Sophia Academy loves to use the resources of our city to help students learn and prepare for the future. Here, junior and senior students visit a the Philadelphia Technical Training Institute where post-high school students learn one of seven trades such as building houses
And here the art students use watercolors to paint the Wissahickon Creek.
Whether we take trips to museums, check out geological features of local creeks, use the park behind the school for PE classes, or head to the Free Library’s central branch, Sophia students enjoy outside the classroom learning.
Four years ago, four scared fourteen-year-olds arrived at Sophia Academy. They didn’t know each other and they didn’t trust each other. “Play nice,” their science teacher kept telling them. That first year, we had meltdowns and tears, anger and frustrations along with laughter and kindness, calm and encouragement. At some point the four became five and at another point five individuals became a cohesive, warm-hearted and tight-knit group of friends who supported each other, listened to each other, and cheered each other on academically. In their senior year, we found them discussing Physics together, teaching each other concepts. We saw them using skills learned in both Executive Function class and Social-Emotional Learning to navigate relationships. We heard them advocating for themselves when the content of a class made them uncomfortable, and then pushing through the discomfort to find meaning.
What made the difference? Honestly, a combination of warm-hearted teachers who believed that each student had great potential along with the student’s own growing maturity, prayers of family and faculty along with the students’ own perserverence have all played a part in changing struggling young teens into confident young adults.
The senior class of 2025 will be attending college, trade school, and entering the work force. We are so proud of who they have become and look forward to hearing of their successes in the future.
