousands of students compared to Masterman’s 100 students per high school grade. She herself was happy to stay, but did suggest that staying with the same group of students from grade 5-12 can mean it is time for a change after graduation.
She described the academics as fixed class schedules for all underclassmen. She remembers choosing her first electives and AP classes in her junior year. Overall, her interactions with teachers at Masterman were positive and that she could go to them for help. She felt that being there for so many years allowed her to build strong relationships with a lot of the teachers in the school. She has kept in touch with a few of her middle and high school teachers and has even become Facebook friends with some of them (they post on her wall for her birthday).
She feels that the diversity at Masterman is high in the middle school, but that there is a dramatic shift into the high school. According to her, many minority students tend to go somewhere else or not get readmitted into the school for high school. In the middle school however, she mentioned that there are a good mix of students from different places in the city, students of different races, and students from different socioeconomic backgrounds.
She lived in southwest Philadelphia, so she took the trolley and changed at 15th street to take the subway all the way up to Spring Garden. It took her almost an hour to get to and from school so she had no connection to the community around the school. She mentioned that students often go to liberty place to hang out with friends after school. Although Masterman does not have a strong presence in the Spring Garden community, the community within Masterman is incredibly strong. She gave the example of the library in Masterman closing because of the lack of funding for a librarian, and the parents who pulled together to donate money to keep it open.
When we asked her if there was anything else she wanted to share about Masterman, she discussed the value in the name of the school. When she tells people that she attended Masterman, their reaction is generally very positive. She benefits from the name so she is happy with the school, however she understands that “there is only one Masterman and not everyone gets to have that experience.” She then went on to explain that a lot of neighborhood schools get the reputation of being ‘reject schools’ because they are comprised of the ‘leftover’ students who did not get into the special admit schools in Philadelphia. She also mentioned that many parents do not know about Masterman when their children are young which feeds into this divide between those who can and cannot attend a school like Masterman. She does not blame Masterman, however, she thinks the school district is the group that should be trying to remedy this situation.