Make middle schoolers' dreams come true.

Hi, I'm Zach, and I teach the 5th and 6th grades at Russell Conwell Middle School in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. We are a Title 1 school that provides a challenging education and a safe place for all people who walk through our doors. I have been a teacher here for the past six years and have had the privilege of teaching these bright and passionate kids.

If you are familiar with Philadelphia and the Kensington neighborhood, you know that it has had a series of challenges over the past several years. This area has been a hub for a thriving narcotics drug scene described in national press coverage as the largest on the east coast. With this challenge, the neighborhood has been dramatically impacted, and the school has seen a decrease in enrollment despite its stimulating, challenging and comprehensive academic program.

When I started, we had over 700 students split between two buildings a block apart. Now, we're down to 180. We offer a challenging educational program, but we hear it time and time again, "I love the school and the staff, but the neighborhood is just too bad." As our numbers have dropped, so has our funding, making it harder for us to keep engaging programs and the extra curricula that draw students to our school. While our location isn't ideal, our students are most resilient. Each day, they persevere. Each day, they walk through a million reasons to give up, yet each day, they persist.

These kids deserve access to the supplies and resources that will further their education and skills. That is why I am raising funds to create a Digital Media Lab for them. This lab will allow us to expand our after-school journalism club into an entire newsroom and film studio where students can tell their stories in their voices using up-to-date technology. We will use the funds to buy two(2) Padcaster Studios For Tablets ($1799 each + tax and shipping), two(2) iPad 11s ($1099 each + tax), and the necessary cords and external hard drives for storage for the lab.

This media lab will go far into growing our school's grass-roots Journalism and Media Arts Program. Currently, the students are creating content for and publishing the school's new blog, The CCB (https://conwellcougars.blog/). In this digital publication, and through our weekly live virtual school assemblies, students can showcase their journalistic and creative writing and photo and video editing. The program aims to give our students the tools to control the narrative around them, help them tell their stories, and give voice to the Conwell community that we are already so proud of.

Please help me give our students the media lab they deserve and the outlet to speak their truths.

With Gratitude,

Zachary Posnan M.Ed

5th/6th Science and Math Plus

Russell Conwell Middle School