I first met Kevin Chevalier in 2022, at a Rasheed Wallace street-signing in West Philly. Chevalier is a Delco kid, proudly grew up in Springfield. An athlete and a music-lover, he played high school basketball and always felt connected to the city through the sports scene.
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When it was time for college, he chose Temple, then moved to West Philly, where he’s been living for more than a decade. Five years ago he started online culture magazine The City Root (thecityroot.com). Working in engineering and healthcare advertising, he burnt out of corporate America. He wanted to become a teacher. He wanted to pursue his more creative passions. “I never looked at it like ‘I’m gonna be rich doing this,’” he told me. He wasn’t out for the money. He now teaches at my old school, West Philadelphia High School, and runs The City Root on the side.
What started as what he calls “a crappy Instagram” is now a great website. But it’s more than that: It’s a reflection of Chevalier’s pride in Philly. Click over to it, and you can read articles about Philly musicians and Philly sports – Chevalier thinks our city doesn’t get enough credit for either, especially our fight scene: boxing, UFC, CFFC, BKFC.
Keep looking, and you’ll see a trailer for something called “A Summer In West.” It’s a mini-documentary, put together by high school students Chevalier worked with this summer. He started partnering with The Netter Center at Penn last year, and this summer he created a program in media for students to run with. The students decided to do a project about the problems in Philly education – and what we can do about it.
When the young people interviewed me about my own Philly education experience, I was honest with them: I told them I dropped out because the education I was getting wasn’t providing the tools I needed to achieve the vision I had for myself. I had a dream, and I needed to make my own path. They also talked to people like Councilmember Jamie Gauthier and WHYY’s Craig Santoro, who runs the station’s education programs. Now that the trailer’s out, Chevalier wants his students to continue to work on the project, maybe expand it into a full-length film.
Chevalier thinks education is on a better track now, with more opportunities for vocational training and CTE programs in more schools. But he believes most people will agree that education desperately needs a revamp – and Philly can be the place to start that movement.
And I agree – Philly’s always been the catalyst for movements – we’re not foreign to it. No reason we can’t do it again. Spending time with Chevalier’s young people this summer, I was reminded that we owe it to the kids – and to our city.
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