Hi, everyone. I hope you’ve been enjoying the holidays and are looking forward to a happy, healthy new year. We’re going into our final regular-season game with a record of 8 and 7. I’m ready to play my heart out, and more inspired than ever by the people who make our city great.
Before I wrap up my final column for the season, I want to be sure to shout out Bill Sytsma. A lifelong Philadelphian, Bill is the head football coach at Frankford High School. He felt distraught over the trauma plaguing his players, who have lost teammates to senseless gun violence. And while sitting in an assembly last year, he thought about what power he could possibly have to do something about it.
“I know Friday is a bad night to be out on the streets. I just kind of offered to my players like yo, what if I clean up the locker room, open it up, bring some games, video games, board games. Would you guys be interested in hanging out?” he says.
The response was overwhelming — and now, every Friday night when the team isn’t in season, 30 to 40 players come until about 9pm to play, eat dinner and feel safe.
Coach Sytsma has seen real growth in these young men since they started spending Friday nights together. “They’re doing a lot better in the classroom, there are not discipline problems in school, and they’re performing better on the field, too,” he says. Last year, the team won one game; this year, they won six.
Just before Thanksgiving, we had Sytsma’s players down at the Eagles training facility for a practice — to let these kids know that we support them, we see them, we believe in them. Because that’s what Coach Sytsma, and the countless people in this city who work with youth every day, will tell you they need.
“These kids want to be successful just like anybody else,” Sytsma says. “It’s just that some of them don’t have the resources, or they assume that people just don’t care. So they build a wall around themselves. You just gotta kind of break through a little bit, and then things change. In just a few short months since we started doing this, these guys have really grown up.”
It’s been a privilege to learn and write about the many other people and programs who are helping to break down barriers. There was Central High School social studies teacher Thomas Quinn, who’s on a mission to register every eligible Philly student to vote; music programs like LiveConnections, Musicopia, and Symphony for a Broken Orchestra, which are bringing music to schools in different ways; Philabundance’s backpack program to fill the gaps in students’ nutritional needs.
In week five, I talked about Philly’s awesome Foster Grandparent Program. Week 6 focused on Daniel Peou, the principal at Horace Furness High School, who’s making immigrant students and their families feel welcome. There were Drexel’s programs focusing on getting—and keeping—great teachers in schools that need them most. I looked at Penn IRM’s program to bring science to schools; Janine Spruill’s Lil Filmmakers program in West Philly, to help students find and share their voice. I loved learning about CHOP’s Reach Out and Read work, and Senator Sharif’s efforts to secure funding for after-school jobs for teens, and how El Centro is helping kids who often fall through the educational cracks graduate. I was moved by the work of young Rebecca Benjamin and her bookmobile, and PACE Foundation’s work with Philly Futures at Northeast High School to get kids into college and support them through graduation.
And I’ve been moved by you, the readers and fans, and your desire to make Philadelphia the best place it can be for our students. If I’ve done nothing else through these columns, I hope I’ve made you realize that you have the power to change Philly. One person can make a difference.
Thank you for making this season so memorable on and off the field, and Fly, Eagles, Fly.
—Jason Kelce #62