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Photo courtesy of Henry Roberts-Poyourow (12-3)
In honor of the upcoming National Volunteer Month of April, I wanted to know how Masterman students have helped their community. Thus, I interviewed three senior students on their fascinating humanitarian endeavors, ranging from working as a shop assistant, to tutoring, to doing maintenance on a Portuguese barquentine.
Sarah Cooperman (12-1) has been volunteering at the Philly Aids Thrift on 5th Street since the beginning of the school year. She sometimes works downstairs, where she unpacks donation boxes and moves the non-clothing donations to where they belong in the store. “This job is a little more physically intensive than working upstairs because you carry heavy boxes around the store,” Sarah explains. Or, when she prefers sitting down (“which is most days”), she works upstairs, tagging and hanging clothes.
Sarah’s favorite part about working at the Philly Aids Thrift is that everyone is super friendly. She enjoys the company of her co-workers, who are an eclectic group of micro-celebrity musicians, artists, college students, and retirees. “A student gives me college advice and then a seventy-year-old gives me life advice,” she says, recalling her bonds with co-workers from different ages and fields. “Also the main thing I love—the employee discount,” Sarah imparts. “It’s bad for my closet space but good for my happiness.”
Though she has had an overwhelmingly positive experience at the thrift store, Sarah says that she has had some odd customer encounters. “There was one time when I tried to help this guy dress up like Jason Kelce for his Mummer’s Halloween party.”
Good luck, guy. It’s gonna be just a little tough to find that at a thrift store.
Nadija Sulcaj (12-4) is another 12th grade student who has volunteered in a way that benefits her community. She worked at Philly Reading Coaches for half a year, inspiring a 3rd grader to enjoy reading by exposing him to a positive and supportive learning environment. “Working with children is super fulfilling,” she says. “I enjoy teaching others and working with children is always something that I love, you never know what to expect when working with kids.”
Jason Kelce
Speaking of things that she didn’t expect, Nadija recalls, “Sometimes my child would be super excited to have someone to talk to and would get carried away, so one time he took his laptop during our zoom and went ‘I'm gonna put you in the fridge’ as a part of his kitchen tour and then put his laptop in there and there was nothing I could do about it.”
The following quality pictures are provided courtesy of Nadija Sulcaj:
“This is when he put me (the laptop) in the fridge.”
“This is when he put me in the trash and started climbing the kitchen.”
“This is when he said he was gonna do a magic trick and he made me close my eyes and when I opened them he ‘turned into a bottle of ketchup.’”
Nadija believes that being there for your student to turn to and ask for help beyond reading is an amazing feeling and that they typically open up to you fairly quickly. She finds it important that PRC recognizes the value that reading holds for young children later in their lives.
Photo courtesy of Henry Roberts-Poyourow (12-3)
Ok, so you’ve heard about students volunteering as shop assistants and tutors. But the generosity of Masterman students doesn't end there. Henry Roberts-Poyourow (12-3) has been volunteering at the tall ship Gazela as a part of the Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild since late April of 2021. At the 121 year old barquentine, Henry mostly does painting and woodworking. “If there is a big project going on, like putting up the winter cover or downrigging the spars, the whole crew puts their smaller tasks aside to help,” he explains.
Henry enjoys working at the Gazela because it combines his interests of sailing, history, and woodworking. “[Volunteering there] helps me learn both about the ship's history and the history of life on sailing ships… I also get to learn traditional and modern forms of ship maintenance. I just love the feeling of being onboard a ship.”
If any of the above opportunities strike you as something you’d like to do, you’re in luck. Here’s what the students have to say to people interested in volunteering at their locations:
Sarah: “Volunteering at the AIDS Thrift is great because I love what they stand for. They help people afford clothing. Proceeds are donated to local HIV/AIDS services. And it’s a friendly, inclusive atmosphere.”
Nadija: “Philly Reading Coaches opens up the volunteering program with information to the volunteers about how strong of an impact reading has on young children later down in their lives even beyond their academic careers. Many elementary schools in Philly do not have a wide selection of books that students can select from (PRC gives each student 20 books to take home!) And even if they do, many students don't have a supportive reading environment at home. It's a very good cause and they always need more people!”
Henry: “We're always looking for more volunteers so, if anything I've mentioned sounds interesting you should think about volunteering, even if it's only for a week. There are no required hours and you can skip weeks or months at a time and still be allowed to keep working if you want to come back. Saturdays are when most people show up but I think there is work being done almost every day.”
As I learned about the altruistic endeavors of these students, I was inspired and motivated to reflect on how I could be helping my community. No matter what your interests are, among the plethora of volunteer opportunities available, there is bound to be one that suits you.
BONUS: Henry’s Nautical Facts!
Photo courtesy of Henry Roberts-Poyourow (12-3)
Many nautical terms have been cut down over the years to make them easier to say leading to them having lots of apostrophes, including one of my favorite words: Fo'c's'le (Fore-castle) which is the section of the ship forward of the fore-mast where the general crew lives.
Rope that is used for any purpose onboard is called “line” but the distinction is somewhat confusing. If it is brought on shore is it no longer line? If it’s just sitting in the hold, is it rope because it's not currently being used, or is it line because its purpose is to be used later?
Sailors are supposed to coil line flat on the deck while land-based jobs (specifically as explained to me: cowboys) coil rope around the shoulder and elbow. This is probably because the line on ships is usually much bigger than rope on land.
The saying “to the bitter end” comes from the part of a line called “the bitter end” where it ends and is often burned or secured some other way against fraying. This means it also can’t be spliced onto another piece of line.
During World War II, because Portugal stayed neutral, the crew painted the word “Portugal” on both sides of the hull as extra protection in case a submarine or warship didn't see their flags.
Gazela made her last fishing voyage in 1969, which is very late for a sailing ship to be used commercially. For comparison, the last sailing ship to the round Cape Horn, which is considered the hardest task there is for a sailing ship, did so in 1949.
Because the Gazela was a fishing ship, the hold was almost entirely devoted to holding salt and cod. The hull planks, especially amidships by the hold, have essentially been pickled and generally need fewer repairs than other ships or even other planks further forward or aft.
Gazela used to have a 1-pound cannon that had been used to signal the people in the fishing dories back to the ship when it was too foggy to see, but it “disappeared” after a wedding that was held on the ship.
While the dories were out, the crew that was not fishing would set up an assembly line to fully skin, clean, cut, and salt the fish while at sea.
Even before they were used for fuel, many ships carried oil or similar substances to pour on rough waters to calm them, Gazela didn't because the crew would save the liver oil from the cod they caught instead.
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