Penn partners with West Philly High to give it a new ‘front porch’ and teach students about careers

22 teens participated in a summer program, Design to Thrive, conducted in collaboration with West Philadelphia High School and the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design, along with Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships.

Students, mostly from West Philadelphia High, under the guidance of Penn graduate students in architecture, landscape, and urban planning, conceived of, designed, and built the outdoor recreational area off Chestnut Street.

The project, while giving the school a new space, is partly aimed at encouraging more students of color to go into architecture and design, disciplines where they have been traditionally underrepresented. Only 2% of architects identified as African American in 2020, the same percentage as a decade earlier, according to the National Organization of Minority Architects. Overall, 22% identified as a racial or ethnic minority.

The project, while giving the school a new space, is aimed at encouraging more students of color to go into architecture and design, disciplines where they have been traditionally underrepresented.

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