By Julia CasciatoKINGSWAY REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

When money gets tight, it is easier torent a movie than to go out to the theater,or to make coffee at home than to spend$3 at Starbucks. It’s also easier to refuseto increase property taxes to fund educa-tion. At least that’s how it seems to resi-dents in Kingsway Regional School Dis-trict in Woolwich Township, GloucesterCounty.The district has over 2,200 students in

grades 7 through 12, from East Green-wich, South Harrison, Swedesboro-Wool-wich Township, and Logan Township. Res-idents in these areas have to approve thedistrict’s budget each year. Students ingrades K-6 are on their own separate bud-gets.Under the district arrangement, Logan

Township pays tu-ition to Kingswayfor each student itsends to attendschool there. Lo-gan residents donot get a vote re-garding the bud-get, as it does notaffect their taxes.In Woolwich, edu-

cation has consis-tently been cut asproperty taxeshave more thandoubled since 2001.The last two yearshave hit the dis-trict hardest. It hashad to shut downall after-school programs for the middleschool, cut teachers — and once again,not purchase new textbooks.Kingsway voters have not approved

four of the last five budgets, but at thesame time, Woolwich has seen dramaticchanges in the last ten years. Once allfarmland, it is now the fastest growingtown in the state with a 15 percent popula-tion increase, according to the 2010 Cen-sus.Superintendent James J. Lavender be-

lieves that part of this growth is because“quality schools are our community’smost important asset.”A major concern of Lavender’s is the

increased number of students enrolled inthe district. In the next five years, thedistrict will exceed 3,000 students forgrades 7 through 12. Students currentlyare packed 30 to a classroom. Some high

See DISTRICT on F4

By Christa OestreichARCHBISHOP PRENDERGAST HIGH SCHOOL

F ather is working long hours at the fac-tory while mother has been trying tofind a job of her own. But there are

none.People line the streets for a bowl of soup;

no one can afford anything more than that.At home, the children do not have shoes oradequate clothing. There is not enoughmoney for coal, for beds, or to pay rent.This is how the world remembers the

Great Depression 80 years ago.Today’s recession looks like a stray cat

compared with the Depression’s roaringlion of the late 1920s and ’30s. But there isa piece of information that would be shock-ing to most — that many people in theUnited States were not affected significant-ly by the Depression.Marie Oestreich, 95, was one of seven

children born to a doctor, and lived in awealthy neighborhood in North Philadel-phia. “My mother sat me down to let meknow what’s what,” she recalls.“She told me that things have changed

and Father does not earn as much now. Shesaid that she was going to help out andwhat she earned would help out Father.”

Her mother started baking every Saturdaymorning, selling most of what she made inorder to contribute to the family’s income.Oestreich’s father, despite being a doctor,

wasn’t earning as much as usual duringthis time. The unemployment rate reachedalmost 25 percent, more than double the

See DEPRESSION on F13

JULIA CASCIATOJames J. Lavender,superintendent ofKingsway: Schoolsare “an asset.”

The Inquirer

By Kristin E. HolmesINQUIRER STAFF WRITER

When Acel Moore founded The In-quirer’s high school journalism work-shop in 1985, the Inquirer editor want-ed students to feel the thrill of writinga newspaper story and holding the pub-lication in their hands.The teenagers learned from industry

professionals and produced their ownworkshop newspaper, First Take.Twenty-seven years later, that work-

shop continues, but with changes that re-flect the impact of the digital revolution.“It’s a challenging time,” said Moore,

70, who is now retired but still holdsthe title of associate editor emeritus atThe Inquirer. “But there will always bea need for a true journalist who seeksthe truth and is objective, no matterwhat the technology does or how itchanges the gathering or reporting ofinformation.”The program, now renamed the Acel

Moore Career Development Workshop,See MOORE on F16

Founder’s vision remainsrelevant in a digital age

A lifetime of lessons learned in the Great Depression.

Family just pulls together

Marie Oestreich with her dog Butch. She wasone of seven children born to a doctor.

CHRISTA OESTREICH / First Take StaffMarie Oestreich, in her Northeast Philadelphiahome, remembers the time well: “My mothersat me down to let me know what’s what.”

By Aaya KingsburyCENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL

Don’t look now, but the econo-my has been improving, slowlybut surely.Of course, that depends on

whom you talk to. Economistsmay tell you we’ve turned thecorner and that we face betterdays. An unemployed head of ahousehold may still see verygloomy skies overhead.Somewhere in the middle is

Sara Kline.An associate economist for

Moody’s Analytics in West Ches-ter, Kline told participants of theAcel Moore Career Develop-ment Workshop that they shouldstay positive about their futuresand that, in due time, the econo-my will turn around.“The nation has been dealt a

huge economic blow, but thereare signs of hope for the young-er generation entering the work-force,” Kline told the 35 studentsduring an hour-long discussionabout the economy on Feb. 5.“Granted [the economy] will

take more time, but it is steadilyimproving,” Kline said. She pre-dicted that within the next fiveyears the unemployment ratewill no longer be above 9 per-cent but will drop to its morenatural level of 5 percent.Kline tailored her remarks to

her young audience, stressingthe need for young adults to fo-cus on college in the next fewyears as the economy recovers.With such an unclear economicfuture, a majority of students

See ECONOMIST on F9

DAVID SWANSON / Staff PhotographerEconomist Sara Kline of Moody’s Analytics in West Chester speaks tothe Acel Moore workshop about jobs, the recovery and the economy.

A case of reversebrain drain. F6.

Chester feelingUnion’s kick. F12.

PORTRAIT OF A SAGGING ECONOMY

SHARON GEKOSKI-KIMMEL / StaffAcel Moore, who founded thejournalism workshop 27 yearsago, said: “There will always be aneed for a true journalist.”

Courtesy of Marie OestreichMarie Oestreich (fifth from left), now 95, was among the graduating class of St. Mary’s Academy in 1934, during the Great Depression.

Forecastcalls fora bettereconomyAn economist predictsthat the worst is over.

Propertytaxes takea bite outof schoolsVoters have not approved fourof five budgets for Kingsway.

Picking a collegea tough call. F2.

Saturday, April 2, 2011 ★ Section FB

Out of work? Going to college now may make senseThe jobs situation is still sluggish, and modestlypriced community colleges can help a resumé.

By Brianna TongCHARTER SCHOOL OF WILMINGTON

For some families, it meanscutting back on restaurantdinners or giving up vaca-tions to Disney World. Forothers, it means saving lessmoney for the future in orderto afford tuition now. And foryet others, it means removinga student from his or herschool, teachers, friends, andopportunities because privateschool is just too expensive.Whether its ef-

fects are inconve-nient at large, theeconomy has in-fluenced the deci-sions of school-age children,their parents,and the institu-tions they attend.Even as the

economy beginsto recover fromthe recession, therepercussions are still beingfelt.Public schools must cope

with tighter budgets and di-minishing resources. And in-dependent schools are seeinglower enrollment and a lossof funding as many parentsreconsider the increasingcost. As students leave pri-vate schools for tuition-freeinstitutions, their transfersstrain the finances of bothtypes of schools.Nationally, public-school en-

rollment has been increasing

steadily over the last decade.In contrast, the National Asso-ciation of IndependentSchools has seen an enroll-ment decrease of 42,598 stu-dents over the last threeyears among its approximate-ly 1,400 member schools, andaverage private-school tuitionrose by almost $2,000 be-tween 2003-04 and 2007-08.Delaware’s educational sta-

tistics reflect the national pic-ture.

According to Al-ison Kepner, pub-lic information of-ficer at the Dela-ware Departmentof Education, to-tal district enroll-ment, includingcharter schools,in 2010-11 is127,944 — an in-crease of 1,673students over the2009-10 total.

Although the increase hasmany causes, “the economy’sobviously a big part of it,”said David Blowman, chief fi-nancial officer of New CastleCounty’s Brandywine SchoolDistrict.Enrollment in the state’s

nonpublic schools for 2009-10showed a 4.6 percent de-crease from the previousyear. Catholic schools in par-ticular have lost enrollment,causing some schools to con-solidate or shut down.For public-school officials,

financial losses add extrapressure to decision-making.Even in comfortable econom-ic conditions, “you’re stillspending taxpayers’ money.It’s your community, and youwant the schools to be good,”said Mark Huxsoll, vice presi-dent of Brandywine’s schoolboard. “But when financialtimes are tight, there’s noroom for error.”Many decision-makers are

trying to limit cuts to areasthat will not directly affectteaching.Delaware’s Education De-

partment “has worked hardto keep resources in class-rooms by finding other waysto cut,” Kepner said. The de-partment has left positionsunfilled when employeeshave retired and has consoli-dated employee responsibili-ties.Districts are doing the

same. “People think [adminis-trators] just stand aroundand get rid of teachers, butthis year there were adminis-trators who were not reissuedcontracts,” Huxsoll said. Hisdistrict reduced the numbersof paraprofessionals andteachers’ aides as well.But no matter how careful

the cuts, “ultimately, every-thing we do impacts theschools,” Blowman said.Private-school officials

must also make difficult deci-sions.“Finances always affectenrollment,” said Louis DeAn-

gelo, associate superinten-dent of schools in the Dioceseof Wilmington. Over the lastfew years, enrollment for dio-cese schools has decreasednearly 4 percent.“There were 40 people in

one kindergarten grade whenI was in kindergarten,” saidKevin Taylor, an eighth grad-er at Holy Angels School inNewark, Del. “This year,there are only 15. [Holy An-gels] had to start offeringpre-K to get more people tocome.”Said DeAngelo: “We’re feel-

ing the financial crunch be-cause of declining enroll-ment.” Added to that, the dio-cese filed for bankruptcy inOctober 2009, and the$400,000 subsidy that inner-city Catholic schools once re-ceived from the diocese is nolonger available.This fall, All Saints Catholic

School will open, rising fromthe ashes of three private ele-mentary schools whose enroll-ment had plummeted. Abouttwo years ago, two privateschools combined to formPope John Paul II School.

With these consolidations,each new school will have ac-cess to greater resources,DeAngelo said.However, each consolida-

tion means that one or moreschools closed, removing em-ployment opportunities anddiocese revenue.Amid all that, private-

school tuition is rising. “Par-ents are looking at family fi-nances more,” Huxsoll said.“Is it worth it to them to paytuition for elementary or sec-ondary school?”Lesia Liao, a freshman at

the Charter School of Wil-mington, graduated from aCatholic middle school. Be-cause of the economy, her par-ents decided to continue hereducation at the tuition-freecharter school.“My parents were really big

with Catholic stuff. … But thecosts of Catholic high schoolare too expensive. Even witha scholarship, it wasn't worthit,” Liao said.Many American families

echo that sentiment. Howev-er, some parents still believethat the benefits of private ed-ucation outweigh the costs.Ken Sylvia of Newark, Del.,who has two children in pri-vate elementary and highschools, said area privateschools provide an educationsuperior to their public coun-terparts. “You’re getting yourreturn on your investment,”he said.

By Ana GuentherSUN VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL

During her college application pro-cess, Amanda Bowden made theconscious decision to send her appli-cation letters to state universities inPennsylvania. For Bowden, thechoice was as much about academ-ics as economics.Bowden isn’t alone in this count.

Over the last few years, the econo-my has affected more then just thejob, housing, and auto markets.Looking for a quality education with-out flirting with financial ruins, highschool seniors are favoring state uni-versities, rather then higher-pricedprivate colleges in Pennsylvania.“I like state schools for their low-

er tuition. I think it just adds tostudents feeling comfortable,” saidBowden, 17, a senior at Sun ValleyHigh School.Top on her list was Shippensburg

University, one of 14 colleges in thestate university system. Shippens-burg University costs $15,009 a yearfor tuition, room and board, fees,and books, according to the school’swebsite.Private colleges such as Widener

University, in Chester County, costmore, much more — $50,221 a yearfor tuition, room and board, and ad-ditional fees for books.With high tuition costs at private

colleges, and fixed pricing at stateschools, it may seem like a no-brain-er for students and their familieswhen choosing a college. Across thestate, colleges are stuck in a cause-and-effect situation based on the un-stable economy.Students who plan on attending

college are wary about choosingtheir dream school, as they protect

their wallets from high tuition rates.A state university is supported withgovernment funding, meaning tu-ition is set at a more appealing priceto students and their families.While private colleges are known

for quality education, forking outbig bucks for the high cost of tuitionhas become an economic challenge.Top tier Ivy League colleges doleout millions in financial aid to stu-dents, but lesser known privatescan’t afford that kind of generosity.“Private colleges like Harvard,

Yale pay for students to go to thosecolleges,” said Thomas Speakman,the dean of enrollment at Shippens-burg University.“They are not really impacted by

the economy because they are sowell off, financially. Then there arelesser-known private schools, whichare seeing declines in applicationletters because of their high tuitionrates. These are the schools that arebeing affected the most.”Regardless of the current econo-

my, some students are continuing togo after private colleges, despitetheir high price tags. According toNoel Levitz Report on Undergradu-ate Enrollment trends, 82 percent ofcompleted applications were sent tostate universities from undergradu-ate students. Eighty-six percent ofcompleted applications were sent toprivate colleges. Although more stu-dents applied to private colleges, 93percent of students committed to en-roll to state schools, and 88 percentcommitted to private colleges, show-ing that state universities were cho-sen over private colleges.Guidance counselors at Sun Val-

ley say the graduating class of 2011has had a total of 1,025 transcripts

sent out to various colleges through-out Pennsylvania, and the rest ofthe country. Of that total, 502 weresent to state universities, and 523 toprivate colleges, showing about halfof the sent transcripts were sent topublic and private colleges.“I choose Widener University be-

cause I know I will get a qualityeducation. I want to major in physi-cal therapy, and I feel Widener hadthe best program for me. I also wantto play softball, so during my col-lege search, I stuck to private colleg-es because I knew their sports pro-grams were great,” said Sun Valleysenior Alyssa Gutowiecz.Students are attracted to private

colleges for more then one reason.They are known for smaller campus-es, which offer more one-on-onetime with professors and a close-knit feeling.

“I choose private schools becausethey were a lot smaller then stateschools and also a lot more competi-tive. I like smaller campuses andhaving more opportunities to getclose to my professors,” said Saman-tha Cranford, a senior at Sun Valley.Another reason students at Sun

Valley are choosing private colleges,is their reputation for potential fi-nancial aid. From their online web-site, Widener awarded $33 millionlast year to prospective students inthe form of scholarships or grants.A benefit of private colleges is

their ability to create largeramounts of financial aid. They runon their own terms, not the state’s,which allows them to stretch thebudget from donations, and stu-dents who are paying their tuition.However, that doesn’t mean a full

ride for every student.

For some, their college expensesare taken care of with financial aid,for others, the amount that is of-fered is only a ripple in the pond.Public universities and private col-

leges both offer the opportunity forstudents to succeed, something thatSun Valley senior Kevin Schechterlyagrees with.“I think the two balances each oth-

er out. Private schools are great, butexpensive; they’re also small, sothat means smaller classes andmore one-on-one time with teach-ers. At the same time, state schoolsare cheaper and bigger, which givesstudents a chance to meet a lot ofnew people. Regardless of whereyou go, if you set yourself to makethe best of it and learn, you’ll re-ceive the education and tools thatyou’ll need in life to succeed.”

First Take Education

By Anne BrewerOUR LADY OF MERCY ACADEMY

The competition within thejob market is fierce. Withnearly 13.9 million Americanscurrently unemployed, peo-ple are on the hunt, nailssharp and resumés evensharper. And though the un-employment rate fell to 8.9percent last month, the low-est it has been in the last twoyears, the road to rejoiningthe workforce is still steeplyuphill.As the employment stand-

still gradually inches for-ward, returning to college isone option for circling back

into the flow of the job mar-ket.Mary Beth Pulli, 41, of West

Deptford, is contemplatingthat route.“I was laid off from a posi-

tion within the real estate ap-praisal field in January of2010,” she said. “In that time,I have been searching forjobs similar to any position Ihave held in the past: custom-er service, sales, administra-tive assistant.”Seems simple enough.Not quite.“In today’s market, I’m find-

ing that 20 years of experi-ence with no college degree is

not even getting me a phonecall from resumé submis-sions, let alone an interview,”Pulli continued.Not only that, but, accord-

ing to Pulli, being just a state-licensed real estate appraiseris no longer sufficient. “Therules and regulations havechanged. Now, most banksare only accepting appraisalsfrom certified residential ap-praisers,” Pulli said.In other words, she has to

upgrade her license, and thatrequires an associate’s de-gree, or a minimum of 21 col-lege credits.She’s not alone, though.Degrees of Opportunity, a

study sponsored by CapellaUniversity — a for-profit insti-tution that runs a popular on-

line college program — foundthat in 2006, more than halfof the surveyed Americans(ages 25 to 60) would like tofurther their education. Thatbrings the total to 70 millionpeople.Community colleges are

also seeing an increase in ad-missions. The U.S. Depart-ment of Education data showthat from 2000 to 2006, enroll-ment jumped 10 percent.Money considerations, how-

ever, could pose some prob-lems for the adults who arelooking to return to collegebut already have lives of theirown. They’ve got bills to pay,families to feed, futures tothink about. This opens upthe grounds for serious con-sideration, as the flow of in-

come slows due to unemploy-ment.When asked about any fi-

nancial concerns she mighthave about returning toschool, Pulli offered a nod.“Of course. My son is going tobe in college in three years.”But, with faith in the state’sfederal grant opportunities,she says, the risk might beworth it.Last May, President Oba-

ma, who encouraged unem-ployed Americans to take ad-vantage of proffered educa-tional opportunities, stressedthe availability of federal stu-dent aid. In particular, hehighlighted the federal PellGrant program, which award-ed up to $5,350 toward theeducational costs of each

qualified student in the2009-10 school year.Some community colleges

are also looking to make thetransition less risky. The Com-munity College of Philadel-phia, for example, runs theOpportunity Now program, inwhich Philadelphia residentswho have been laid off fromfull-time employment are of-fered free tuition.Despite the numbers, Pulli

believes the change will havea positive effect on her fami-ly. With total support fromher husband and son, she’spreparing herself for majorchallenges ahead: keepinggood academic marks and re-learning how to study.“I have been out of a school

environment for a long time,”she said.

Hard times have swelled the ranks of many public schools

Percentage changein enrollmentin Delawaresince 1990

SOURCE: Delaware Dept. of Education The Philadelphia Inquirer

0

+5

+10

+15

+20

+25

+30%

’09’08’07’06’05’04’03’02’01’00’99’98’97’96’95’94’93’92’91’90

Private vs. Public SchoolsIn Delaware, the number of students attending public schoolshas been steadily increasing since 1990, while growth inprivate-school enrollment has declined since the mid-2000s.

Private schools

Publicschools

+11.9%since

1990

+27.2%since

1990

Public schoolshave seen anincrease inenrollment,

private schoolsa decrease ascash-strappedfamilies adjust.

High school students weigh pros, cons.

Private vs. state:Money mattersin this decision

ANA GUENTHER / First Take StaffThis collection of apparel represents the range of choices available to students as they focus on the college of theirchoice in Pennsylvania. Some favor state schools for lower tuition; others like private schools for the intimacy.

F2 B www.philly.com THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Saturday, April 2, 2011

Traditional schools and charters share the painThe economic downturn has forced charter and publicschools to take a closer look at their operating budgets.

By Magdalena StuehrmannOCTORARA AREA HIGH SCHOOL

As the economy began to take asharper turn for the worse, schoolsall over had to take a more criticallook at their budgets, and, in mostcases, tighten their belts.Smaller, more flexible charter

schools have often had an easiertime coping with budget cuts thanthe larger public districts that helpfund them.In Chester County, the Avon

Grove Charter School has foundthat several measures, including asmaller administrative staff, havebuffered it from budget cuts thathave crippled the programs of oth-ers.However, charter schools often

end up at the mercy of their localdistricts. As Kevin Brady, the headof the Avon Grove Charter school,stated, “If a district is feeling finan-cial pain, they can pass it on veryeasily to us [the charter schools].”Avon Grove Charter felt that pain

directly in the midst of the econom-ic crisis. The Oxford Area SchoolDistrict refused to pay the charterschool for six months, until the stateapproved its budget.Charter schools get funding from

each student’s district. A publicschool receives per-student fundingas well, but Avon Grove Charter re-ceives about 68 percent of whatwould be given for a student in atraditional public school.The loss of a student to a charter

school can have a significant impacton a public school’s budget. Whenstudents switch to charter schools,they pull funding that the district isleft to cover.A school district receives a one-

time reimbursement for the loss of

a student to a charter school. How-ever, the cost of sending students tocharter schools amounted to$346,215 for the Octorara AreaSchool District in the 2009-10 bud-get year. The district has consideredtrying to entice students back fromcharters to help ease a preliminarybudget shortfall of about $2.2 mil-lion.The loss of students to cyber char-

ter schools has also cost the district.The school board is considering aprogram to bring cyber charter stu-dents to a district-run cyber school.This could save the district about$3,500 per student.Charter and public school budget

woes are not limited to their interac-tions with each other. The OctoraraArea School District is also reexam-ining administrative costs, whichthe school board wants to cut byabout 10 percent.That’s not a problem at Avon

Grove Charter, where administra-tors have duties beyond the tradi-tional ones. Teachers there also takea greater role in the administration,and the decisions are made in asmall group process that also consid-ers student and community input.“We try to build teams as much aspossible to avoid a huge administra-tion overhead,” Brady said.Aging buildings also can add to

school spending.Recently, the Octorara district has

had to make renovations to the highschool and, due to a predicted en-rollment increase, add an intermedi-ate building. In the long term, thesechanges, including improved heat-ing and insulation, will likely helpcut the operating costs.Avon Grove Charter is also look-

ing at renovations that would in-

crease energy efficiency and de-crease costs.Similarly, Oxford School District

recently had to do some construc-tion, putting a strain on its funds,but also affecting the budgets ofcharter schools. This includes AvonGrove Charter, which receives stu-dents from the district.Sometimes, budget problems jeop-

ardize school programs. Octorara,rather than lose the after-schoolsports programs, now charges stu-dents a fee to participate.

Avon Grove Charter has not hadto cut funding for a sports program— it doesn’t have one. Students canparticipate in sports in their homedistricts just as home-schooled stu-dents are allowed to do. This can,however, strain the home districts’sports programs.Even in the midst of budget woes,

however, there are some things thatschools are not willing to cut.Avon Grove is determined to pre-

serve the school’s small class sizes.According to Brady, “That’s harder

to do when money is tight.”The Octorara district fights hard

to keep textbooks up to date. As aresult of the tight budget though, ithas sometimes been necessary tobuy half the number of orderedbooks one year, and half the next, orto delay less pressing requests.Despite the district’s budget short-

fall, Kathryn Michalowski, an assis-tant principal at Octorara High,said, “We almost never turn down a[textbook] request; we always try tomake it happen.”

Neshaminy taking a bite out of crimeSecurity efforts are upafter a survey foundabout 27% of studentshave been hit by theft.

TORI HYNDMAN / First Take StaffStudents must be aware of their surroundings and guard their possessions; a backpack may beeasily hit by a pickpocket. Students are encouraged to keep their valuables at home.

By Tori HyndmanNESHAMINY HIGH SCHOOL

It was like any regularschool day when Morgan Be-shel, a senior at NeshaminyHigh School in Langhorne,locked her belongings in abeige and battered gym lock-er and ventured outside toplay football for class.Not until she reached into

her Jansport book bag ineighth period, rummaging forher iPod to entertain herselfduring the free period, didshe realize that her lock wasunlocked and her iPod miss-ing.Happenings such as this

are not uncommon for the stu-dents of Neshaminy HighSchool, a place that has beensuffering from numerouscounts of theft in these tougheconomic times. Approximate-ly 27 percent of students havehad a personal item stolen atNeshaminy in the last year,according to a Feb. 23 surveyof 2,000 students.“I was upset,” Beshel said.

The iPod “was the first thingI bought after getting my firstpaycheck from my job.”No one is exactly sure of

why there are so many theftswithin the large suburbanschool, but one explanation,other than typical teenagemischief, may be a thrivingresale market, which consistsof stolen items being postedfor sale on popular onlinemarkets and social network-ing sites. In the meantime,the Neshaminy administra-tion is stepping up and secur-ing its efforts to combat theproblem.“Neshaminy High School is

not home, [it is] more like amall or airport as far as thesecurity of personal propertyis concerned,” Neshaminyprincipal Rob McGee said.Students, he said, need to

take the initiative to treattheir belongings with the ut-most care and caution whileon school grounds.What really highlighted the

problem at Neshaminy, how-ever, was a high-profile inci-dent of theft that embar-rassed the Neshaminy com-munity.On Sept. 25, while the Ne-

shaminy Redskins were wal-loping the Abington HighSchool Ghosts at Neshami-ny’s Harry E. Franks Stadi-um, thieves raided the visit-ing team’s locker room. Themajority of the team reported

missing clothes, electronics,and equipment. Despite a$750 reward offered to anywho had information on thetheft, there were no suspectsor arrests made in the case.If Neshaminy’s sticky-fin-

gers problem had been a se-cret before, it didn’t stay thatway.In many ways, it was this

episode that led many in thecommunity to raise concernsand seek to address the prob-lem of theft in suburbanschools.Currently, McGee and his

staff are encouraging stu-dents to either lock up theirvaluables, or to simply keep

what they would not want tobe stolen at home. McGeesaid school officials wouldcontinue to stress this to cur-rent students and in orienta-tion for incoming freshmanand new students.And it is already working.

By stressing the importanceof bringing personal locks tothe gym locker rooms as wellas bolstering the door on thelocker rooms, there have notbeen as many locker roomthefts reported this year as inthe past. Theft “has been sig-nificantly down in Gym 3,”McGee said about Neshami-ny’s busiest gymnasium.Students are beginning to

catch on, too. Nearly all stu-dents at Neshaminy “know”one of the 506 students fromthe survey who have been vic-tims of the crimes, and thenotion that this can happen toanyone is finally making kidsthink differently.“I don't bring my iPod to

school, and I keep my phonein my pocket at all times, es-pecially during gym,” seniorclass historian Dan Colemansaid. By simply keeping itemsthat are deemed “too valu-able to be lost” at home, stu-dents are eliminating thechances of one of these un-lucky crimes happening tothem.

For those who continue tobring their favored items toschool despite the risks, be-ing aware is a newly acquiredskill for many students. “Ipay attention,” junior JoshReznik said. For Reznik, sofar, so good, as his attentive-ness has kept all of his prizedpersonal items in his posses-sion.Watching one’s own items

is not enough, though. “Thebest way to combat theftwould be to get the studentsto tell some sort of authoritywhen they know someone hasstolen something, becausethieves are neverquiet,” Colemansaid.By having stu-

dents helping tobe the eyes ande a r s o f t h eschool, Neshami-ny hopes to beable to crackdown on theftand punish thethieves.Whether there

is a connection between theamount of theft at Neshaminyand the region's tough econo-my is hard to determinebased on statistics from thePennsylvania Uniform CrimeReporting System. Thefts in-creased at the start of the re-cession, but have since de-clined, according to the annu-ally reported data.Theft, regardless, remains

a concern at Neshaminy HighSchool, students and adminis-trators say.Students looking to buy the

latest gadgets and keep upwith the rest of the technologi-cal world are finding other,

and sometimes illegal, waysto do so, McGee said.He believes that an under-

ground resale market is be-hind a significant amount ofthe theft reported at theschool. “We’ve seen items onFacebook and eBay,” he said.He suggested that by bettermonitoring public outletssuch as these, more missingiPods — 183 out of the total599 items stolen at the schoolin the last year — and otherpersonal items may be able tobe returned to their owners.“Half of the theft at Nesha-

miny is preventable — thekind that just hap-pens becausekids don’t realizewhat can happento their belong-ings if they don’tprotect them,”Neshaminy se-nior Lera Salmonsaid. “The otherhalf of it occursbecause somekids won’t stop atanything to get

their hands on somethingthey want. Money is tight,and if someone can pick upan iPod that is lying aroundand flip it for a profit, theywill,” she added.Neshaminy administrators

continually reinforce the ideathat nobody is really safefrom thievery. “Even whenyou fix a big piece of some-thing,” McGee said in regardsto the problem at Neshaminy,“there will still always betheft.” For now, however, Ne-shaminy is doing its best tokeep the number of incidents,and students victimized, aslow as possible.

First Take Education

MAGDALENA STUEHRMANN / First Take StaffAt Avon Grove Charter School in Chester County, officials have found measures, including a smaller administrativestaff, that have helped protect the school from budget cuts that have dismantled the programs of others.

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Theft at NeshaminyHigh SchoolA survey at Neshaminy High Schoolrevealed that about a quarter ofstudents have had personalbelongings stolen at school withinthe last year.

Yes506

27%No

1,393

73%

183

141

iPods /MP3 players

125

Cellphones

Clothes, shoesor jewelry items

OtherMajority money

and schoolsupplies

150

Number of items stolen

“The best wayto combat theftwould be to getthe students”to report thosewho stealsomething,

a student said.

www.philly.com B F3THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRERSaturday, April 2, 2011

school students find them-selves in a study hall morethan once a day due to lack ofspace in actual classes.Senior Cassidy Moellers

said she has seen the impact.“Underclassmen were par-

ticularly affected by this be-cause they lost the options ofclasses to take that I hadwhen I was their age,” shesaid. “To achieve educatingwell-rounded students, op-tions have to be available for[them] to explore new andvarying subjects.”When each April rolls

around, voters are given achoice to pass Kingsway Dis-trict’s budget, which would re-sult in another tax increase.Residents in Woolwich, suchas Debbie Calabree, said thetax increases hurt, but arenecessary.“Financial circumstances

play a role in everyone’s deci-sion on the budget,” she said.“The increase in taxes al-ready hurts us — however,not passing the budget im-pacts students substantially."From 2005 to 2010, the dis-

trict’s budget failed to passfour times with an average of

“less than 20 percent voterturnout,” according to Laven-der.In December, Kingsway's

voters overwhelmingly defeat-ed a bond referendum for a$30 million expansionproject.Looking ahead, the district

has few options. There will beanother vote for the $30 mil-lion construction plan in thenear future. If that does notpass, trailers could be pur-chased, or split sessions maytake affect. To help raise pri-vate donations, the district isreviving a dormant education-al foundation — Kingsway Ed-ucation Foundation — to helpreduce costs.A visible problem is the

“significant disconnect be-tween the school and our com-munity,” Lavender said.A majority of new families

entering the district haveyoung children. Lavenderfeels that these children areso young that their “[families]have not had an opportunityto get to know Kingsway.”Lisa Camp, a foreign lan-

guage teacher at Kingswayfor nine years, also feels thatresidents are too uninformed.

“People don’t realize how thelack of funding directly af-fects education,” she said.Developments have been

springing up all over Wool-wich within the last decade,which has caused a steadywave of new residents. Twobrand-new elementaryschools and a new middleschool have been built to ac-commodate the influx of newstudents, along with addi-tions on the high school andtwo already existing elementa-ry schools. All of this con-struction occurred only in afew years.With the increase in resi-

dents, there has not been agreat increase in commercialproperties. Currently, only 12

percent of the total popula-tion is commercial. The mu-nicipal council believes thisnumber needs to be between30 and 40 percent for an effec-tive tax balance between resi-dents and businesses. As a re-sult of this percentage beingso low, residents have had tofork over their own money topay for the increase in vari-ous municipal services.“Nobody wants to pay more

taxes, but this is the way ourstate’s school funding is setup,” Camp said.Despite the outcome of the

upcoming April 27 budgetelection, Lavender said, “thebottom line is that we have toexpand and we will have tobuild.”

DISTRICT from F1

The healing begins,but hold the bubbly

2000 2005-09*

*Estimates from the Census Bureau’sAmerican Community Survey

Population0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

201020001990198019701960195019401930

Median householdincome (adjustedto 2009 dollars) $107,862 $109,588

Population 25 orolder with at least abachelor’s degree 29% 44%

Percent employedin managementor professionaloccupations 45% 55%

Percent who speaka language other thanEnglish at home 6% 9%

2010

10,200

2000

3,0321930

1,196

Woolwich Then and Now

SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau JOHN DUCHNESKIE / Staff Artist

LOGANDelaware River

Woolwich

PA.

N.J.

OLDMANSHARRISON

SOUTHHARRISON

EASTGREENWICH

GREENWICH

S A L E MC O U N T Y

G L O U C E S T E RC O U N T Y

SWEDESBORO

N.J. TPK.

COMM

. BARRY

BRIDGE

KINGS HWY.

CENTERSQ. RD.

45

95

295

322

MILES

0 2

N

District: A crash study in resourcefulnessWallingford-Swarthmore has had to rethinkhow to fund equipment in dire budgetary times.

By Eric JackmanST. JOSEPH’S PREPARATORY SCHOOL

Young adults were a key de-mographic that helped to electPresident Obama in 2008. Poll-ing data show that 66 percentof people under 30 voted forObama, the highest share ofthe youth vote obtained byany candidate since exit pollsbegan reporting results byage.One of the top provisions of

the Affordable Care Act,which was passed last year,was to make health insurancemore affordable to the mil-lions of Americans who can-not afford it. For youngadults, the real bonanza wasthe provision allowing thoseunder 26 to remain on theirparents’ insurance policy atthe parents’ choice.A good thing in a sour econ-

omy, right?Not so fast, say many con-

gressional Republicans whohave steadfastly opposed thelaw. When the 112th Congressconvened earlier this year,one of the House’s first offi-cial acts was to take on thenew health-care law. TheHouse passed a repeal of thelaw, but the measure wasdead on arrival in the Senate.Many young people, whether

they voted for Obama or not,could find themselves in the po-sition of not having any healthinsurance should they get sick.Courtney Baxter is one such

young adult who is saying,wait a minute — this isn't fair.The 19-year-old is a North

Philadelphia native who is afreshman at Delaware CountyCommunity College majoringin psychology. This bill af-fects her because she is notcurrently on her parents’ in-surance. If the act is re-pealed, she will have limitedoptions.“It doesn’t matter if I’m on

my parents’ insurance or myown,” she said. “I just needsome kind of insurance.”Baxter said she believes

that since budgets are tightfor everyone, especiallyyoung adults, it is unfair to

have the health-care act tak-en away because many peo-ple might have trouble afford-ing doctor’s visits and otherhealth care on their own.But despite uncertainty,

Baxter still plans to pursueher dreams.“I would choose a job I truly

enjoy, not because of the insur-ance and benefits,” she said.The issue has united young

adults across boundaries ofpolitical preferences.Matthew Boccutti, 23, is a

recent graduate of Pennsylva-nia State University whoworks at St. Joseph’s Prep.He has a degree in secondaryeducation and works as a biol-ogy and environmental sci-ence teacher at the school.Boccutti was fortunate

enough to be selected by theschool’s Alumni Service Corp.to work there for a year. If hehad been passed over, he said,he might still be looking for ajob, a situation many recentcollege graduates find them-selves in. Boccutti is also fortu-nate that the school provideshim with health benefits. If hewasn’t on the school’s plan,he, like many others, would beon his parents’.Boccutti is in favor of keep-

ing that provision of the billbecause it relieves him of theburden of paying insurancecosts while he is repaying hisstudent loans, but more im-portant, because of the jobmarket.“Having a job shouldn’t be

linked to having insurance,”he said. “You need to be ableto take care of fundamentalneeds rather than the qualityof life.”Boccutti believes that the

economy already sets restric-tions on the jobs people wantto take. If the health-care act isrepealed, college students willbe under even more pressure.He is a registered Republi-

can, but in this debate, politicshas become less importantthan the desire to stay healthy.“You’re in a less bad place ifyou can be on your parents’insurance,” Boccutti said.

AKIRA SUWA / Staff PhotographerThe class of 2011 poses for a group picture in The Inquirer newsroom. Students were taught the fundamentals of journalism by staffers during a monthlong, hands-on program in February.

By Luke HarringtonSTRATH HAVEN HIGH SCHOOL

Just about everything hurtsin a bad economy, and no-where can this be more appar-ent than in public schools,most of which are barely get-ting by on shoestring budgets.Consider these things:

8 English books that are heldtogether with rubber bands.8 Sports teams that are bare-ly able to buy uniforms.8 Reduced staff and largerclasses.The Wallingford-Swarth-

more School District in Dela-ware County typifies howmany schools around thecountry are trying to meetthe demands of educating,while at the same time mak-

ing tough choices in order tooperate within their means.“It’s a matter of priority, and

what advances education,”said Lorraine DeTurk, busi-ness administrator for the dis-trict. This is the focal pointthat the district comes back toin budget deliberations.School officials say it takes

money, and lots of it, to keepschools and institutions doingwhat they do, which is to edu-cate. The largest and mostcrucial key to advancing edu-cation is money; and to saveas much money as possible,the district must be economi-cal with what it is given.There are many hurdles

along the way for schools asthey scramble to meet their

budgets. Some are easily over-come, like reducing the car-bon footprint of the districtthrough conservative use ofheat and electricity, maximiz-ing use of facilities and re-sources, and utilizing thegreatest potential availablefrom all staff members tosave funds, DeTurk says.Others pose a greater chal-

lenge. For example, DeTurk ex-plains that with the new feder-al health-care law, school dis-tricts will have to allocatemoney away from academicsto pay for expanded benefitsfor employees, divertingfunds away from possible newopportunities for students.DeTurk goes on to say that

outside revenue is still muchharder to come by than be-fore the recession. For in-stance, the district has notbeen able to draw on home

sales and new construction,because these areas havebeen very light throughoutthe recession.Wallingford is very devel-

oped, to the point wherethere is little room to buildanything else, and that cou-pled with the fact that home-owners are rarely movingmeans the schools are notable to collect their usual 1percent on these transactionsand projects.The next big issue for the

district is the cost of materi-als and resources for class-rooms. Richard Foulk, a so-cial studies teacher at the dis-trict’s Strath Haven HighSchool, says of the situation:“The budgets haven’t grown,but expenses have … ,” al-though “it could be much,much worse.”One of the only ways to pay

for new items such as laptopsor textbooks is grants fromorganizations like Class-rooms for the Future. It wasthrough a grant from this or-ganization, and much extrawork on the part of teachers,that the district was able topurchase new laptops for so-cial studies classes at StrathHaven last year, Foulk said.“We’ve been very fortunate

— when we’ve had financialneed for something that wecould not cover with the bud-get, we’ve been able to identi-fy private donors, or engageour parent network, in fund-raising in order to supportthose needs,” Strath Havenprincipal MaryJo Yannaconesaid. Expenses like Diversi-track mounts, which allowteachers to maneuverSMART and Prometheanboard interfaces across the

length of a classroom, wire-less presentation remotes forevery room, and exerciseequipment for the weight andcardio-fitness area were allpaid for through such dona-tions and fund-raisings, notfrom the district’s wallet.But there is something of a

silver lining. Says Yannacone:“I think that one of the bene-fits of a recession is that itrequires both the adults andthe students to think aboutthe differences between‘wants’ and ‘needs,’ and Ithink that at the high schoollevel, students are acutelyaware of the financial situa-tion of their families, and I’veseen what I consider to be apositive change in the aware-ness level and responsive-ness and responsibility of in-dividual students towards fi-nances.”

First Take Education

JULIA CASCIATO / First Take StaffKingsway superintendent James J. Lavender notes that budgetshave failed to pass with “less than 20 percent voter turnout.”

Property tax woesaffect Kingswayschools’ funding

F4 B www.philly.com THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Saturday, April 2, 2011

By Zack WeberPHOENIXVILLE AREA HIGH SCHOOL

Sometimes adults wish they could relive their teen-age years, but, when it comes to job hunting thesedays, life for America’s youth may not be as easy assome remember it.The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the unem-

ployment rate for teen-agers ages 16 through19 to be more than threetimes higher than it isfor those who are older.In January, the bureaureported the unemploy-ment rate for teenagersat 25.7 percent, com-pared to 8.4 percent forjob seekers ages 20 andover.The unemployment

rate for teenagers ages16 through 19 was esti-mated at 15.1 percent bythe bureau in January2006. Driven by the re-cent economic reces-sion, that figure has hov-ered in the mid-20s overthe past couple years,and teens are noticing.Phoenixville Area

High School senior Reena Gohil says that over the lastyear, she has applied to numerous establishments,from clothing stores to supermarkets.“They never got back to me,” Gohil said.“I went into American Eagle,” Gohil said, “and they

just stuck my applica-tion in a drawer. I kindof knew I wasn’t goingto get the job.”She believes the diffi-

culty stems from herage and the fact she isstill in school, notingshe does not “haveenough time requiredfor many of the posi-tions.”For her, the worst as-

pect of not having a jobis the subsequent lackof spending money andinability to participatein common activitiesthat cost money, liketrips to the movies andconcerts. “I just can’t goshopping as often as Iwant to,” Gohil said.Despite the employ-

ment conditions, some students have managed to findpart-time jobs.Austin Moore, also 17 and a senior at Phoenixville,

considers himself one of the fortunate ones. He hasworked at Rita’s Water Ice for two consecutive yearsand was promoted to manager last fall.Having a job makes him “feel good about myself

since I am able to pay with my own money and not myparents’,” Moore said. His earnings enable him to goout with friends and have fun doing things that thosewho are unemployed cannot afford.Moore suggests teenage job seekers “look present-

able when you first get interviewed” and, if possible,provide “good recommendations that will back youup.”

Austin Moore works at Rita’sWater Ice. He advisesteenage job seekers to“look presentable.”

ZACK WEBER / First Take StaffReena Gohil has had troublefinding a job. “They nevergot back to me,” she saidabout potential employers.

By Taylor PerkinsWASHINGTON TOWNSHIP

HIGH SCHOOL

Going to the movies,the mall, and down theShore are all activitiesthat teens enjoy. Justhaving fun and livinglife to the fullest whilethey still can is all teenshave to worry about,right?Ashley Myers, a

17-year-old WashingtonTownship resident andteenage job-seeker, hasa few concerns. She un-derstands the value of adollar and was desper-ate to find a job, eventhough she knew thatthe economy was in thetank.“Finding a job has

been so difficult for mebecause competitionfor work has beenheightened by theamount of unemployedadults seeking work, aswell as the amount ofteens,” Myers said.Myers is just one of a

legion of teenagers inthe Philadelphia re-gion and across the countryhaving a tough go at it in thisrecession.According to studies, 50 per-

cent of baby boomers workedas teens, and even a decadeago 45 percent of teens wereemployed. But by September2010, just 25 percent of teenag-ers had a job.Myers worked at a Denny’s

in Washington Township. Butthe Denny’s recently closed,and Myers restarted her jobsearch.And while she was able to

find another job to her liking,the employer was hiring justfor the holiday season. ForMyers, this meant starting allover again.Not only was the state of the

economy a factor, age workedagainst her, too.

“Most places I’ve gone toaren’t looking for more em-ployees to pay, and if they are,the fact that I’m not 18 makesme more of a disadvantagethan an asset for them,”Myers said.There was a time not too

long ago when teens didn’thave to deal much with suchweighty issues.Money came from their

mothers and fathers, the latestgadgets were given not just onholidays, and having a job wasnot a main priority. Parentsdidn’t mind going out to din-ner a couple times a month,and taking a vacation wassomething that happened ev-ery summer.But all of this started to

change in late 2007. Suddenly,America was in the throes of arecession, and young adults,

like everyone else, werecaught in its grip.Prasun Sharma, 17, of Wash-

ington Township, felt the nega-tive impact of the economy,but he’s taking away some-thing positive from the situa-tion. “I feel like this economyhas been a positive lesson toteens overall because it isteaching them money manage-ment.“Since there is no inflow of

money for them, they are learn-ing proper, conservative wayson how to spend their money,which would be beneficial tothem. Yes, the economy hasbeen hard on everyone, but atthe same time this is some-thing we can learn from in thelong run, to realize the worthof a dollar,” Sharma said.As the recession deepened

over the last several years,

many Americans who oncenever thought about being laidoff were trying to find ways tomaintain their standard of liv-ing. Many were looking forany job that they could get.This resulted in many adultstaking jobs at businesses suchas Starbucks, McDonald’s, or alocal pizzeria that once em-ployed mainly teens.“It is just as important for

teens to have jobs as it is foradults. We’re the future. Ifwe go into the early years ofadulthood without a decentamount of money saved, it’sonly going to perpetrate thecircumstances wrought withfinancial stress,” Myers said.So Myers and millions of

teenagers like her are pre-pared to ride out the stormyeconomic weather hoping bet-ter days are ahead.

For area teens, the economy is as dismal as it is for adultsLosing a job hits hard.In some cases, theywere easing the burdenof struggling parents.

TAYLOR PERKINS / First Take Staff“Finding a job has been so difficult,” says Ashley Myers, 17, of Washington Twp. (right). Her age hasn’thelped. “The fact that I’m not 18 makes me more of a disadvantage than an asset.”

GARRETT EVANS / For First TakeFormer part-time employees of what once was Sixth Avenue Electronics in Deptford are(from left) Zach Sherf, Paul Petty, Daniel Harding, Dan Gillespie, and John Cafasso.

Employmentis laggingfor teenagersAge and lack of time cited as difficultiesfor young job seekers in a tough economy.

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

26%

20112010200920082007200620052004200320022001

Oct. 2009 and 201027.1%

Feb. 201123.9%

Jan. 200113.8%

June 200319.0%

Sept. 2007Class of 2011

enters high

school

16.0%

Trouble for

TEENSThe jobless rate forteens remains nearrecord high levels

as the class of 2011nears graduation.Monthly unemploymentrate for ages 16 to 19,seasonally adjusted

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics

MORGAN HARRIS /West DeptfordHIgh School

First Take Employment

By John CafassoWEST DEPTFORD HIGH SCHOOL

There was a time whenteenagers enjoyed carefreelives with very little to worryabout other than taking adate to the movies, buyingthe latest designer clothes, orcopping the latest gadget.Today, that is changing.

Young people are now calledupon take on their own finan-cial responsibility. But that isbecoming harder to do if teen-agers are finding themselvesin a more competitive jobmarket and losing the part-time jobs they already have.On a cold February after-

noon, after a routine schoolday, several students at WestDeptford High School got adisappointing phone call: TheSixth Avenue Electronicsstore told them they had losttheir part-time jobs. Forthese students, the timingwas particularly bad; in somecases, their parents were go-ing through struggles of theirown.“Without my job, it’s affect-

ing me trying to do otherthings, like wanting to take

the SAT,” said West Deptfordsenior Dan Gillespie. Of hisparents, he said: “I don’t wantto bother them becausethey’re going through theirown economic problems.”A recent study has shown

that these South Jersey teensare suffering the same fate as

20.5 percent of America’syoung adults today. It’s a di-rect result of the down econo-my.Between October and De-

cember, the number of unem-ployed young adults rose44,000. That’s a total of 2.5million between the ages of

16 to 24 without a job.For teenagers in particular,

the numbers aren’t lookingpromising. In 1999, the unem-ployment rate for citizensfrom ages 17 to 19 was 13.9percent. In January, the ratealmost doubled to 25.7 per-cent.

This creates a bleak futurefor America's youth.Senior Paul Petty of West

Deptford, for instance, one ofthose who lost his job, is look-ing to the Navy to pay for hiscollege education.“I want to do something in-

teresting in my life, and I getto go to college for free,” hesaid, “and that’s fantastic."A majority of today’s teenag-

ers find themselves in thesame employment situationas Petty.“I needed the money so I

could get things so my moth-er wouldn’t have to worryabout it,” Petty said. “She’s alittle short on money herself.”Since losing his job, Petty

said, he no longer can affordhanging out much in restau-rants with friends. “I try toeat at home now as much as Ipossibly can,” he said.It is clear that the economy

today has resulted in manyteens living a more stressfullife. To have the life they wantto live at this age, teenagerswill need a job. With parentsstruggling as much as, if notmore than, their children to-day, teens have no other op-tion.“I was really relieved when

I first got my job,” saidGillespie, who lost his elec-tronics-store job. “It was oneof my biggest goals during

this rough economy.”But getting the jobs seems

to be only half the battle.Hardworking, successfulyoung adults and teenagerscould be employed and — inthe blink of an eye — getkicked to the curb.College seems to be one of

the main economic concernsfor every high school senior.Facing daunting tuition pricetags, students are realizingthey eventually have to go outand find a job to help ease thehefty costs of college.“I do believe,” West Dept-

ford senior Zach Sherf said,“at some point, I’m going tohave to go out and get anoth-er job, because I really doneed help paying for college.”But he’s confident things willturn around. “I have no fearfinding a job.”College students haven’t es-

caped the harsh economic re-alities either. Daniel Harding,a sophomore at GloucesterCounty College and anotherof the laid-off electronics-store employees, has put offplans to buy a new guitar.“I was very surprised when

I heard about losing my job,”Harding said. “I want anotherjob, but I feel like a new jobwon’t be as good as my lastone.”

www.philly.com B F5THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRERSaturday, April 2, 2011

More foreign students head home after graduatingCareer opportunities, quality of life are cited.But the U.S. loses out in a “reverse brain drain.”

By Judy YangBAYARD RUSTIN HIGH SCHOOL

Thomas Yu, a computer pro-grammer, came to the UnitedStates 20 years ago in searchof the American Dream. Yu,now 50, along with millions ofChinese immigrants, believedthat there were endless oppor-tunities to be found in thiscountry.After earning his master’s

degree at the University of Al-abama, Yu and his wife set-tled in the suburbs of Phila-delphia with their childrenand planned to retire in thearea.“The U.S. was the best coun-

try at the time, far ahead ofothers,” Yu said. “Why wouldI return back to China?”Today, his nephew, Chak Hoi,

16, is applying to private highschools in the United States.However, unlike Yu, Chak Hoiplans to return home to Chinaonce he earns his high schooldiploma and then an Americancollege degree.“The colleges in the U.S.

have worldwide recognitionas the best in the world,” hesaid. “However, China is notfar behind the U.S., so I seeno disadvantages to return-ing home.“The chances of finding a

good job with a U.S. degree

are high,” he said. “Plus, Iwill be much more comfort-able and happy in my owncountry.”Researchers have noticed

an increase in what they call a“reverse brain drain,” whereskilled workers, including sci-entists, engineers, and doc-tors, educated in the States,return to their native coun-tries. According to the non-profit organization Ewing Mar-ion Kauffman Foundation inKansas City, Mo., career op-portunities, as well as qualityof life, are cited as the mainreasons so many are leaving.In the past, many immi-

grants may have felt home-sick but stayed in this coun-try for economic reasons.However, with the UnitedStates in recovery from a re-cession, and the strong eco-nomic growth of countriessuch as China and India, themind-sets of many immi-grants have shifted. Some for-eigners see no advantage instaying in America after earn-ing their degrees.With an American educa-

tion, they can return to theirnative countries to a comfort-able and higher-paying job.Some countries, like China,are offering incentives suchas housing and financial assis-

tance for immigrants to moveback home.On the other hand, immi-

grants who do stay in thiscountry are faced with thelimited skilled-worker visasthe government hands out.Green-card applicationstake years to complete andthe citizenship process takesimmense time and patience.According to the KauffmanFoundation, more than onemillion skilled immigrantworkers are competing for120,000 permanent U.S. resi-dent visas each year. Duringthis time, immigrants can-not travel internationally or

be promoted.Maia Usui, 21, is a senior

history major at Harvard Col-lege. As a Japanese citizen,she will return to Japan upongraduation to work for JPMorgan, an investment bank.She is a prime example of thereverse brain drain.Although she is fond of the

United States, she applied fora job in Tokyo because shethought it was much morecompetitive to get a job in theStates.“It’s harder for foreigners

to get a work visa, and be-cause others are just asbright as me, I thought I

didn’t stand such a greatchance,” she said. “The worldis interconnected, everyoneleads international lives andare globe-trotters, etc., but atthe end of the day, you’re tiedto what citizenship you are.”Usui believes returning to

the United States is a possibil-ity in the future. However, asa foreigner, she wants to gainmore experience before enter-ing the U.S. job market.Vivek Wadhwa, a senior re-

search associate at HarvardLaw School, said in an inter-view with New America Me-dia that “over the last 20 yearsyou’ve had 50,000 each goingback to India and China.”“Before, I used to say that

50,000 more will go in thenext five years,” Wadhwasaid. “Based on the economicdownturn, my prediction isthat 100,000 skilled workerswill return, both to India andto China over the next fiveyears or so.”This reverse brain drain

could have significant effectson the United States, as ittakes some of the brightestminds that were nurturedhere to benefit foreign coun-tries.According to Bloomberg

Businessweek, while immi-grants make up only 12 per-cent of the U.S. population,52 percent of Silicon Valley’stechnology companies werestarted by immigrants. They

also are 24 percent of the U.S.science and engineering work-force holding bachelor’s de-grees and 47 percent of sci-ence and engineering work-ers holding Ph.D.s.Oleg Dmytrenko, 27, a

Ukrainian microbiology grad-uate student at Harvard Uni-versity, said he is just study-ing here and plans to returnto Europe. Harvard and MIToffered him better scholar-ships than Cambridge, whichis why he chose to come tothis country.Despite wanting to eventu-

ally return to Europe,Dmytrenko praised the quali-ty of education at Harvard.“Science is at a good level

here,” he said. “I can do what-ever I want. I have more timeto choose my topics andwhich courses I take.”Dmytrenko said, “I have

more freedom. Harvard pre-pares you as an independentresearcher and thinker.”When he does return to

Ukraine, Dmytrenko believesa Harvard degree will be veryhelpful.His decision to leave the

United States is partiallybased on difficulties adaptingto American culture. “The cul-tural difference is whatmakes it hard for me to stay,”Dmytrenko said. Nonethe-less, “if an amazing opportuni-ty comes along, I might con-sider staying here.”

By Ciara StonePHILADELPHIA HIGH SCHOOL

FOR GIRLS

It has been quite a roughfew years for small-businessowner Comer Rucker as hisfurniture shop and his dreamof financial independence be-gan slipping through his fin-gers.As the economy weakened,

fewer people needed or couldafford Rucker’s assistance inremodeling their tired andoutdated furniture.These days, Rucker sits in

his shop, Furniture Artisansin North Philadelphia, andwonders whether his busi-ness will survive.“It’s like a gambler with a

bad hand. There is no point inbluffing. You have to knowwhen to fold,” he states.The small workshop stands

independently in the heart ofNorth Philadelphia. Likewounded warriors, piles ofworn furniture stand in everycorner struggling to the ceil-ing. Rucker sees the potentialin cracked surfaces, shat-tered tabletops, and armlesschairs. He keeps these piecesin large rooms until they aretransported to the heart ofthe shop to be resurrected.Since the economy’s down-

turn, Rucker has been striv-ing to triumph over the diffi-culties of having to maintainhis business.Before the recession in De-

cember 2007, he had six em-ployees. However, the crip-

pling state of the economyforced him to eliminate four,leaving the positions of theremaining two in question.Sales decreased dramatical-

ly, slowing his cash flow to atrickle. Each month he mustbalance his disintegrating in-come in order to pay the mort-gage of his suburban homeand the utilities of his work-shop. He lives job to job, hop-ing a refurbished table willtake care of his monthly carpayments, and a new uphol-stered dining set will satisfyPeco’s hunger.It wasn’t always this way.

With only a passionatedream, Rucker establishedFurniture Artisans. His abili-ty to take garbage left out onthe curbside and transformit into stunning works of artinevitably designed his fu-ture.“I wanted to pursue my

skill for my own agenda, notto be dedicated to a companyfor it to choose my destiny,”he said, that same passionstill in his voice. Furniture Ar-tisans had been up and run-ning successfully until theeconomy’s crumble.Relying on self-motivation

and faith alone, Rucker hopesthat the flame heating hiseternal passion will beenough to keep him going inthese challenging times.As each day rises, Rucker’s

future and the future of hisdream become blurred.Will it be longer work days

struggling to make ends meetor premature retirement?Trying to sort out his emo-

tions, Rucker brought up thebankruptcy of the giant insur-er, American InternationalGroup (AIG). “If AIG can’tmake it, how can a little guylike me?”

JUDY YANG / First Take StaffThomas Yu came to the United States 20 years ago and stayed.Chak Hoi, 16, his nephew, plans to attend high school andcollege in this country and then return to China.

Struggles of ‘a little guy’A furniture workshop owner is seeing his business and dream slip away.

An oak table being refurbished at Furniture Artisans. The business specializes in cast-off items.

CIARA STONE / First Take StaffComer Rucker inspects a parquet table in his shop, Furniture Artisans in North Philadelphia. Before the recession in December2007, he had six employees. Now he has two, and may not be able to retain them as a weak economy has taken its toll.

First Take Employment

By Siobhan ReddingMARPLE NEWTOWN HIGH SCHOOL

In today’s economy, hardwork does not seem to beenough for small businessesto prosper. Fulfilling thedream has become muchmore complicated.In the Philadelphia area,

small-business owners havestruggled with the difficultiesof the uncertain economy.Independently owned Jac-

quette’s Bakery in Broomallhas struggled with the failingeconomy and has been ableto survive.Dennis Jacquette, the

pastry shop’s owner for 31years, described the econo-my’s effect as “a little chal-lenging, but not much of aproblem.”“Comfort food,” he said, “is

very important to people atthis time.”Although Jacquette has not

sought the help of outsidesources, some small business-es have. One source is theU.S. Small Business Adminis-tration. Created in 1953, theSBA was designed to assistsmall businesses financiallywhen they needed the help.“The SBA offers training

and financial advice for strug-gling small businesses,” saidJohn Fleming, the acting Phil-adelphia district director,“and has had great results.”One benefit of the adminis-

tration is its loan program,which Fleming described as“amazing.” In the second halfof fiscal 2010, $127 millionwas loaned to small business-es, almost doubling the$68 million disbursed in thefirst six months.The biggest problem for

Jacquette has not been thenumber of customers, but thecost of energy and food.“Between 2009 and 2010,

gross sales have not changedmuch, with just a 1 percentdecrease,” said Jacquette. “In-gredients cost more, though.There was a 14 percent in-crease in resources in theyear of 2010.”Though he was reluctant to

raise the price of his prod-ucts, Jacquette knew it wasinevitable if he was to com-pete with other bakeries. InDecember 2010, prices on

75 percent of his items slight-ly increased. Now, he is con-stantly looking for ways tocut back, about 2 percent to 3percent at a time.“There are changes that

need to be made in order tocope with this economy,” hesaid, “but one thing we willnever do here is cheapen ourproduct.”For the bakery, as with oth-

er small businesses, competi-tion has become a huge issue,mainly with larger businessesselling similar products.From the outside, these largebusinesses appear to have allthe advantages. But, accord-ing to Fleming, that is not nec-essarily the case.“Large businesses are suf-

fering just like the small busi-nesses. There have been de-creases in revenue, job cuts,and difficulty obtaining fi-nances,” he said.Having chain supermarkets

as its main competition hasnot been easy for Jacquette’sBakery. But small businesses,though outnumbered in cus-tomers, do have an edgewhen it comes to personal ser-vice. In fact, Jacquette be-lieves having fewer custom-ers may just be what drivessmall businesses to succeed.“Personal touch definitely

has something to do with it,”Jacquette said. He is very fa-miliar with his customers andknows most on a first-namebasis. “There is even one fam-ily,” he said, “that has beengetting their son’s birthdaycakes from Jacquette’s forthe past 28 years.”The economy is what drives

today’s society. Whether it ispositive or negative, the ef-fect is inescapable. In thesmall-business world, prepar-ing for the future is about allmerchants can do in timeslike these.“Those who plan the best

will survive,” said the SBA’sFleming.While Jacquette agrees, he

credits his shop’s success to“part luck, part hard work.”No matter what challenges

lie ahead for his small bakery,Jacquette stands by advice hereceived long ago: “Prices areforgotten, but quality is re-membered.”

How small firmsadapt to downturn

SIOBHAN REDDING / First Take StaffJacquette’s Bakery in Broomall. Owner Dennis Jacquette says,“Comfort food is very important to people at this time.”

F6 B www.philly.com THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Saturday, April 2, 2011

By Meghan CoyleTRITON REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

Karen O’Hanlon rates her-self high on the misery index.“I’m living paycheck to pay-

check. My credit card ismaxed out for the first timein my life and I have a veryhigh minimum payment,”said the single mother fromSouth Jersey. “I pay my credit-card bills every month andthey just do not seem to godown because of the high in-terest rates.”O’Hanlon’s matter-of-fact

statement of her financial sta-tus echoes that of many Amer-icans grappling to stay afloatin today’s choppy economicwaters.What’s more, she’s also

speaking about the state of adebt-ridden country.Over the last 30 years, U.S.

debt has grown exponentially.The cost of products has ris-en at a rate much greaterthan that of the average Amer-ican income.The federal debt in 1981

was estimated at $995 billion.Now, the United States findsitself buried in a $14 trilliondebt.Disposable income has be-

come a major contributor toAmerican debt. An article inthe Economist stated thathousehold income and con-sumer debt jumped from100 percent of GDP in 1980 toa staggering 173 percent cur-rently.Count O’Hanlon as one who

is caught in the squeeze."Right now it would take

me 30 years to pay off mycredit-card balance if I keephaving to pay the minimumamount,” she said. “It’s equiv-alent to having a 30-year

mortgage on a house.”According to ChartingThe-

Economy.com, U.S. house-hold debt as a percentage ofpersonal disposable incomehas doubled since the early1980s. Any extra income in to-day’s regular household is be-ing spent frivolously on un-necessary items that weren’teven at our disposal 30 yearsago.In O’Hanlon’s case, getting

a divorce made matters evenharder.“Getting a divorce and go-

ing from two incomes to onehas been hard. It’s the reason

I’m in debt,” she said.“I had to start a new career.

I went to school to be able towork in the medical field, andnow I’m at the bottom of mysalary range because of mylack of experience.”Before the current reces-

sion, U.S. debt had grown by50 percent. American incomehad increased throughout theyears, but the cost of prod-ucts has risen at a much fast-er rate.Once the recession began

to take root, unemploymentnumbers went through theroof as millions of jobs were

lost. Add to that the housingmarket’s collapse.Along with rising gas prices

and a sagging retail market,the economy is still dealingwith the housing bubble thatburst after years of rapidly in-creasing prices. An article inReal Estate Industry News re-ported a 7.6 percent decreasein home sales from a yearago.Al Heavens, an Inquirer

real estate columnist, saidthat the downfall of the realestate industry had done noth-ing but “create misery.”Heavens links some of the

nation’s unemployment to theconstruction industry.“No one’s building,” Heav-

ens stated, “and because ofthe high unemployment, thenumber of foreclosures hasreached record levels.”According to Heavens, fore-

closures in 2005 were at500,000, and as of last year,that number had risen to awhopping 2.5 million.As the country slowly re-

bounds from this economicmorass, one thing is clear: Weas a nation, a community, anda household must get our fi-nancial house in order.

By Corsair LaytonSPRINGFIELD HIGH SCHOOL

Five years ago, the futurelooked bright for Dyisha M.Corbin. She was a smart, care-free 24-year-old working as apharmaceutical engineer inKing of Prussia. She and herboyfriend decided to have ababy.Today, Corbin is 29, single,

unemployed, and strugglingto care for her son, Machi,almost 5.Corbin, known as Kia, is the

face of the single, unem-ployed American in this sag-ging economy. In October2009, Corbin was laid off —she still does not know why —and is now trying her best toget by.When she was working and

earning $11.20 an hour, Corb-in was able to take care ofherself and Machi, with herown money, without helpfrom others.Asked if it was easy taking

care of herself and her son,she said, “It can be hard, butit wasn’t that bad for me, be-cause I planned my money re-ally well. As long as I wassmart with my money, I wasusually OK.”After getting laid off and af-

ter a few days of looking forjobs, she filed for unemploy-ment benefits. She neverfound out the reason for los-ing her job. “They didn't giveme a legitimate answer,” shesaid.Even with a declining unem-

ployment rate, now down to 8.9percent, Corbin still has notfound a job. She has searchedeverything from the Internet tonewspapers, but she has hadlittle success so far.Now, she receives money

from the state to support herfamily, while she applies ev-erywhere for any job so shecan earn the money from herown hard work. It’s more ofan issue of pride than any-thing else for Corbin.“I’d rather work and re-

ceive my check from my owndiligence rather than receivea check from sitting aroundall day and doing nothing,”she said.In the nation’s economy,

things aren’t the same as theyonce were. Prices have goneup on everything from toysand games to gasoline. Work-ers employed for decadeshave been laid off and leftwithout jobs; even thoseready for retirement are with-out hope. In the midst of all ofthese changes, the biggest is-sue is trying to survive. Manyof the jobs that were seen asa “sure thing” don’t even ex-ist anymore, and people con-stantly have to fight to be-come employed.For Corbin, waking up is

not a chore. It gives her timeto spend with her son beforeshe tries her best to find an-other job. She wakes up,makes Machi breakfast, thentakes him to school. Then shecomes home and sends outmass copies of her resume.After getting laid off, filingfor unemployment, and tak-ing care of a baby by yourself,everything else must seemeasy.When she was 17, Corbin

would be asked by peoplewhere she thought she’d be inthe future. “I saw myself witha college degree," she said, “agood job in which I was utiliz-ing my degree, and living onmy own.”

CORSAIR LAYTON / First Take StaffDyisha M. Corbin and sonMachi. Laid off in 2009, shehunts for work.

Nation’s debt problems are hitting homeSingle mother caughtin credit-card squeeze.

Already down and out, homeless are particularly affected by economic downturn.

Shelters see increase in population

ROSS D. FRANKLIN / Associated Press, FileA foreclosure sign sits outside a home for sale in Phoenix. Foreclosures have soared, adding to Americans’ misery index.

By Chelsea BurnsTRITON REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

In a recession, we all feelthe pinch of a slow economy.Homes, places of worship,jobs, and lifestyles are all af-fected in some way.Perhaps the people affected

most are those who are downon their luck and find them-selves without shelter or suffi-cient food: the homeless.According to a recent sur-

vey by the National Law Cen-ter on Homelessness and Pov-erty, there are about 3.5 mil-lion homeless people, includ-ing 1.35 million children.With the downturn of the

economy, some shelters inthe Delaware Valley, such asthe Cumberland Family Shel-ter in Vineland, N.J., saw anincrease in people needing as-sistance.“Thirteen months ago, they

had to put people on a wait-ing list,” said Tammy Morris,who works at the shelter.However, she said that the

shelter no longer has a wait-ing list. As of Feb. 24, at least50 people, including families,were residing in the Cumber-land Family Shelter.Homeless shelters in Phila-

delphia and Camden saidthey could not release infor-mation about their shelters orresidents.According to the outreach

organizat ion ProjectH.O.M.E., 9 percent of thehomeless are between theages of 18 to 25, 49 percentare between the ages of 26 to45, 40 percent are between 46to 65 and 3 percent 65 andover.Some other Project

H.O.M.E. statistics show thatthe majority — 80 percent —

of homeless people are Afri-can American, followed by 13percent white and 6 percentLatino.Some causes of homeless-

ness are: poverty from a lackof good jobs and minimal gov-ernment, domestic violence,mental illness, and substanceabuse.Data also show that 6.3 per-

cent of the U.S. population iscurrently living in poverty, ac-cording to USA Today. Onepercent of the U.S. populationhas experienced homeless-ness.Longtime Camden resident

and activist Frank Fulbrooksaid homelessness became aproblem in the South Jerseycity in the 1980s and has con-tinued to increase ever since.However, many religious orga-nizations in Camden havestarted food-sharing pro-grams to assist the homeless

and poor.For those who need a shel-

ter, Morris suggests peoplecall the shelter beforehand.There are a variety of shel-

ters depending on people'sneeds, such as emergencyand homeless shelters whichprovide short term housing,and day shelters that do notoffer overnight stay, but offera meal and a shower andsome laundry facilities.Some shelters ask for a cer-

tain percentage of incomefrom the residents for usingthe facilities and most of theshelters only allow a shortstay.Many shelters rely on dona-

tions.Morris said that despite the

economy, people are still do-nating items.“Things have been OK — no

negative impact. Things have

been donated like clothes, per-sonal hygiene supplies, bakedfood, and toys for childrenduring Christmas time,” shesaid.Though Morris says most

shelters do not turn peopleaway — they take men, wom-en, children with guardians— there are some restrictionsand rules for residents athomeless shelters.The Cumberland Family

Shelter does a screening pro-cess and background check,not admitting registered sexoffenders.“There are requirements to

be admitted,” Morris said.First, residents must followrules. Second, they mustagree to look for housing anda job, and third, they mustattend mandatory classes.“There is a time limit, whichone way is through welfare …How long you can receive wel-fare is up to 90 days.”

JOHN COSTELLO / File PhotographThe homeless taking shelter in the lobby of the Camden County administration building. A survey said there are about 3.5 million people who live on the streets.

Getting by,but eagerto earnher keepLike many single moms,she gets jobless benefits,but, Dyisha M. Corbinsays, “I’d rather work.”

First Take Financeswww.philly.com B F7THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRERSaturday, April 2, 2011

For concert business,no discordant chordsA sour economy has forced promoters to comeup with ways to keep concertgoers tuned in.

Costs can stymie performer’s startWith the recession,musicians find thateconomic survival cantrump artistic goals.

By Hannah LandersUPPER MORELAND HIGH SCHOOL

It’s a Friday night andthrongs of excited concert-goers are packed into the Tro-cadero Theater on ArchStreet, eager for the momentwhen their favorite band willswagger onstage. Though theeconomy is off its rhythm, theconcert business seems to behumming a different tune.Ticket prices are plummet-

ing, causing an influx in thenumber of people attendingshows. Prices fell for thethird year in a row on Stub-Hub, a website for fans to buyand sell tickets to differentevents. At the same time thenumber of tickets bought andsold on the site jumped to15,000 tickets in 2010 from14,000 tickets in 2009 accord-ing to Daily Finance, an AOLmoney and finance site. Fall-ing prices, however, don’t al-ways mean cheaper tickets.“There’s been a major in-

crease in ‘convenience fees,’ ”said Emily Hakes, an UpperMoreland High School seniorwho tries to attend about oneconcert every month. Shefinds this more annoyingthan pricey tickets, sayingthat she “doesn’t like feelingtricked” and would ratherpay a higher face value thanbe sideswiped by additionalexpenses.Another recession coping

strategy?Catching concerts pro-

duced by low-margin bookingagencies that schedule showsin cheaper venues. “The pric-ing in relation to the venuerelies entirely on the compa-ny that books the act,” saidfrequent concertgoer ChrisZombolas, an Upper More-land sophomore.The Electric Factory and

the Theater of Living Arts aremore expensive venues sincethe companies that bookshows there are Live Nation

and Ticketmaster, Zombolassaid. The less expensive ven-ues, according to Zombolas,are places such as the FirstUnitarian Church or the Bar-bary, because they haveshows put together by a com-pany called R5 Productions.What makes R5 Produc-

tions different from Ticket-master or Live Nation?R5 advertises itself in large,

bold font on its website as a“Do It Yourself” promotionagency “whose main goal isto provide the Philadelphiaarea with cheap, friendly,shows in an honest intimatesetting.” Since R5 doesn’town any of the venues inwhich it schedules shows,they don’t have to pay formaintenance or security, Zom-bolas said.“R5’s shows are always

around $12 and $16 at thehighest,” he said, which iswhy he prefers to attendshows put together by that or-ganization.Whether a big or small com-

pany, no matter how hard the

recession hits, concert ticketsales are singing the song ofsuccess. In many cases, it’sthe love of music and the ex-

perience of seeing a band livethat can trump the conve-nience fees and the elevatedprices from corporations.

“If I really want to see aband,” Hakes said, “I willprobably pay for the ticket re-gardless of cost.”

By Melinda SzkaradnikMETHACTON HIGH SCHOOL

In 2003, Brendan Walter,guitarist for the rock band Va-lencia, was sued by the Re-cording Industry Associationof America in the first waveof illegal-downloading law-suits — now, he’s a memberof the same association.“I am definitely guilty of

downloading music,” Waltersaid.“On one hand, I know how

expensive and time-consum-ing it is to make a record andhow it’s worth every penny,”he said. “On the other hand,this day and age creates awhole new level of people’sability to check out music —you can download 15 albumsin one day.”Although piracy is relative-

ly simple with the technologyavailable today, bands and re-cording compnaies say it isstealing money out of theirpockets.According to the RIAA, pira-

cy causes the music industryto lose $12.5 billion everyyear, along with 71,060 U.S.jobs. Other losses include

$2.7 billion in workers’ earn-ings and $422 million in taxrevenues.The RIAA says a person

can participate in illegaldownloading in many ways,including downloading or up-loading copyrighted files to

peer-to-peer file-sharing pro-grams or purchasing an al-bum and burning copies forfriends.

A person who is caught ille-galy downloading is subjectto up to five years in jail anda $250,000 fine or a minimumfine of $750 per song in civilcourt.Many bands have felt the

direct hit of illegal download-ing.“We definitely have had to

become more clever in howwe get our income,” Waltersaid.“It’s still generally pretty

hard, though. With the jobmarket the way it is and theeconomy in the toilet, peopleare even less inclined to buymusic and in turn are turningup to shows and buyingT-shirts less.”Walter also said illegal

downloading isn’t always abad thing, because it allowsmusic to be exposed to differ-ent people.“I think if you really love an

album, you should go aheadand purchase it. There arealso other ways to support [aband], like going to see ashow, picking up a T-shirt, orany number of things. As longas you are contributing in

some way, I think it can be apositive thing,” he saidThe 2011 report from the In-

ternational Federation of thePhonographic Industry showsthat from 2003 through 2010,“the combined sales of debutalbums featuring in the glo-bal top 50 fell by 77 percent,from 47.7 million to 10.8 mil-lion.” The report does notstate that this drop in sales isbecause of illegal download-ing, but since 2003, many newillegal downloading siteshave been created.Walter knows that the econ-

omy has caused many prob-lems for him and other musi-cians, but he believes there isstill hope.“They’ll come to the shows,

buy the merchandise, and inreturn, you give them thebest music, great online con-tent and create a fun atmo-sphere for them to come andenjoy themselves,” Waltersays.“In the end, the best music

wins — if you are creating mu-sic that people want to hear,they’ll buy it, and you’ll befine.”

KYLE MILLER / First Take StaffOCD: Moosh & Twist at the Philadelphia Expo Center. The local high school seniors have used online videos to build a fan base.

Bands, recording companies say music piracy can hurt

By Kyle MillerSUN VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL

For years, Devin Simondsspent every waking momentperfecting his craft as a drum-mer.Music was his life, his pas-

sion and he dreamed one dayof being a rock star. But thepath to that dream has takena slight detour as Simonds,now a student at Shippens-burg University and majoringin business and marketing , issometimes dancing to a differ-ent beat.“I’d love to play in a band

for a living, but I need to havesomething to fall back on,”said Simonds, who is a drum-mer for Sean Cox, an upcom-ing folk-rock musician.It’s difficult for musicians

and artists to put their life-long dream on hold, but therecession is pushing talentedyoung adults more and moretoward pragmatic survival.What a tough economy

means is that it will now beharder for fledgling groups toburst onto the music scene be-cause of the financial hard-ships they will have to over-come.Groups from the Philadel-

phia region haven’t been ableto break through the way theyonce did because of the highcost of recording and main-taining a band.Sine Studios, a Philadelphia

recording studio, charges $75an hour, a price that manyyoung groups just can’t coughup.

Bands could take the routeof buying their own recordingequipment. But by the time aband buys the microphone,software, mixer, and other es-sentials, the cost can top$1,000. Because of these highcosts, unknown bands have atough time getting their mu-sic out to the public.And it’s not just the under-

ground scene that is hurting.Mainstream bands have

been losing money because ofillegal downloading. The RIAAsays that there is over $12.5

billion lost a year due to musicpiracy. Top bands make moremoney from the shows andconcerts they perform thanthey do off of their albums. In2010, album sales were thelowest that they have beensince Nielsen/SoundScan start-ed tracking them 1991. Al-though 362.2 million albumsmay sound like a lot, it is wellunder half of what it was atthe start of the decade.But maybe the stars have it

easy compared with young-sters trying to make a name

for themselves.Kevin Schiazza of the band

the Worst Friends Ever saysthat up and comers in the mu-sic industry have been hithardest by the recession.“There is so much money thatgoes into being in a band thatif you are not established,then you’re going to have atough time.”Schiazza and his crew of

Sun Valley High Schoolfriends, Andrew Taylor andNick Stackhouse, started theband four years ago and final-

ly got their music onto iTuneslast year. But because thethree college students wereshort on money, they couldn'tafford more than five songsand minimal marketing oftheir EP (extended play).While the Worst Friends

Ever continue on their path,YouTube sensations OCD:Moosh & Twist are pursuing adifferent strategy as their mu-sic finds a fan base online.DeQuincy “Moosh” McRae

and Oliver “Twist” Feighanare still seniors in high school

and doing what they can tomake it in the rap business —even if it means, for the mo-ment, delaying college.“We’ve been blessed to have

connections in the industry,”said Feighan, a Friends Selectstudent. “Without that, I don’tknow where we would be.”McRae, who goes to Haver-

ford High School, andFeighan have been perform-ing together for four yearsnow and are starting to getmore and more attention as arap duo. But the attentioncomes at a price. To make themusic videos that are gettingmore and more views every-day on YouTube, they have tocome up with the money. Thecost of the videos, made byRex Arrow, ranges from $700to $1000, and parents canonly be so supportive in thiseconomy.So, where do two teenagers

come up with the cash tomake these pricey music vid-eos? They have to take jobs tosupport their group. SoMcRae and Feighan are goingto school, working, and doingwhat they truly love, which ismaking music.Is that too much? Well, that

just might be what it takes tomake it these days.Music has always been

around and always will be.It’s a tough industry to breakinto and the recession hasonly made it harder. Asked ifthey would rather be able tobuy their fame, McRae andFeighan both answered pas-sionately, “It would be easier,but we have more respect forpeople who make it from thebottom up. Eventually, themusic will speak for itself andpeople will see our love andpassion for the game.”

Best Coast jams at a show organized by R5 Productions at the Starlight Ballroom in Philadelphia.R5 is a “do-it-yourself” promotion agency whose goal is to provide cheap, friendly shows.

Courtesy of the artistBrendan Walter (seated), with his band Valencia, was once sued for illegal music downloading.Now he fights it, saying: “I know how expensive and time-consuming it is to make a record.”

First TakeMusicF8 B www.philly.com THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Saturday, April 2, 2011

By Patrick BinghamSALESIANUM SCHOOL

How to fix the U.S. econo-my?Economists and experts

can’t seem to agree, politi-cians definitely don’t see eyeto eye, so then why shouldDelawareans be any differentin their views of this pressingnational problem?As President Obama and

the newly elected Congresswrangle over the politics ofhow to get out of this quan-dry, one thing is clear: It tookabout 10 to 20 years to getinto it and it will take us awhile to get out.An expansion in credit,

debt, and deregulation over aperiod of time were all con-tributing factors to the reces-sion. Then came the housingcrisis. For the most part, hous-ing is the biggest investmentmost people will make in a

lifetime.The country endured a bub-

ble-and-burst cycle in hous-ing, which was the single big-gest cause of this crisis. Nowmany homeowners are “un-derwater” — owing morethan their house is worth —and many more are unem-ployed.“I don’t think the recession

is over,” said Sharon Thomp-son, a day care owner in Wil-

mington. “People still can’tfind jobs, unions are beingdismantled, and everything isjust messed up.”Economists say the reces-

sion that started in 2007 end-ed 18 months ago. However,many people are still feelingthe effects of it. Consumerspending is flat, economicgrowth is negligible, and theU.S. may slip into another re-cession because of rising oil

prices and recent geopoliticalevents in the Middle East andNorth Africa.Democrats in Washington

want to revive the economyby investing more stimulusfunds in creating green jobs,education and industries thatwill make the United Statesmore energy independent.Republicans, on the other

hand, are pushing for lessgovernment spending andwant to lower taxes as an eco-nomic path forward.“President Obama has

some very good ideas, but theRepublicans are just too stub-born to listen,” said PatriciaStewart of Wilmington.Robert Lefton, 72, says of

Obama: “Sometimes, I justthink that this guy has noidea what he is doing. It islike he is just clueless in theWhite House,” when it comesto the economy.“Spending is only half of

the problem,” Stewart said.“We wouldn’t have deficitspending if we weren’t spend-ing trillions in Iraq and Af-ghanistan and giving tax cutsto the top 1 percent,” she add-

ed. “What we need to do raisetaxes on the rich and givemore tax breaks to middleclass.”Behind Stewart’s logic is

the belief that the rich willstill be rich before and aftertax cuts. Plus, she believesthat working and middleclass families will have tospend most to all of their in-come on necessities, so moretax breaks to the middle andworking class will put moremoney to put into the econo-my.Lefton, a self-described con-

servative, sees it a little differ-ently. “Spending is a veryhuge problem. We are $14 tril-lion dollars in debt and wehave a one trillion dollar defi-cit — all this spending is get-ting ridiculous,” he said. “Wehave to trim waste and abuse— a good place to start is theDepartment of Education, itis just bloated bureaucracy.”George Horn, a teacher of

business education at a Wil-mington area high school,also agrees that runawayspending is a big problem.“The federal government

needs to reduce the deficitgreatly, and they need to cuttaxes on all levels,” he said.“The federal governmentneeds to reduce the deficitgreatly.”Horn also thinks the stimu-

lus package passed early inthe Obama administrationwas too focused on construc-tion jobs, so it neglected thebroader economy.He also thinks the Federal

Reserve “needs to raise inter-est rates so that the US dollarwill avoid inflation.”Horn believes the Obama

administration needs to givemore tax cuts akin to his 2percent Social Security taxcut and payroll tax cut, “be-cause when people see thatsmall increase in their checksthey won’t think twice aboutit and spend that extra $20 or$30.”On businesses, Horn says

the federal governmentneeds to allow them, “smallor large to fail. One, the gov-ernment needs to stop spend-ing so much money; and, two,a recession weeds out weakindustries and companies.”

seem unsure about possiblemajors. Should their careerpath be more practical orshould students pursue theirpassions? Kline believes thatstudents “should pick some-thing that is of interest and inwhich they can find success.”She said the economy has

made it extremely difficultfor students applying to col-leges and universities. Schol-arships and financial aid arescarce; however, Kline feelsthat more schools will in-crease financial support tostudents in the coming years.When asked if she had any

tips for students applying forfinancial aid, Kline repliedthat she felt the best advice isto be creative and “keep aneye out for anything and ev-erything, whether it isthrough your high school orthe college you are applyingto or just a general communi-ty-based scholarship.”Kline said endowment

funds of many institutionshave experienced financialdifficulty. “Everyone hasstruggled, but soon they willstart to offer students more.”According to Kline, studentsapplying in the next threeyears should have an easiertime securing aid than thosewho applied during the lastfew years.Kline said the biggest ques-

tion for the economy hasbeen jobs. Why is the unem-ployment rate so high? Whenwill companies and firms be-gin hiring again? Kline em-phasized that a high unem-ployment rate is not necessar-ily an exact representation ofthe economic situation.“People are getting discour-

aged. If they can’t find a job,why keep looking,” she said.Kline believes the job mar-

ket will turn around withinthe next five years. It will not

happen this year or next, be-cause those who are current-ly employed are putting inmore hours and working hard-er to make sure they keeptheir jobs.The downturn in the econo-

my has created uncertaintyfor both workers and employ-ers.Companies are hesitant to

hire more people when theyare able to get so much pro-ductivity out of their currentemployees. But by choosingnot to hire more workers, cor-porations are not boostingconfidence in Americanhouseholds, so Americans arespending less, which, conse-quently, creates less demandfor goods and services.As a final bit of advice

Kline says: “It is incrediblyimportant that younger gener-ations be aware of the worldaround them, how it operatesand where it might be going.”So, OK, don’t look now. But

take a look a few years fromnow when workshop partici-pants will be college-educat-ed and taking their place inthe working world, wherethey hope to find a dynamicand resurgent economy.

ECONOMIST from F1

Economicrecoveryis slow —but sure

Fattah sees education investment as a key to futureThe longtime Pa. congressman says it is part ofDemocrats’ plan to get the nation back on track.

.Students (from left) Alexandra Iacovetti, Eric Jackman, Kyle Miller and Ana Guenther listen to guest speaker Sara Kline during theopening session. Kline told a young audience to focus on college in the next few years while the economy recovers.

Delaware perspectives differ on recession, spendingSome say increasedinvestment is calledfor. Others think thebudget should be cut.

Trimming waste and abuse ingovernment bureaucracies isa good place to start, saysRobert Lefton.

MICHAEL S. WIRTZ / StaffRep. Chaka Fattah: “Educationis the most importantinvestment we can make insecuring economic recovery.”

DAVID SWANSON / Staff PhotographerSara Kline had some encouraging news for students: “The nation has been dealt a huge economic blow, but there are signs of hope for the younger generation.”

First Take Politics

PATRICK BINGHAM / First Take StaffWe wouldn’t have deficits if weweren’t funding wars in Iraqand Afghanistan, says SharonThompson of Wilmington.

By Madeleine WalshLITTLE FLOWER HIGH SCHOOL

Many financial experts saythe nation’s economy is hur-tling down the road to disas-ter. President Obama hassaid, “We are in the worst fi-nancial crisis since the GreatDepression.”However, Democratic Con-

gressman Chaka Fattah, ofPennsylvania’s Second Dis-trict, says that Democratshave a plan to put the econo-my on the path to recovery.“When I was first elected to

Congress, it was the middleof President Clinton’s firstterm in office,” Fattah saidvia e-mail. “Then, like now,we saw bold leadership froma President who was commit-ted to growing the economyand overseeing shared pros-

perity. Unfortunately, bothPresidents Clinton and Oba-ma were preceded by presi-dents who were less inclined.The current budget situation,created by two unpaid warsand reckless tax cuts, is seri-ous. My ultimate goals re-main the same, and just as webalanced the budget withPresident Clinton, I'm confi-dent that we will recover.”Fattah has two goals for im-

proving the national budgetand economy.“Number one, comprehen-

sive tax overhaul and reduc-tion of the national debt, per-haps built around the DebtFree America Act that I willbe reintroducing in the cur-rent Congress,” Fattah said.“Second, reauthorizing the El-ementary and Secondary Edu-

cation Act which ensures allchildren have access to theresources necessary to pre-pare them for college and ca-

reer.”Fattah is the highest-rank-

ing Democratic member ofthe Appropriations Subcom-mittee on Commerce, Justice,Science, and Related Agen-cies. This subcommittee is re-sponsible for appropriatingnearly $70 billion for theDepartments of Commerceand Justice, FBI, and NASAand other science agencies.“My primary concerns in

funding decisions are the safe-ty and security of the nationand its people, those invest-ments in the future economicfoundation of the countrywhich yield the highest re-turn on investment, and com-mitments to the most vulnera-ble in society, which is themoral test of government,” Fa-ttah said.To Fattah, the most prudent

investment in the nation’sgrowth and prosperity is theeducation of America’s youth.

As a leading advocate ofschool-funding equity, Fattahhelped to propose and ad-vance development of the Eq-uity and Excellence Commis-sion, tasked with collectingand analyzing data on inequi-table school-finance systemsand their effect on studentachievement.Utilizing public input, the

commission will make recom-mendations for restructuringschool-finance systems andideally increase educationalopportunity and student per-formance.“This commission has the

opportunity to address themost pernicious challenge fac-ing American education: theprovision of the least and low-est-quality resources to thosein the most need,” Fattahsaid. “We have brought to-gether a group of extraordi-nary individuals from acrossthe national field of education

and related disciplines whowill wrestle with difficultproblems and provide a pathforward to a more efficient,effective and fair system ofschool finance. Ultimately, itwill be incumbent upon elect-ed leaders to act on the rec-ommendations, but the com-mission’s report will providea shared vision and startingoff point.”“The only way this country

will see lasting growth, pros-perity, and economic vitalityis if our young people, all ofthem, are prepared to com-pete in the global economy,”he said. “Education is themost important investmentwe can make in securing theeconomic recovery.”The congressman’s advice

for young people who aremanaging the appropriationof their own funds? “Invest inthings that matter and thinklong-term.”

www.philly.com B F9THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRERSaturday, April 2, 2011

Sixers vs. Phillies

SOURCE: ESPN; photos by CLEM MURRAY (Igoudala) and YONG KIM (Utley)

MORGAN HARRIS / West Deptford High School

2010 2009 200814,224 15,802 14,870

(26th) (24th) (24th)

70.0% 79.7% 72.7%

(29th) (24th) (23d)

27-55 41-41 40-42

.329 .500 .488

2010 2009 2008

45,027 44,453 42,254

(2d) (3d) (5th)

103.5% 102.2% 97.1%

(1st) (1st) (4th)

97-65 93-69 92-70

.599 .574 .568

Average

attendance

Pct. of

seats sold

Record

AndreIgoudala

ChaseUtley

In the last three years, the Phillies and Sixers have respectivelydominated and faltered. Their attendance statistics prove theeffects of winning, even in a downtrodden economy.

Winning a great recession vaccineDespite the economy,the Phils attendancehas climbed. The 76ershave not been as lucky.

By Tim GilbertST JOSEPH’S PREPARATORY SCHOOL

Without a doubt, the eco-nomic recession has had animpact on professionalsports.Even in tough economic

times, rabid fans still find away to stretch their entertain-ment dollars and root fortheir home teams — unlesstheir home teams aren’t win-ning.The Phillies and 76ers have

had different experiences dur-ing the economic turmoil —reaping the benefits and ru-ing the consequences, respec-tively.Over the past three years,

the Phillies have averaged43,911 fans per game. They’veranked among the top fiveteams in baseball in both theamount of tickets and the per-centage of tickets sold ineach of the past three sea-sons and have sold over 10million tickets during thattime.While the Phils have won a

World Series, two NL pen-nants, four division titles, and371 games the past four sea-sons, the Sixers have strug-gled. In the three seasons be-fore this one, the Sixers havenot finished above .500 once,nor have they won a playoffseries.The results show at the tick-

et window. As a result, theyhave ranked no better than22d in the NBA in total atten-dance for the past four sea-sons, and they are currentlydead last in the percentage ofseats that are sold per game.The Phillies’ recent run of

success began in 2007, whenthey surged past the NewYork Mets in a late-seasonrun to win the NationalLeague East, making the play-offs for the first time since1993.“The Phillies are the best

team in the National League,”said Ron Reco, 73, a retiredprint broker who lives inChestnut Hill and has been aPhillies season-ticket holdersince 1995. “Their ticket isthe hottest item in baseballright now.”Adding to the allure of the

team is the fact that theyhave assembled, at least onpaper, one of the best startingrotations in baseball for 2011.Pitchers Roy Halladay, CliffLee, Roy Oswalt, and ColeHamels are worth the price ofadmission any day, in anypark.That’s one of the reasons

Reco, a St. Louis Cardinalsfan, keeps checking out thePhillies. In fact, Reco has alsofound a way to benefit fromhis passion for the game. Hepurchases season tickets be-cause of their resale valueeven in a tough economy. Hesaid he was able to sell twoWorld Series tickets in Sec-tion 131 of Citizens Bank Parkfor about $1,700 in 2008.“I’ll go to all of the Cardi-

nals-Phillies games, and afew others, because I lovebaseball,” he said, “but I’vestarted a personal businesswith selling the tickets. Theteam is so good that Philadel-phia will always come out tosee them, so I’ve been suc-cessful selling them.”Unfortunately, Philadelphia

hasn’t always been comingout to see the Phillies’ basket-ball brethren play. The 76ershaven’t been anywhere near

as successful as the Philliesin the past few years, andfans have stayed away fromthe Wells Fargo Center as aresult.Reco used to purchase Six-

ers season tickets, butstopped after their 2001 lossto the Los Angeles Lakers inthe NBA Finals.“I just knew the Sixers

wouldn’t be very competitivefrom that point on,” he said.In 2006, when the Sixers

traded Iverson, they lost agreat deal of star power thatthey have yet to regain, hurt-ing their overall brand.Anthony Iraci, 30, a teacher

from Roxborough and avidPhiladelphia sports fan, said:“I’d be going to more games ifthey had a big-name, fran-chise player. You really needthat in the NBA these days. Iwouldn’t call Elton Brand orJrue Holiday householdnames.”On StubHub.com, the cheap-

est Sixers ticket for theirMarch 1 game against the Dal-las Mavericks was $9 and themost expensive was $160.Meanwhile, the cheapest tick-et for the Phillies opening-day game against the Hous-ton Astros on April 1 is $69,and the most expensive is$315.Despite the economy’s

struggles, the Phillies are sopopular right now that theywere able to raise ticket pric-es for the 2010 season by anaverage of $2 to $5.“There are three reasons

why we have success sellingtickets,” said John Weber,the Phillies’ vice presidentof sales and ticket opera-tions. “First, the Philadel-phia fans are fantastic. Sec-ond, Citizens Bank Park isbeautiful, and it’s a placefans gravitate towards.Third, and I would say thishas the highest percentageof the three reasons, is theproduct of the team and itssustained success.”Though the Sixers have not

been as attractive, their fu-

ture isn’t grim. They've beenplaying very well since a 3-13start under first-year headcoach Doug Collins, andshould reach the playoffs. Asone of the youngest teams inthe NBA, they could becomea contender in the next cou-ple of years.Lara Price, the Sixers’ se-

nior vice president of busi-ness operations, is very opti-mistic about the Sixers’ fu-ture.“Our attendance continues

to grow,” she said in ane-mail. “We’ve turned itaround on the court prettyquickly. We have seen an in-crease in attendance, as wellas TV ratings.”Though the Sixers have

been competitive this year, itmay require NBA dominanceto bring out fans en masse inthis economy.“You can’t give [Sixers tick-

ets] away nowadays,” Recosaid.Even some diehard Phillies

fans are holding back, like Ira-ci. He used to be a Philliesseason-ticket holder who pur-chased game plans with threeother people, but because ofthe economic strain, he hadto stop.“This economy makes you

hold back on some thingsyou’d normally do,” Iracisaid. “The number one rea-son we had to stop buyingtickets was definitely money.”“Winning and offering val-

ue to the consumer is ulti-mately what determines theattendance,” Price said.

Phillies fortunes, support, and payroll on the riseSuccess has put fansin the seats and moneyin the team’s coffersand players’ pockets.

DAVID M WARREN / Staff PhotographerHardly a rare sight to behold: Sellouts at Citizens Bank Park have become commonplace in this era of Phillies excellence.Heading into the 2011 season, the team had sold out 123 straight regular-season games, and its payroll has escalated.

YONG KIM / Staff PhotographerThe Phillies starting rotation (from left) of Roy Halladay, Joe Blanton, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels will likely keep fanscoming to Citizens Bank Park in droves in 2011, just as they have ever since the Phils won the National League East in 2007.

STEVEN M. FALK / Staff PhotographerAfter the 76ers traded Allen Iverson in 2006, they saw theirattendance drop. Despite their winning record this season,the Sixers are last in the NBA in percentage of seats sold.

First Take Sports

By Kyle PhillippiAUDUBON HIGH SCHOOL

The Philadelphia Phillieshave managed to become anewfound powerhouse in Ma-jor League Baseball despitethe struggling economy.Because of their willing-

ness to acquire top-notchplayers, the Phillies payrollhas escalated to approximate-ly $164.6 million, second onlyto the historically big-spend-ing New York Yankees.The increasing payroll

would suggest that the Phil-lies are digging deep in theirpockets to allocate the fundsfor all of their contracted play-ers. But in truth, the organiza-tion is offsetting their heftypayroll by bringing in a boat-load of money from the fans.Between ticket sales, mer-

chandise, and other ameni-ties at Citizens Bank Park,the Phillies are claiming aking’s ransom — $239 millionin revenue, according toForbes.com.Ironically, even with ticket

prices rising and with unem-ployment at high levels, thefans continue to support theirteam.“You can’t stop living be-

cause of a recession,” saidShani Berler, a 24-year oldClarion graduate student.John Weber, the Phillies’

vice president of sales and

ticket operations, said the fansupport is unprecedented.“Our fan support continues tobe amazing, and the demandfor Phillies tickets is at an all-time high,” he said on thePhillies’ website.Because of the Phils’ rabid

following, a single-game tick-et, which averages around$59, is difficult to find. Withinhours of tickets going on saleFeb. 18, nearly 70,000 individ-ual tickets were sold. Withthe Phillies having sold out123 consecutive regular-sea-

son games heading into the2011 season, the struggle tofind tickets doesn’t appear tobe getting any easier.The reason for the shower-

ing of support toward the Phil-lies is quite simple — win-ning.

“The energy in CitizensBank Park is hard to describeunless you are there. I wasfortunate to be there in 2008when we won the World Se-ries, and every time I gothere it is just another won-derful experience,” Berler

said.That is in stark contract to

the previous decade. The1993 Phillies, who finishedwith 97 regular-season winsbut lost to the Toronto BlueJays in the World Series,were the only team in the ’90sto compile more than 78 wins.Since 2001, the Phillies havewon at least 80 games eachyear and have two World Se-ries appearances, which ex-plains the recent outburst offandom in Philadelphia.“For the last four years

they put out an excellent prod-uct, which makes it worth-while to invest money in tick-ets,” said Michael Tiedeken, aSouth Jersey teacher who in-vested in a 17-game plan forthe 2011 season.The team’s two biggest in-

vestments, Ryan Howard andRoy Halladay, will earn a com-bined $40 million in each ofthe next three seasons.Between being able to earn

a good sum of money and toplay in front of a fan-friendlycrowd at Citizens Bank Park,many players in the Philliesfarm system are eagerlyawaiting their chance tomake it to the majors.“When I see the Philly fans,

fire just strikes my eyes.These people are so devotedand incredible. Being up atCitizens Bank Park and play-ing in front of them would bea dream come true,” said Ty-son Gillies, a minor-leagueoutfielder in the Phils organi-zation. “The fans are so moti-vated to come to the gamesall the time and cheer theirteam on.”

F10 B www.philly.com THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Saturday, April 2, 2011

By Brenden PeddigreeUPPER MORELAND HIGH SCHOOL

The days of taking the fami-ly out to the old ball game ona beautiful Sunday afternoonare slowly giving way to thedays of being a couch potato— lounging in a reclinerwatching a sporting event ona 50-inch LED TV in the com-fort of your homebuilt studio.Today’s troubled economy

is upping the stakes in thebattle between sports-eventmarketers and cable provid-ers for eyeballs and the enter-tainment dollar.“We’re not only competing

for people’s time and money,but we’re trying to keep thefans in the stadium on gameday as opposed to watchingon TV,” said Steve LaCroix,vice president of sales andmarketing for the NFL’s Min-nesota Vikings in an inter-view with CNN.Sports cable packages are

taking the place of actuallybeing a face in the crowd atthe ballpark or arena.A world with every NFL

game every week on cable, oron satellite TV every sportingevent known to man, is para-dise for couch potatoes. Asports fan can pick andchoose what channels hewants and what he wants towatch to fit his interests.When asked about buying a

cable package as opposed toattending a game, football fanGarrett Baker says that it has“more to do with the price of[tickets].” And at $74.99 forthe average NFL ticket lastseason (a 3.9 percent in-creasefrom thepreviousyear), hehas a point.It is more

affordableto pay forsports oncable thanto attendwhat couldbe a $350outing for afamily of four. Still, sportsfranchises say they’re tryingto give fans the best experi-ence they possibly can sofans will continue to attendgames.“These fans need to feel as

though they’re having a greattime and they’re getting valuefor their money. If they’reable to do that, they will justi-fy continuing to spend on theNFL, because every gamematters. They want to be partof the continuity of the NFLseason,” David Carter, execu-tive director of the Universityof Southern California SportsBusiness Institute, told CNN.As NFL ticket sales de-

clined by an estimated 2 per-cent in 2010, down to the low-est level since 1998, Comcastsaw a 6.9 percent increase incable revenue. Comcast’s Digi-tal Premier Package includesNFL RedZone, which letsviewers see every touchdownaround the league for $84.99per month for 12 months,along with the rest of thesports-entertainment pack-age and basic cable.Compared with $75 per

game, four games per month,NFL RedZone is a bargain forfans willing to to sit at homeand get the experience in-stead of attending the game.Cable companies are intro-

ducing new technologies suchas 3D sports and high defini-tion channels to get sports en-thusiasts to watch games athome. Comcast now offers apackage called XfinityTV On-line, which offers over150,000 video choices, includ-ing sports and other premiumchannels on computers at noextra charge.“At $2 a day,” said Comcast

spokesman Jeff Alexander“cable is roughly the price ofa cup of coffee and signifi-cantly less expensive than tak-ing a family to the movies ora sporting event.”

Shrinking budgets mean activity fees, fund-raisersSome Pennsylvaniaschool districts nowcharge to keep theirsports programs going.

By David DiPasqua Jr.MARPLE NEWTOWN HIGH SCHOOL

As Pennsylvania school dis-tricts grapple with shrinkingbudgets, administrators in-creasingly are imposing feeson students to pay for activi-ties such as sports equipmentor other extra-circular needs.“The activity fee is a sign of

the economy. I wouldn’t besurprised if that percentageof schools with activity feeskeeps growing,” said Ray Mc-Fall, principal of Marple New-town High School in Dela-ware County.According to the Pennsylva-

nia School Boards Associa-tion website, out of 167 publicschool respondents, 13 per-cent were charging studentsfees ranging between $5 and$50 for the opportunity to par-ticipate in interscholasticsports.Marple Newtown began

charging students in the be-ginning of 2009. The fee estab-lished was $75 per child or amaximum of $150 per family.This fee covers every activitythat student may participatein for that year.The budget is the main in-

gredient that makes every-thing work. Without maintain-ing the budget, activities maybe lost. For Marple Newtown,the price was intramural pro-grams in both the middle and

high schools, McFall said.A key question concerning

the activity fee is where doesthe money go?“The activity fee is money

that goes back into the gener-al funding. … It helps to stopeliminating teams,” athleticdirector Dennis Reardonsaid.“Sports are a part of the

high school experience, butwe are forced to make sometough decisions because of

the economy,” McFall added.If a student has a hardship

regarding the activity fee,that student may fill out anapplication to waive the fee.That application is then re-viewed by the superintendentand a decision to waive thefee or not will be made.So far, parochial schools

aren’t feeling the moneypinch, according to Archbish-op Carroll athletic directorFran Murphy. “The school

provides all the funding forthe sports. The economyhasn’t really affected us.”Due to cuts in the budget,

many boosters are coming upwith ideas to raise money fortheir teams.The Marple Newtown girls’

basketball team sponsoredfund-raisers, such as carwashes as well as selling ads,earning enough money toplay in a tournament in Flori-da.

In addition to fund-raisers,money comes from numeroussources.“We receive funding from

private sources within thecommunity and the schoolboard helps us with fundingby prioritizing our needs,”Reardon, the athletic direc-tor, said.“The Central League wants

three referees per game in-stead of two. The issue is pay-ing for that third official.With the economy right now,it doesn’t look like it’s goingto change any time soon,”boys’ basketball coach JerryDoemling Jr. said.A third official brings need-

ed benefits to the game, in-cluding protecting the play-ers. Having six eyes on thecourt is better than four. Hav-ing an additional referee in acritical game may help withcalls vital in the outcome ofthe game.“The economy definitely af-

fects the off-season programwe have. We don’t want tocharge players too much forspring and summer leagues.It’s hard to find sponsors tocover the off-season,” Doem-ling said.Teams are looking for ways

to cut down on participationin offseason leagues meanadded costs.“We have to be more care-

ful budgeting and have cheap-er camps and leagues. Theweekend camp at St. Joseph’sUniversity is $575 just for aweekend camp. Many othercamps around range from$200 to $300,” Doemling said.

YONG KIM / Staff PhotographerEagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson in action, a scene Charles Kellogg, a Birds season-ticket holder since 1992, hopesto see in the fall of 2011. Even on the verge of being unemployed, Kellogg refused to give up his season tickets.

DAVID DiPASQUA JR. / First Take StaffMarple Newtown charges an activity fee of $75 per child or a maximum of $150 per family.

Tradingbleacherseats forreclinersSports cable packagesare taking the place ofbeing a face in thecrowd at the ballpark.

As NFLticketsalesdeclined,Comcastsaw anincrease inrevenue.

By Tyler FranceschiniHADDON HEIGHTS HIGH SCHOOL

Picture this: The aroma of turkey,stuffing, potatoes, and corn fills theroom as a family sits down for theirThanksgiving meal.Everyone is dressed in their Sun-

day best, excited to enjoy each other’scompany for, arguably, the best holi-day of the year. They pull in theirchairs, bow their heads to say grace,and commence their delicious home-cooked meal. Then the father grabsthe television remote to turn on … anOprah re-run?Imagine a Thanksgiving Day with-

out NFL football, due to the currentlockout.Imagine an Eagles fan without his

season ticket.Imagine Charles Kellogg, an Eagles

season-ticket holder since 1992, with-out his season ticket.Like most, the recession hit

Kellogg. As a data analyst for IHSGlobal Insight, jobs became scarce.“I used to have 12 people on my

floor, now there are three,” saidKellogg of his workplace. Thirteendata analysts were let go, and Kelloggwas told that he was going to be letgo. The company has outsourced jobsto India due to the struggling econo-my, one of many companies to do so.Kellogg left his job at Haddon

Heights High School as a volunteersoccer coach to become a paid coachat nearby Paul VI High School.“I took up coaching, so I could re-

ceive money,” Kellogg said. “I had toleave my job at [Haddon] Heights, soI could get paid.”Among the most drastic changes in

his life was his change of residency.“I’m living with my mother,”

Kellogg said. This move into his moth-er’s home was in preparation for a jobloss which never occurred.How passionate of an Eagles fan is

Kellogg? When asked if he ever con-templated giving up the tickets whenhen thought he was going to lose hisjob, he said: “I thought about it, but Iknew I was pretty good with the tick-ets.”Even on the verge of being unem-

ployed, Kellogg refused to give up hisseason tickets to the Eagles.Not only will Eagles fans boo Santa

Claus, throw snow balls at opposingcoaches, and bleed green — they willmove in with their mother to keeptheir season tickets.Of the 25 season-ticket holders in

Kellogg’s group, four have droppedout in the last year. The economicdecline has caused people to stopspending money on luxuries in orderto pay bills, which is the case withKellogg’s group of Eagles season-tick-et holders.It appears almost sacrilegious, but,

unfortunately, more season-ticketholders could give up their plans ifthe players and owners cannot settleon a new collective-bargaining agree-ment.“I expect it to be done by the [day

of the NFL] draft,” Kellogg said of anagreement.

With a lockout in place, the NFLdispute has now entered the legal are-na, where it could take weeks or evenmonths before any type of ruling.On one side is the National Football

League Players Association (NFLPA).On the other side are the NationalFootball League owners.Within the current deal, the owners

receive $1 billion off the top of $9billion that the National FootballLeague makes in gross revenue,which is primarily from televisioncontracts. Then, the NFLPA is given60 percent of the remaining estimat-ed $8 billion, leaving the other 40 per-cent for the owners to divvy up.One of the newest aspects of the

labor dispute was the addition ofGeorge Cohen as a mediator betweenthe two sides. Cohen is the director ofFederal Mediation and Conciliationand has decades of experience. Al-though the players and owners havetaken a big step in deciding to get amediator, not having football duringthe fall is certainly an option.The NFL’s gross revenue is an esti-

mated $9 billion. Another statisticthat is around 9 — the unemploymentrate. As the unemployment rate hov-ers around that percentage, the NFLremains one of the most successfulenterprises in American history.Is the NFL being greedy or is it

simply a successful company that isthriving in a capitalistic country?

When asked whether or not thetalks between both sides has affectedhis opinion of the NFL, Kellogg said:“Not personally, it is what it is: Abunch of rich guys trying to get rich-er.”In an economy where everything is

slowly working its way back to nor-mal, the National Football League con-tinues to increase at a rapid rate atthe same time the rest of country, likeKellogg, is treading to stay above wa-ter.Then again, that may be a reason

for the NFL to negotiate quickly, sofootball can be a definite entity for2011, giving people a reason to keeptreading — and keep their season tick-ets.

A fan through thick, thinDespite economy, labor strife, Eagles die-hard won’t part with tickets.

First Take Sportswww.philly.com B F11THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRERSaturday, April 2, 2011

By Phil BergmanSTRATH HAVEN HIGH SCHOOL

Last year, motorists whotravel the Commodore BarryBridge were treated to thesight of a new landmarkspringing up on the banks ofthe Delaware River in Ches-ter: PPL Park, the new18,000-seat stadium that ishome to the Union, an expan-sion team of Major LeagueSoccer.City and regional officials

said the new stadium wouldusher in a new day for Ches-ter. The stadium was seen asa possible catalyst for eco-nomic growth in a city deepin the thralls of a saggingeconomy.In their second full season,

the Union, coached by PeterNowak and led by star strikerSebastien Le Toux, are a hitwith fans, selling out most oftheir home games. They went8-15-7 in their inaugural sea-son and are expected to con-tend for one of 10 playoffberths in the 18-team MLS.But, more important, the

team’s presence, along withthat of a new casino, appearsto be helping lift Chester outof the economic doldrums.“There’s no question that

the overall impact has beenvery positive,” said David Sci-occhetti, executive director ofthe Chester Economic Devel-opment Authority. “Chesterhas been successful in demon-strating that the city has thecapability of being an event[and tourist] destination forpeople from all over the Phila-delphia region.”In a new project called the

Waterfront DevelopmentProject, the once boomingcity of Chester is hoping torevitalize itself by developingthe 90-acre area of land thatwas once owned by Peco(now Exelon Corporation).Included in the Chester wa-

terfront area is Harrah’s Ches-ter, a casino and racetrack lo-cated only sevenminutes awayfrom PPL Park.With between 3and 4 million visi-tors a year, andlegislation thatsets aside a cer-tain amount of itsprofits for thecity, Harrah’sbrings more mon-ey to the munici-pal coffers thanthe Union.Chester needs all the eco-

nomic help it can get.According to the 2006

American Community Sur-vey from the United StatesCensus Bureau, 15.6 percentof Chester residents are un-employed and only 53.4 per-cent of residents are in thelabor force, compared to63.0 percent in the entirestate of Pennsylvania. Themedian household income ofChester is $24,978, com-pared to the state average of$49,737, and 36.1 percent ofall residents incomes are be-low the poverty level, whileonly 12.1 percent are belowthe poverty line in the restof the state.Sciocchetti is hoping that

the waterfront area will be-come a tourist attraction forthose outside of the Philadel-phia region, as well. “If you’rea New York Red Bulls fan,you could go the Harrah’s Fri-day night, go to the game Sat-urday, spend some [more]time at Harrah’s, and head

back on Sunday to NewYork.”In its inaugural season, the

Union averaged 19,254 fansper game, including the tworegular season games at Lin-coln Financial Field. This av-erage attendance is over5,000 more than the 76ers areaveraging this season, andjust 400 less than the Flyers,at the 19,537-seat Wells FargoCenter. Both the Wells FargoCenter and PPL Park are simi-lar in capacity.The Union sold out three

games last season, and soldout all of 12,000 the seasontickets. With ticket prices aslow as $25, the team is expect-ing the turnout to be evengreater in 2011.With all of these fans com-

ing to the game, local church-es have been benefiting fromthe Union’s presence, open-ing up their lots for parking.One of these churches, the

Cavalry Baptist Church,famed as the Rev. Dr. MartinLuther King Jr.’s first church,is on Second Street, just ashort walk away from the sta-dium.

Calvary Bap-tist’s current pas-tor, the Rev. Ba-yard S. Taylor Jr.,says the churchprovides “park-ing for those whoare going to thegame and cannotseem to find park-ing, at a [cheap-er] price thanPPL Park.F o r m o s t

games, the church fills up atleast half of their lot, and forsome games they sell outtheir entire lot. The churchdonates the money it makesfrom the lot to charities andother organizations in Ches-ter.On game day, there are

around 600 positions avail-able from the companies thathelp run PPL Park; GlobalSpectrum, Central Parking,Ovations Food Services, Con-temporary Services Corp.(CSC), Crozer-KeystoneHealth System, and APEX Se-curity. Aimee Cicero, theUnion’s communications man-ager, said that the team isworking hard to employ asmany Chester residents aspossible.Of the 292 Global Spectrum

employees, 166 live in Ches-ter, while 95 of the 300 Ova-tions Food Service employeeslive in in the city. The Unionalso have a non-for-profit pro-gram in which people can runtheir own vending booths inthe stadium plaza, and keep

the profits.Of the four vendors, one is

from Chester, and PPL Parkcurrently also has at least twofull-time employees from thecity. Chester also benefits eco-nomically from the stadiumworkers. Every employee ofPPL Park pays an earned-in-come tax to the city, and thisearned-income tax is the high-est grossing revenue streamfrom the Union to Chester.As the Union have helped

the city with jobs, they havehelped out the community atlarge as well. In September2009, the Union lent theirvice president of soccer devel-opment, Rob Smith Jr., to theChester Upland School Dis-trict, with the intent of bring-ing the game back to the mid-dle school and high school lev-els at no cost to the district.Before Smith arrived, Ches-

ter High was the only PIAAAAAA high school without asoccer team. Smith believesthat bringing soccer back tothe community has been asuccess so far.“Soccer gives the youths a

fun activity to do in a safeenvironment once the schoolday is over,” Smith said. Be-sides helping out the ChesterUpland School District,Smith and the Union havebeen supportive in creatingChester City United, an intra-mural and travel soccer pro-gram for the young people ofChester.In September 2010, with the

help of current Chivas USAforward and former Unionplayer, Alejandro Moreno,Chester City United wasawarded the $50,000 Pepsi Re-fresh Grant, a grant that willhelp create a full-sized natu-ral grass soccer field in Ches-ter. Although there are manylegislative steps that need totake place before the fieldwill be built in Chester, Smithbelieves that, once built, thefield will greatly benefit thelocal community.Through all of their efforts,

from creating jobs to bringingpublicity to the city to build-ing a place for children toplay, the Union have done agreat job at trying to revital-ize the economy of Chester,according to Sciocchetti.“The fact that we have be-

tween 15,000 to 18,000 peopledown at the waterfront is goodmarketing for the city, and itwill pay great dividends overtime,” he said. “If you’vewatched one of the games onTV when the game is in Ches-ter, they start the game by say-ing, ‘Welcome to the beautifulwaterfront here in the city ofChester.’ ”

Family to Family helpsparishioners in needJoanne Montie, herselfa beneficiary of theprogram, is giving backto her community.

By Belinda Abdus-SamadTRUEBRIGHT SCIENCE ACADEMY

CHARTER SCHOOL

The adverse effect of adown economy has now hityour pew at your house ofworship. In these tough eco-nomic times, churches,mosques, and synagogues,like many corporations andorganizations, face a conun-drum: These places of wor-ship are being called on morethan ever to help those inneed, yet they are receivingless from supporters.Churches have always been

pillars in the community andas such see it as their divineduty to meet the spiritual andhuman needs of the faithful.With unemployment around 9percent, unemployed worship-ers are unable to give asmuch as they did during goodeconomic times.Churches and parishioners

alike are feeling the pinch.“My family is giving less, Ihave three hungry little chil-dren and a car payment tomeet,” said parishionerDaphne Baker. “People aretithing less, they’re not cut-ting programs, just fundingless, and the musicians whoonce got paid aren’t any-more.”“Most Catholic parishes,

like other faith-based organi-zations, are reluctant to layoff workers,” said Villanovaeconomics professor CharlesZech. “They cope by not re-placing parish staff who haveleft, asking workers to take

furloughs — which are in ef-fect unpaid vacations — orwork fewer hours per week,and cutting back on other ex-penses. There aren’t many ad-ditional revenue-raising op-tions available to them.”According to a recent study

by the Barna ResearchGroup, which studies issuesaffecting churches and con-gregations, most churches in-dicated that their financial re-sources were negatively af-fected by the economy, result-ing in a moderate decline inthose congregations.The study found that the

number of churchgoers whohad cut back on their givingjumped from 20 percent to 29percent in about a three-month period. The number ofadults who reduced giving tononprofits in general jumpedfrom 31 percent to 48 percentin that same time period.“Catholic churches, as all

churches, have been impact-ed in two ways. The most ob-vious one is through parishio-ner giving. When there is arecession and parishioners ei-ther see their pay cut or losetheir jobs altogether, they nat-urally need to rethink theircontributions,” Zech said.“Along with that, the reces-

sion has caused the stock mar-ket to go down, so parish reve-nues from investment havedecreased. Fortunately, fewparishes rely heavily on in-vestment income, so thishasn’t been as severe.”De-spite the economic struggles,

some churchgoers still feel ob-ligated to give a portion oftheir earnings as taught intheir religion, whether it bethe full 10 percent or less.“I’m giving the same, it’s im-

portant to give your 10 per-cent no matter the economy,”said Lurena Jackson of Gatesof Heaven PentecostalChurch.Muslims also give obligato-

ry Zakat, which is similar tothe tithe. “I’m giving just asmuch, as Muslims we are re-sponsible to give 2.5 percent,”said Khalil Brown of the Is-lamic Family center in EastOak Lane.“You can tell it [the econo-

my] affects the people be-cause the people are strug-gling,” Brown said. ”You haveto do things to get thingsdone. People are makingmore sacrifices to meet themoney needs, we sell dinnersand cakes on Friday, thereare also different projects formaintenance that we ask formoney.”With the fall of the econo-

my the demand for need hasgone up.“Our food bank ministry is

working harder with regardto providing for needy fami-lies,” said Carrie Hawkins ofNorth Baptist Church FoodBank Ministry.In tough economic times,

parishioners and houses ofworship alike lean on eachother even more. They saythis is not the time give up oneach other.

Tough economy hitshouses of worship

By Joseph PhelanMONSIGNOR BONNER HIGH SCHOOL

Joanne Montie says she isnot the kind of person whoasks for help.When a friend told her that

the congregation at St. Dor-othy’s Roman CatholicChurch in Drexel Hill wouldpray for her before surgery,she realized it gave her thesupport and comfort sheneeded to get through a try-ing time.Years after the surgery, a

simple phone call changedher life. Now Montie is givingthe support and comfort toothers in the parish facingsimilar circumstances.Montie is the head of the

Family to Family ministry inwhich she touches lives inher community during tougheconomic times through hergiving and generosity.On the other end of the line

during a recent phone callwas Rev. Michael D. Murphy,the pastor of St. Dorothy’s,who asked for Montie’s servic-es in assisting a family deal-ing with a crisis.Montie was to provide

meals for the family in need.“When the economy took aplunge, the ministry grew,”

Montie said. “The mission isto support families in timesof serious illness or crisis,providing both practical andspiritual support.”She said Family to Family

helps to buy groceries, giftsaround Christmas and Easter,and also gifts cards to fami-lies who have been goingthrough tough times.Each Christmas and Easter,

in the back of the church, onecan find Christmas trees orEaster baskets. The Christ-mas trees have paper with aChristmas gift idea, and theEaster baskets hold Eastereggs, which have a gift cardidea for a local restaurant orstore.The parishioners then take

an ornament or an egg, go outand purchase the items, andreturn it to the church.Along with the Christmas

“giving tree” and the Easteregg donations, the Family toFamily ministry benefitsfrom private donations, acharity account at the church,and an annual beef and beer,which took place on Feb. 26.The spiritual support, the

most important part of theprogram, consists of the rosa-ry being said with the inten-tions of all those afflicted byfinancial burdens, death inthe family, or a serious crisis.Prayer is the essential idea ofthe Catholic Church, and alsoof the program Montie helpedto establish.

Montie is amazed by howmuch the program hasgrown, and about howblessed she feels to be a partof it.“I feel blessed to be a part

of St. Dorothy’s, and to haveFather Murphy be so in tunewith his people he is called toshepherd,” Montie said.“He is so compassionate to

the people’s needs. No matterif they attend mass or not, heis willing to help out anyonein need,” she said.“This goes to show how

wonderful a guy Father Mur-phy is. He is able to place theneeds of others in front of hisown, and he is also in non-judgmental with whomeverhe is helping,” Montie added.Montie, a mother of three

and an active member of thechurch, said the generosity ofparishioners is simply aston-ishing.“People give back to this

ministry after the ministryhad helped them get back ontheir feet,” she pointed out.Montie realizes the impor-

tance of Family to Family,and she’s happy to see howthe ministry has transformedlives.The recession has affected

the lives of St. Dorothy’s pa-rishioners.Some lost their jobs, some

their homes and in general,many more lives in the Town-ship Line parish were altered.But in the words of Montie:

“Hey, you’re not alone, theparish is with you.”

BELINDA ABDUS-SAMAD / First Take StaffUnemployed worshipers are unable to give as much as they did during good economic times.

First Take Sports First Take Religion

Chester scores, economically, with new soccer team.

Union provide a boostas city stages comeback

RON CORTES / Staff PhotographerPPL Park, home of Major League Soccer’s Union, has added to the scenery and rebirth of Chester.

YONG KIM / Staff PhotographerThe Union’s fans have turned out to support the MLS team. Thestadium and a new casino have provided immediate benefits.

The Union andtheir spankingnew park

appear to belifting Chesterout of theeconomicdoldrums.

F12 B www.philly.com THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Saturday, April 2, 2011

By Alexandra IacovettiMETHACTON HIGH SCHOOL

Historically, economic re-cessions such as the Great De-pression, the Oil Crisis of the1970s, and our current reces-sion were brought on bymany factors, but all servedas a much-needed realitycheck on the American needto overindulge.One of the main causes of

the Great Depression was fac-tory overproduc-tion. The high de-mand for cars

and entertainment outletssuch as radios and moviescreated a “great glut” out ofAmerican industry. More de-mand led to more innovation,and soon enough, more costand time effective labor-sav-ing machines replaced Ameri-can workers, and increasedunemployment.The seemingly steady rise

in stock prices during Her-bert Hoover’s presidencycrashed abruptly on Oct. 27,1929.The British, who had raised

interest rates in hopes ofbringing back investmentsthat had traveled overseas inorder to reap in the benefitsof industrious America, con-tributed to the crash on BlackTuesday.The increase in rates is-

sued uncertainty in the mar-ket, thus creating a mad inter-national and domestic16,410,030 stock selling spree.Under President Hoover,

situations did not improve.More than five thousandbanks went under during thefirst three years of the De-pression. Eleven millionAmericans were unemployedat the end of his presidency.Harlem was hit especiallyhard with 50 percent of itsinhabitants unemployed. Sui-cide rates increased from 14to 17 in 100,000.With the inauguration of

Franklin D. Roosevelt and hisNew Deal plan, a new hopeignited the masses. His liberalideas that focused relief, re-covery, and reform helped tocreate the Works Progress Ad-ministration that put millionsof Americans back to work. So-cial Security also started as aresult of the Depression.Through the efforts of FDR

and his successor, the depres-sion ended in 1939. Some pro-grams instituted because ofthe New Deal are still in usetoday, such as the Federal De-posit Insurance Corp., theFederal Housing Administra-tion, and the Securities andExchange Commission.

The 1970s oil crisisUnlike the Great Depres-

sion that was caused by ex-cess American goods, the oilcrisis of the 1970s was due tothe United States’ huge depen-dence on foreign oil.The OPEC oil embargo on

Israel and any of its support-ing countries during the YomKippur War created a hugefuel shortage in the United

States. That, along with theincrease in deficit spendingfor the Vietnam War, contrib-uted to the stock marketcrash of 1973.The oil crisis and the reces-

sion of the 1970s forced theUnited States to start using

fuel more conscientiouslyand thinking about alterna-tive energies.Many large companies start-

ed to use coal again, whilelocal gas stations willinglyclosed on Sundays. At home,many Americans became

more conservative with fuelusage by lowering thermostattemperatures. These efforts,along with federally issuedspeed limits, helped to de-crease the total U.S. fuel con-sumption by 20 percent.The federal government

also gave tax incentives toanyone who made advance-ments in alternative energysources or to anyone whoused alternative energy.After the Corporate Average

Fuel Economy level was raisedto 27.5 miles per gallon, manyAmericans started to buy theircars from Japan. U.S. automo-tive companies had to changetheir products in order to com-ply with the new standardsand compete with foreign carmanufacturers.Some changes spurred by

the oil crisis and recessionwere Daylight Saving Time,which initially began in orderto save on electricity, speedlimits, fuel economy stickers,more efficient appliances,and electric heat that re-placed oil heat.President Richard Nixon

also started the Strategic Pe-troleum Reserve as a safe-guard against oil shortages inthe future. Currently, the SPRcan contain up to 727 millionbarrels of oil, which providesroughly 35 days of oil basedoff of the U.S. daily consump-tion level of around 21 barrelsa day. The Department of En-ergy, created under the Cart-er administration, maintainsthe SPR.

The housing bubbleThe most recent recession

was mostly caused by thesubprime mortgage crisis inthe U.S. that led to the col-lapse of mortgage-backed se-curity and then the near-bank-ruptcy of many major corpo-rations in late 2007.Following home real estate

prices that reached theirpeak in 2006, many homeown-ers who had borrowed frommortgage-backed securitycompanies and bought homeswith adjustable-rate mortgag-es found that they could not

pay their mortgages. Homeforeclosures hurt mortgage-backed security, which inturn resulted in huge lossesfor domestic and foreign in-vestors in the mortgage-backed security pool.What resulted was the

worst economic crisis sincethe Great Depression: majorbusinesses collapsed, banksand corporations were bailedout by the national govern-ment, stock prices plummet-ed, credit froze, millions ofjobs lost, and spending de-creased.During 2008 and 2009, the

federal government underthe Obama administration im-plemented two stimulus pack-ages that collectively totaledalmost $1 trillion dollars.To improve credit, over $2.5

trillion of national govern-ment and private debt waspurchased by central banksaround the world, which be-came the largest monetarypolicy motive in history.Some worry that banks that

used money in foreign invest-ments may create currency is-sues with other countries inthe future.Although experts believe

the recession ended in 2009,recovery is a slow processand solutions are still in theirearly stages in Congress. Forthe future, the main objec-tives are increasing FederalReserve authority in order todeal with similar situations inthe future; reforming capitolrequirements; institutingmore regulation on financialinstitutions like investmentbanks, monetary marketfunds, and hedge funds; plac-ing more regulation on deriva-tives; and dealing with con-sumer protection.History continues to repeat

itself, as proven by the reoc-curring results of Americanswanting too much and orspending too much. However,the recession of 2007, the oilcrisis and recession of the1970s, and the Great Depres-sion have been wake-up callsto our greed and overindul-gence.

Associated Press, file photographIn 1973, Leon Mill spray painted a sign outside his gas station inPerkasie, Pa., to let customers know he was out of fuel.

Analysis

current 8.9 percent.Patients were less likely to

be able to pay for medicaltreatment, some even choos-ing to go without since theyhad no money. Oestreich hadseen a drawer full of unpaidbills in her father’s desk, buthe never went after peoplefor money; he instead, “tookwhat he got.”In 1930, nearly 2.25 million

children worked to help sup-port their families, and MarieOestreich’s brothers also hadto play a part to keep theirhousehold above water.Her brother Bernard

played piano for silent films,his earnings went immediate-ly into the family fund. Otherbrothers went hunting, some-times for fun, but also to pro-vide meat for meals. Theystarted with rabbit huntingand later moved on to water-fowl and pheasants.After the market crashed,

according to Oestreich, “sud-denly, there was no spendingmoney.” They bought very lit-tle, only buying things thatwould have long-term use.Her clothes were not new, butresized from her mother’s oldclothes. Instead, Oestreichsays, “We did a lot of window-shopping.”As students of a Catholic

school, Oestreich and herpeers had to wear uniforms,which made it difficult to tellif one person was in a worsefinancial situation than anoth-er. “I remember at least fourof [my brother Richard’s]friends had to leave to attendless expensive high schools,”Oestreich recollects.She can also remember a

friend of hers who marriedright out of high school. Shecould not afford anything butthe essentials. “I visited andwas appalled at the living con-ditions,” Oestreich says,“bare walls, the kids had notoys.”Marie Oestreich is a small

woman who loves telling sto-ries about her family and herdogs, Butch and Fritz.Her house, in Northeast

Philadelphia, holds a multi-tude of knickknacks andseemingly random items — ahabit acquired by living

through the Great Depres-sion. Antique furniture cov-ered with blankets is inter-mingled with memorabilia ac-cumulated from her family.Displayed proudly on a wall

in her kitchen is her father’smedical school diploma.Oestreich likes holding ontoitems to get their full use outof them, rather than wastingthem by throwing them away.

Although her family did notsuffer in the way that mostdid during the Great Depres-sion, the result was the same.Even after the Depressionwas over, Marie Oestreichand her family continuedtheir penny-pinching habits.Oestreich says, “I still try tonot buy anything unnecessari-ly. I still save whenever Ican.”

DEPRESSION from F1

Courtesy of Marie OestreichMarie Oestreich poses in her brother’s military hat and uniformcoat during World War II. She still lives in Northeast Phila.

The Oestreich family (Marie is third from the right) in a family portrait taken in front of the familyhome in North Philadelphia. Marie, now 95, is one of seven children.

The Oestreich familyhome, in an undatedphotograph. Duringthe Great Depression,her father, a doctor,treated patients forwhatever they couldpay. She and hersiblings found jobs,and sometimes livedby hunting game.

A lifetime of lessons learned in Great Depression

First Take Economy

U.S. has risen from economic ashes beforeAmericans have pulledthrough tough times,but what lessons havewe learned as a result?

Associated Press, file photographThe unemployed line up in sub-zero weather at a city relief kitchen set up in New York on Jan. 30,1934, during the Great Depression. Eleven million Americans were unemployed at one point.

www.philly.com B F13THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRERSaturday, April 2, 2011

C. Luke HarringtonMy name is Luke Har-

rington, I am 17 years old,and I am currently a junior atStrath Haven High School inWallingford, Pa.I applied to the Acel Moore

Program as a way to improvemy writing skills, and learnfrom experienced reportersat The Inquirer. I have haddecent exposure to multime-dia journalism (video/audio)through programs at WHYY,but not much newswriting ex-perience.

Morgan HarrisI am an 18-year-old senior at

West Deptford High School. Inmy spare time, as little as it is, Ienjoy relaxing with episodes ofFriends or Dawson’s Creek, orspending time with my familyand friends.As a three-season athlete

with a job, and grades to worryabout, it’s hard to find time todo the things I love. But, one ofmy best attributes is my abilityto manage time efficiently. I aminvolved in my school’s DECAchapter, a member of the Na-tional Honor Society, and a tele-vised morning announcer.This year, I had the privilege

of being Senior Section Editorof our yearbook, and represent-ing my school on the homecom-ing court. My interest in com-munications varies among writ-ing, broadcast journalism, andgraphic design.Thanks tomy lacrosse scholar-

ship, I will be walking the Kutz-town University campus in thefall, laptop in hand, as an Elec-tronic Media major with a hopeto minor in Graphic Design.

Tori HyndmanI’m Tori, 18, and a senior at

Neshaminy High School inLanghorne, Pa. There, I spendthe majority of my time writingand editing articles not only formy school’s newspaper, thePlaywickian, but also for theBucks County Courier Times.When I am not busy with

the newspaper or buried un-der piles of AP work, I enjoyspending time with friendsand family, napping, dancingto Lady Gaga songs, andwatching awful reality TVabout cake or modeling.In this workshop, I am excit-

ed to learn first-hand what ittakes to be a journalist and test-ing my writing and editingskills. Through this experience,I hope to come out with a betteridea of what career path I wantto pursue in my undergraduatestudies.For now, I am looking to re-

fine my writing skills and gainknowledge that will help meleadmy school newspaper as ed-itor-in-chief.

Alexandra IacovettiI am a senior at Methacton

High School. My interest injournalism began after I joinedmy school newspaper, theWindy Hill, and it has grownsteadily ever since. It’s not un-common to find me at schoolas late as 8:30 p.m. working onthe latest issue rather than go-ing home and studying for myAP Statistics tests.Working on my school pa-

per has exposed me to somany types of people, inter-ests and topics, and as senioreditor, I also have delved intovarious aspects of the newspa-per business: writing, layout,copy editing, video filmingand web promotion.What I love most about re-

porting is the idea thatchange is constant, which is abit of a paradox, but cominginto work knowing that therewill always be something newto uncover is so exciting tome, and I hope I never losethat excitement for anythingthat I love.

Eric JackmanMy name is Eric Jackman

and I am currently a senior atSt. Joseph’s Prep. I’m 18years old and I live in WestPhiladelphia.I like playing sports and

hanging out with family andfriends whenever I get thechance. I play rugby for myschool and hope to continueplaying in college. When I goto college, I plan to studybroadcast journalism, with aminor in either education orpsychology.I was drawn to journalism

because it is an outlet thatyou can report what is goingon in the world while addingyour own style and flair. Thisgives you the chance to helpshape public opinion on theimportant issues of the day.

Belinda Abdus-SamadI am a senior at Truebright

Science Academy CharterSchool in North Philadelphia.I will be attending Penn StateAbington in the fall and tak-ing up a major in corporatecommunications. I’ve alwayshad interests in writing, draw-ing, and photography and al-ways take opportunities to en-hance my skills.I love to travel and when I

was a freshman in highschool, I was given the oppor-tunity to travel abroad to Eu-rope and visit Germany, Bel-gium, the Netherlands, andFrance. I will be traveling tothe Bahamas this summer. Iam very interested in differ-ent cultures, I am currentlylearning to speak and read Ar-abic, and I am an avid stu-dent of Chinese and Japaneseculture. My ultimate dream isto travel to Japan.

Chelsea BurnsI’m 17 years old. I live in

New Jersey. I love to sing,dance, hang out with friendsand I love talking on thephone with my nephew,Noah. My family is importantto me. I love being part of theAcel Moore Program. It hastaught me a lot and the peo-ple here are great. Ever sinceI was 5 years old, I wanted tobecome a journalist and par-ticipating in this program istaking me one step forward toachieving my dreams.

Meghan CoyleI am 17 years old and a jun-

ior at Triton Regional HighSchool. Writing has been amajor part of my life since Iwas in elementary school,and I have always wanted topursue a career in journal-ism.I was given the opportunity

to take a journalism class inschool this year, and itopened my eyes to the worldof writing. I love to travel,which first sparked my inter-est in journalism.The Acel Moore program

has helped me learn a lotabout the field of journalism,and will be the first milestonein what I hope will be a suc-cessful career in writing.

Ana GuentherI am an 18-year-old senior

at Sun Valley High School. Af-ter graduation, I hope to at-tend either Shippensburg Uni-versity or Temple for journal-ism and media studies.For all three of my complet-

ed years, I have run for theSun Valley tack team andhave also played UltimateFrisbee. In my free time, Ilove to watch the Flyers andfollow other teams aroundthe NHL as well. Outside ofschool, I have worked at Ri-ta’s Water Ice in Aston fortwo seasons now and plan oncontinuing with a third. Aftergraduating from college, Iwould love to move to NewYork, and, hopefully take ajob in fashion to write forVogue or Harper’s Bazaar.

Aaya KingsburyI have always been interest-

ed in writing. When I startedin high school, I immediatelysought out organizationswhere I could explore writ-ing. I am now in my thirdyear on the staff of the schoolnewspaper, the Centralizer. Inaddition to writing for the pa-per, I have been a staff editorfor two years. For the last twoyears I have also contributedto the school’s cultural maga-zine, Mosaic.I was fortunate to be select-

ed for the Acel Moore CareerDevelopment Program lastyear.I learned a lot about coming

up with story ideas, interview-ing subjects, developing thestory, and being part of a teamof reporters.It was an exciting and re-

warding experience to saythe least. This year, I hope tobuild on what I learned lastyear and to further improvemy skills as a writer and ajournalist.

First Take Class of 2011

Phil BergmanI am a junior at Strath Ha-

ven in Wallingford, Pa. I playthe tuba in numerous bandsand orchestras, and this yearqualified for the PMEA Dis-trict and Region bands. I alsoplay on the varsity lacrosseteam, write for my school pa-per, and am the student repre-sentative to my district’sschool board. I am an avidsupporter of Philly sportsteams, and my passion is fol-lowing baseball, hockey, col-lege football, and the NFLdraft. I aspire to be a sportsbroadcast journalist, and mydream job is to be the Philliesand Flyers beat reporter forComcast Sportsnet Philadel-phia.

Patrick BinghamMy name is Patrick Bingham

and I am a junior who is cur-rently attending SalesianumSchool in Wilmington. I am in-terested in baseball, econom-ics, politics, and journalism.When I was younger, I didn’t

like writing. I hated the wholewriting process, I hated doingresearch, and I hated brain-storming for story ideas.That all changed when I first

wrote for my school’s newspa-per.I had the opportunity to write

an article about President Oba-ma’s health-care reform bill.When my article was pub-

lished, I realized that there wasno greater feeling than havingthe satisfaction of seeing mywork in print.I would like to pursue a ca-

reer in finances — not journal-ism — but I believe it is stillbeneficial to learn how to writewell.

Anne BrewerThe first short story I wrote

was in fourth grade, nine pageslong and absolutely absurd. Myteacher loved it though, andsince then, I’ve had a passionfor the craft. My dream job is,has always been, to one day be-come a published novelist. But,I’m still constantly working todevelop my writing style anddelving into other literaryfields, such as journalism andscreenwriting.Now a sophomore at Our

Lady of Mercy Academy, I’mcurrently helping put togethera revamped Village Voice, theschool’s newspaper.I am the cofounder of the

book and debate club, a basket-ball player, and the president ofthe sophomore class studentcouncil. My school life is hectic,but I’m taking it all in stride.With the Acel Moore Career De-velopmentWorkshop, I’m open-ing myself up to an entirely dif-ferent, amazing experience.

John CafassoI’m an 18-year-old senior at

West Deptford High Schoolwho plays hockey and la-crosse. In the fall of nextyear, I will begin classes atRutgers University.I was once a TV salesman

at Sixth Avenue ElectronicsCity in Deptford. You canmost likely find me hangingout with friends, on Xbox,watching movies at home,working, or watching ESPN.I dislike waking up early,

cold weather, and rush-hourtraffic. My favorite artists areCassidy, Biggie Smalls, andmy hometown friends, RayMillz and Classic D. I plan onbecoming a sports journalistor a history teacher.

Julia CasciatoI am an 18-year-old senior at

Kingsway Regional HighSchool in Woolwich Township,Gloucester County. I’ve been onmy school’s yearbook staff forthree years. This year, I took onthe new challenge, becomingone of the editors-in-chief.Writing has always been a

passion of mine, both in andout of the classroom. It allowsme to express myself whetherin the form of poetry or a narra-tive. I hope to pursue writing asa career.In addition to writing, I en-

joy spending time with myfamily and friends wheneverI get the chance. They havealways been there for me andthey have been supportive ofmy writing.Next year, I plan on attend-

ing either Drexel Universityor the College of New Jerseyto pursue a degree in English.

David DiPasqua Jr.I’m currently a senior at

Marple Newtown HighSchool. I am the editor-in-chief of our school newspa-per, the MarNews. I have writ-ten for the local newspaper,the County Press in DelawareCounty for three years. I alsowrote for the Marple New-town football website.I enjoy sports and writing

about sporting events. I haveplayed three years of basket-ball and also participated forone year of football.I’m currently an officer in

the National Honor Society.I’m considering James Madi-son, Rutgers, and Temple Uni-versity. I will be majoring incommunications.

Tyler FranceschiniI am a senior at Haddon

Heights High School in Cam-den County. My basic inter-ests include spending timewith my best friends, my lov-ing family, and girlfriend, Lau-ren. I also have a passion forathletics both playing andwatching. My favorite sportsare soccer, basketball, andfootball.I’m excited about the future

due to the fact that I will beattending North Carolina-Wil-mington next year and plan-ning on double majoring inhistory education and journal-ism. I hope to become eithera history teacher or a sportsreporter. Both would bedreams come true because Ienjoy both subjects so much.

TimGilbertI’m Tim Gilbert, a senior at

St. Joseph's Prep. I write formy school’s newspaper, theCrimson and Grey, and hadfour articles in the paper myhigh school journalism classproduced, the Nose.I aspire to be a baseball writ-

er. I’ve been obsessed withbaseball since I was oldenough to understand what isa batting average. The best mo-ment of my life was being inthe stands for Roy Halladay’sno-hitter in a National Leaguedivision series playoff gamelast year.To become a better writer, I

read the Inquirer sports sec-tion, articles on Fan-graphs.com, and articles andblog entries by ESPN’s JaysonStark, my favorite writer.I plan on attending either

Penn State or Syracuse nextyear and majoring in journal-ism.

F14 B www.philly.com THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Saturday, April 2, 2011

Hannah LandersI’m an 18-year-old senior at

Upper Moreland High School.I have two younger siblings,and a pet rat named Sonic,whom I love as if she wereone of my siblings as well.This past year I edited my

school newspaper, the BearPrint, and have contributed anarticle on occasion. I’m a mem-ber of the Key Club, a communi-ty service organization atschool, and I’m a part of Nation-al Honor Society.After school, I spend my time

working at Springhouse Es-tates, a retirement home, as awaitress in the dining room.When I’m not at school or work,I love to read, spend time withmy friends, write, draw, listento music, play tennis, take pic-tures, and watch movies.I plan to study journalism

and communications in college,but have yet to decide on theschool. I hope to build a strongcareer in journalism, doingwhat I love to do.

Brenden PeddigreeI am an 18-year-old senior at

Upper Moreland High Schoolin Montgomery County, whereI write sports for the schoolnewspaper, the Bear Print.I have been interested in

sports since the first time Isaw the Eagles play on TV. Inaddition to studying sports, Ienjoy playing sports, writing,working out, and hanging outwith friends.My future goals include at-

tending Penn State University,receiving a degree in broadcastjournalism, and being on theNFL Network as a sports ana-lyst. I currently write a dailysports blog and try to keep upwith what’s going on in theworld of sports.This workshop was my first

taste of the life as a journalistand I can’t get enough of it. Ihave gotten a lot out of thisworkshop and I think thatthis has given me the basicsneeded to pursue a journalis-tic career.

Kyle PhillippiI am a senior at Audubon

High School — home of Balti-more Ravens quarterback JoeFlacco.Ever since I was old enough

to read Sports Illustrated forKids, I have set my sights on afuture in sports journalism.Two years ago, I began to takemy writing online in sportsblogging. I have worked with afew popular sports sites, in-cluding Scout.com, which is af-filiated with Fox Sports andGCobb.com.In high school, I spent time

working with the school year-book in my freshman and soph-omore years, and am currentlywriting for the high schoolnewspaper, the Parrot. I am in-volved in baseball and soccerat Audubon, and was namedall-Colonial Conference secondteam goalkeeper this past sea-son in soccerAfter high school, I plan on

attending either Penn StateUniversity or Rowan Universi-ty and pursue a career insports journalism.

Melinda SzkaradnikI am a senior at Methacton

High School, where I am thesecond-year editor-in-chief ofour school newspaper, theWindy Hill. Next year, I willbe attending Penn State Uni-versity to study communica-tions.When I am not working on

the Windy Hill, I am involvedin our school’s branch of LeoClub, lifeguarding, golfing, orplaying recreational basket-ball.Another one of my interests

is speaking Spanish. Lastyear, I had the opportunity toparticipate in an exchangeprogram with a high schoolfrom Spain. I am also a gradu-ate of the 2010 KYW Newstud-ies program.

Shelia VitrukI attend Springfield Town-

ship High School in Montgom-ery County, and I’m currentlya sophomore.I am interested in either jour-

nalism photography or streetphotography. I enjoy the arts,such as photography, painting,and drawing. I have taken twophotography classes in schooland I’m hoping to join the artsmagazine in my school nextyear. Photography is and willalways be my passion and Ijoined this workshop to gainmore information about photojournalism.I knew at an earlier age that I

wanted to do something withphotography. My mom boughtmy dad a camera for Christmasone year and I ended up takingit and using it every time I hada chance and never returned it.I didn’t know until then that Iwould try to capture everythingthat caught my eye.

Student portraits bystaff photographer

Akira Suwa

Corsair LaytonI am a senior at Springfield

Township High School. I’m 17years old and have a love forcommunications and plan topursue this passion in col-lege.I plan to attend IUP and ma-

jor in communications and mi-nor in sociology. My goal is tobecome a talent agent.I love the arts, music, acting,

writing and drawing. I have arap group with friends frommyschool and one of the membersand I are actors ourselves andhave been in several plays suchas The Wizard of Oz, South Pa-cific, Joseph and the AmazingTechnicolor Dreamcoat, andetc.I’m interested in Japanese

culture and I love readingmanga (Japanese comicbooks) and watching anime(Japanese cartoons).I can’t wait to finish high

school and face the challeng-es of the real world.

KyleMillerI am a senior at Sun Valley

High School in Aston, Pa. Iwill be attending Penn StateUniversity next year and planto graduate with a degree inSports Journalism.I play basketball, soccer,

and tennis. I participated inmy senior class variety showand am also a part of the Na-tional Honor Society.I have my own weekly

sports segment on the dailyannouncements and serve assports editor for the school’sonline newspaper.I love sports and want to be

involved in the sportingworld any way I can for therest of my life. After graduat-ing for Penn State, I plan onwriting and/or coachingsports for the years to come.

Christa OestreichI am a senior at Archbishop

Prendergast High School, andeditor of the yearbook, theCrozier. As anyone who hasbeen on their school’s year-book can tell you, it has takenover my life. I am involvedwith many other activities butI hope to one day be a bookeditor.I am planning on earning

my English degree from Fran-klin and Marshall College, Ur-sinus College, or RosemontCollege. I have yet to makemy final decision. Because Iwant to be a book editor, itgoes without saying that Ilove reading books. But I alsolove drawing. I would drawall day if I had the time.Although I do enjoy writing,

I enjoy editing even more.From this workshop, I hopeto improve my overall writingskills.

Taylor PerkinsMy name is Taylor Perkins

and I am an 18-year-old seniorat Washington Township highschool.I will be attending Drew Uni-

versity in the fall. My schoolactivities include participatingin clubs such as newspaperclub, where I am a senior edi-tor, the book club, where I amon the executive board, andthe orchestra.Besides being involved

with my school, I also like toparticipate in average teen-age activities like going to themovies, the mall, and down tothe Jersey Shore during thesummer.I also love to travel and see

different parts of the world.I’ve had the opportunity to

travel to Paris, London, andvarious parts of Austria. AndI cannot wait to travel tomore places and experiencemore things as I get older.

Joseph PhelanMy name is Joseph Phelan

and I am a senior at Monsi-gnor Bonner High School.Throughout my high schoolcareer, I have participated inbasketball, tennis, football,the yearbook, the newspaper,MBTV, student council, com-munity service, and respectlife.I enjoy music and writing,

along with a deep interest insports. I will be attending St.Bonaventure University thisfall and will pursue a degreein journalism and mass com-munications.The reason I love to write is

because I feel I can use thetalent God gave to me to bet-ter the lives of others.I know how powerful words

can be when used correctly,and I want to inspire peopleto do great things with mywriting. I am truly blessed tohave my family and friends tosupport me each and everyday. They give me the energythat fuels my passion for writ-ing.

Siobhan ReddingI am a senior at Marple

Newtown High School. Aftertransferring from private topublic school my junior year,I became actively involvedwith the school newspaper,the Marnews. My passion forjournalism grew from thereso once school ended, I got asummer internship with a lo-cal newspaper, News of Dela-ware County.Writing for these two news-

papers has given me a widerange of experience and al-lowed me to meet new andinteresting people.Outside of journalism I en-

joy playing basketball and go-ing to concerts. Next year, Iplan to major in journalism atTemple University.

Ciara StoneI am a senior at the Phila-

delphia High School for Girls.I was born in Philadelphia,but raised in Hatboro fornearly 10 years.My passion is writing, par-

ticularly short stories and po-etry. However, my activitiesextend to public speaking aswell as creating articles.I enjoy lending aid to the

community, in which I havevolunteered at Abington Me-morial Hospital for about ayear and have dedicated mytime to beautifying gardensand helping save the environ-ment in Garden Club and EcoClub at my school.My vision is to travel to dif-

ferent countries, study theirunique cultures and allowtheir beauty to inspire me inways untold.

MagdalenaStuehrmannI am 17 years old, and a se-

nior at Octorara Area HighSchool. I am a writer and edi-torialist for my school news-paper, the Octorara Outlook.Though writing is one of mypassions, I am also an avidreader and dancer.I also have a strong interest

in international relations. Atmy high school, I cofounded aclub called Students WithoutBorders. This club tries todraw the student body’s atten-tion to events of internationalimportance, such as naturaldisasters, and raise funds tohelp those affected by suchdisasters.This workshop has been ex-

tremely helpful to me, notonly by teaching me moreabout the process of newswriting, but also helping meto further develop my ownwriting style.After attending this work-

shop, I find myself leaning to-ward a major in English.

Brianna TongAs a senior at the Charter

School of Wilmington, I am theop/ed editor for our newspaper,the Blue Streak, the senior writ-ing editor for Tangents, our liter-ary magazine, and a contribut-ing writer for both publications.I also write poetry, lyrics, and

music reviews. I love to read —novels, poems and plays. Theinfinite ways in which wordscan come together never fail tofascinate me.Besides writing, I also di-

rect my school’s drama club,a cappella club, and showchoir; participate in quiz bowland a humanitarian club thatsupports global causes; act inschool plays; and sing andplay the piano and guitar.I plan to major in English

and possibly pursue a careerin journalism, and hopefullysomeday use my writing to in-crease knowledge about un-derrepresented social groupssuffering ongoing injustice.

MadeleineWalshI am currently a senior at

Little Flower Catholic HighSchool for Girls, where I amthe editor-in-chief of my schoolnewspaper, the Theresian, formy junior and senior years. Ijoined the school newspaperas a freshman because of mylove for writing and interest injournalism, and I consider itone of the most rewarding andsatisfying aspects of my highschool experience.To me, writing is a privilege

and an important exercise incommunicating one’s voice. Ibelieve that the media have apowerful impact and crucialrole in society, and I am anadvocate of print journalism.When I am not writing or

editing my school newspaper,I am involved in debating inModel United Nations, play-ing the violin in my school’sconcert band, Irish dancing,playing on Little Flower’s var-sity golf team.

ZackWeberI am a senior at Phoenix-

ville Area High School andwill be turning 18 in January.I have written for my schoolnewspaper, the Purple Press,for the last three years. Thisschool year, I am also the lay-out editor for the newspaper.It is my responsibility to notonly to write articles but alsolay out pages.I started writing my fresh-

man year of high school,when I took an expressivewriting course. I learned toclearly express my ideas andgenerally improved my skillsas a writer.Since sophomore year, I

have been a part of the jour-nalism course that producesthe school newspaper. Amongmany things, I learned how tokeep the attention of the read-er and how to write variousdifferent types of articles,such as editorials and newsstories.

Judy YangI’m a student at Bayard Rus-

tin High School, in the sub-urbs of Philadelphia. I’velived in Chester County formost of my life and I absolute-ly love it there.In school, I’m currently a

class officer, representing mygrade. I’m also on the speechand debate team, a memberof our school newspaper, theRustin Herald, a member ofthe Environmental Club, anda member of our volleyballteam.In my spare time, I really

enjoy playing the piano andspending time with my fami-ly. I also love trying newfoods and traveling aroundthe world.During the Acel Moore Ca-

reer Development Workshop,I hope to expand my writingability and further my under-standing of journalism, a pos-sible career path for me.

First Take Class of 2011www.philly.com B F15THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRERSaturday, April 2, 2011

this year includes the largestclass in its history. Studentsfrom 31 schools in the Phila-delphia area walked throughthe doors of the PhiladelphiaMedia Network building onFeb. 5 to begin a four-weekprogram aimed at introduc-ing them to the field of jour-nalism.Inquirer and Philly.com staff-

ers volunteered to help stu-dents learn interview tech-niques, and story research andconstruction. During the finaltwo weeks, students reportedand wrote their own story. Stu-dents also worked with Phil-ly.com, and the graphics andphoto departments to producecontent that would end up inFirst Take and in an online edi-tion of the paper.The publication’s theme

this year is the economy.“We chose the economy be-

cause it’s a subject that won’tgo away,” said Oscar Miller,the workshop’s program direc-tor. “We wanted to look at thestate of the economy throughthe eyes of a young personand see how it’s affectingtheir daily lives.”The student-produced sec-

tion will be distributed aspart of the main press run ofThe Inquirer on Saturday,April 2, the final day of theworkshop, when students,guests and workshop volun-teers will attend an awardsluncheon at The Inquirer’sCenter City building.One student will receive a

$1,000 scholarship and two willreceive $500 scholarships foroutstanding work during theworkshop. The awards are pro-vided in partnership with thePhiladelphia Foundation.Over the years, hundreds of

journalists currently workingin the industry wrote one oftheir first stories for FirstTake. They’ve gone on to writeand edit major newspapers,run businesses and websitesand produce television news.Sharyn Flanagan, a produc-

tion editor at USA Today, at-

tended the workshop in themid-1980s. Flanagan, then astudent at the PhiladelphiaHigh School for Girls, wrote astory that examined single-sex and coed education.“Besides opening up a ca-

reer for me, [the workshop]gave me confidence,” Flana-gan said. “We learned tospeak up, write and do re-search. No matter what fieldyou go into that’s valuable.You can use those skillsacross the board.”

MOORE from F1

To support the AcelMoore CareerDevelopment Workshop,you may contribute tothe PhiladelphiaFoundation at:The PhiladelphiaFoundation,1234 Market St.,Suite 1800,Philadelphia19107-3794.You may also follow the“Dollars for Scholars”link athttp://go.philly.com/acelmooreworkshop

Participant Siobhan Redding and Inquirer sports writer Keith Pompey discuss Redding’s story on a struggling small business.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The Acel Moore Career DevelopmentWorkshop is an annual project sponsoredby The Inquirer. The hands-on programseeks to introduce Philadelphia-area highschool students to the field of journalism.Students produce First Take, the studentnewspaper, at the conclusion of theworkshop. We gratefully acknowledge thefollowing staffers for their time and effortin making this program possible.

STAFF VOLUNTEERS

Program FounderAcel MooreProgram DirectorOscar MillerAssociate DirectorsSandy ClarkLidija DorjkhandSherelle McZealAdministrationStan Wischnowski

Sandra LongJohn BrumfieldRob CopestickRegina FinkPhilly.comWendy WarrenSystemsAl HasbrouckSteve GlynnBuilding ServicesChris WhiteGraphic ArtistsKevin BurkettJohn DuchneskieAmy JunodPhotographyMichael MercantiJim SelzerApril SaulDonna HendricksAkira SuwaMichael WirtzJohn GayuskyCopy EditorsMichael Harrington

Bob KelleySuzanne WestonPhillippa ChaplinSandy SpiecznyT.J. FurmanRichard BarronSteve ElliottMiriam TarverDavid SullivanSpeakersHarold JacksonVernon ClarkSally DowneyKia GregoryDan BiddleAnnette John-HallWriting CoachesDeirdre ChildressChelsea ConaboyJoelle FarrellAdrienne LuHowie ShapiroMelanie BurneyAllison SteeleJulie BusbyKeith PompeyMarty WoodallMari SchaeferJane Von BergenAmy RosenbergMichael KleinMatt BreenSusan SnyderDavid SellKristin HolmesSuzette ParmleyMaya RaoClaudia VargasJoe TanfaniCindy HenryJonathan Tamari

¢ For more information on the Acel Moore Career Devel-opment Workshop, go to http://go.philly.com/acelmoorework-shop.

To Donate

Founder says field issame, despite changes

SARAH J. GLOVER / StaffAcel Moore won a Pulitzerprize and numerous otherawards over his 40-plus yearsas a journalist at The Inquirer.

MeetAmerica’sfledgling

stars

Staff writer Allison Steele makes a point to student Kyle Miller during one of two writing sessions in The Inquirer’s newsroom.

Workshop participant MorganHarris and graphic artist JohnDuchneskie work on anillustration for First Take.Students get one-on-oneattention during the program.

Student John Cafasso of West Deptford High and staffphotographer Michael Bryant go over photo possibilities.

City editor Julie Busby edits Corsair Layton’s story on a single,unemployed mother who is still searching for a job.

Thanks to all who volunteered

Photographs by workshopparticipant Shelia Vitruk

AcknowledgmentsF16 B www.philly.com THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Saturday, April 2, 2011