On a steamy, hot July 8th, 2016, staff and interns from HealthShare Exchange tackled a clean-out and clean-up mission at Mercy Career & Technical High School (Mercy CTE, formerly Mercy Vocational High School) in the Allegheny/Hunting Park section of North Philadelphia. For its second annual community-service day, the HSX team cleared upper-floor classrooms in the historic parish school, built in 1914.
Mercy CTE is seeking to move instruction in various certificate programs into the spaces previously used as carpentry- and electrical-instruction workshops. Founded in 1950, Mercy provides an immersive, project-based training and high-school equivalency education to prepare students for entering the workforce or continuing their education. Students may choose business, building trades, computer technology, cosmetology, culinary arts, or the nursing-aide field.
Working with the Mercy facility staff, the HSX volunteers sorted through materials for disposal, recycling, restocking for instructional work, and relocation in the building. The team filled dumpsters, loaded a scrap-metal recycling truck, moved materials to basement storage, and swept and cleared classrooms.
The effort will help to ready the facility and instructional spaces for the fall term, when Mercy CTE will continue its long tradition of preparing students for rewarding careers and instilling life-long values for its graduates. Nurturing and empowering the whole individual, Mercy CTE opens doors and creates opportunities, providing contemporary job options and a non-traditional path to higher education.
A late luncheon following the work session, gave the HSX staff a chance to learn more about Mercy’s programs and hear success stories from Sister Rosemary Herron, RSM (Religious Sister of Mercy), President of Mercy. HSX presented a donation to the school from the law firm of Cooper Levenson, P.A., which provides counsel and legal services for HealthShare Exchange. Mercy’s staff members expressed their gratitude and their deep appreciation for the group’s time and efforts.
