Over 50 miles of trails, lush canopy, and creeks sit near Penn Charter's campus, and for Lower School teacher Joel Eckel, the Wissahickon Valley Park offered the perfect landscape for an inspiring sabbatical.

While based in the Lower School, Joel Eckel spent his sabbatical looking at the entire Penn Charter journey, exploring how deep engagement with nature can serve as a powerful antidote to modern screen fatigue, anxiety and social media pressure. From collaborating with local environmental organizations to imagining cross-divisional field trips, his research outlines a vision for the Wissahickon as a true extension of the Penn Charter classroom. (Bonus, he even designed a trail guide!)

We caught up with Joel to discuss his findings and what it means to build a lifelong relationship with the natural world.

Q&A with Joel Eckel

Q: You explored more than 50 miles of trails during your sabbatical. What inspired this project, and how does it apply to the schoolhouse?

A: My main goal was to address the growing trends of anxiety and depression brought on by excessive screen time and social media. While I teach in the Lower School, this work isn't just for the Lower School; it’s designed for all three divisions.

In the Lower School, the focus is on spending time outside, building community, taking calculated risks, and providing them with opportunities to display different aspects of their personality that are not as evident during classroom tasks. Working with organizations like the Wissahickon Restoration Volunteers and Friends of the Wissahickon really reinforced how vital hands-on, experiential learning and service experiences are for our students.
 

Q: How do you see your experience reshaping environmental education and outdoor learning at Penn Charter?

A: We are so fortunate to have a campus in such close proximity to the Wissahickon. I see a tremendous opportunity to build a structured, PK–12 pathway for students to engage with our natural environment. With some planning, the Wissahickon can become an extension of our classrooms and a place where students engage in outdoor learning.

Having real experiences in the environment is not only good physically and mentally for students of all ages, but it also fosters a genuine love of nature and allows students to connect more deeply with the Quaker testimony of stewardship.
 

Q: Is there a specific spot or lesson concept you are particularly excited to bring to life?

A: There's a little spot near where West Mount Airy Avenue dead-ends into the Wissahickon, and just down the trail is a place lovingly known as "frog pond.”  I'd love to see a class of lower school students out there on a fine spring day with rain boots and nets, accompanied by an upper school science class collecting tadpoles. This would be a great example of hands-on, cross-divisional learning.
 

Q: You mentioned student mental health earlier. How can the park serve as a space for personal wellness and mindfulness?

A: This is really at the heart of what I wanted to accomplish. I see a direct parallel between my goals in the Wissahickon and how we approach Meeting for Worship at Penn Charter.

The practice of Meeting for Worship gives students a gift they carry for life—the knowledge that when the world feels busy, hectic, or frantic, they can pull back, sit in silence and reflect. It’s a deeply centering practice. The exact same thing happens when we give students time in nature. My hope is that by giving them regular opportunities to step into the woods, they learn that nature is a special, restorative place they can return to anytime throughout their lives.
 

Q: Looking ahead, what does long-term success look like for Penn Charter's relationship with the Wissahickon?

A: Penn Charter already does fantastic work, but there are endless opportunities to expand our outdoor education program. Ultimately, we owe it to our students to provide direct, meaningful experiences in nature. Success would mean the Wissahickon becomes a continuous thread running through every student's Penn Charter experience, from their earliest years in pre-K through graduation.

This past spring in the Lower School's Idea Lab, Penn Charter fourth and fifth graders met R2-D2—built entirely by Director of Technology Scott Davis using 3D printing and engineering. "I thought R2-D2 was incredible," fifth grader Malcolm Sullivan said. "I feel that Mr. Davis's hard work has paid off."

"R2 started as a 3D print," Davis explained. After extensive post-processing to smooth the surfaces, he fitted the droid with micro-controllers, MP3 boards, motor controllers and an amplifier—giving R2 authentic lights, sound and movement, controlled by RC remotes.

"The coolest part was when Mr. Davis took off the head and we could see all the effort and wiring it took," fifth grader Aryana Adappa said. "R2-D2 inspired me to believe that people can make something so successful using the same skills we're learning."

The visit tied directly into the Lower School's innovation and design curriculum. Fifth graders learn 3D design fundamentals using Tinkercad before printing their own models in the Idea Lab. "It was a great opportunity for them to see an incredible real-world example of what's possible to create," said innovation and design teacher Rachel Evans. In the robotics portion of the unit, students build mini-golf courses for Sphero Bolt+ robots, then program classmates' robots to navigate them—"a fantastic way for them to apply logic and engineering in a hands-on way," said Dan Stahl, Lower School technology coordinator.

Davis may bring more droids to campus in the future. "I'm part of a community of droid builders who share their knowledge to help each other out," he said, noting the group shares builds at Comic-Cons, charity events, schools, and Star Wars nights with the Phillies and Flyers.

When national attention turned to ICE immigration activity last winter, a group of PC seventh and eighth graders didn't want to just watch from the sidelines. Inspired by an Upper School walkout protesting the raids, the students decided to take action of their own — becoming, in their words, "change cultivators."

Their eighth-grade civics class, taught by Jim Pilkington, had spent the year exploring the Bill of Rights, the Civil Rights Movement and civic engagement — themes that connected directly to what students were seeing in the news. "Learning about the Bill of Rights and connecting that to rights that are being threatened right now was really important," said eighth grader Leela Vedanthan.

With support from Middle School leaders Kathleen Clinchy and Erin Howard, and guidance from Alyson Goodner OPC '96 of the Center for Public Purpose, the group designed a two-part campaign: fundraising and education.

They created buttons spreading messages of peace and equality — including a nod to Philly's iconic LOVE sign — and sold them at a lunchtime bake sale to raise money for Puentes de Salud and the Nationalities Service Center, two organizations serving immigrants and refugees. "It's a subtle way of spreading awareness," said eighth grader Andie Shaginaw.

The students also led a fact-based "Know Your Rights" teach-in for their peers, breaking down terms like undocumented, green card and birthright citizenship for an audience spanning fifth graders through faculty.

For Clinchy, the project pushed back on a common assumption. "I so wholeheartedly disagree with the idea that students are too young to lead," she said. "Any age can be a leader — and we're seeing that here in the Middle School."

Pilkington agreed the experience reflected something bigger than a class assignment. "Civic engagement isn't something to learn for a class or a grade," he said. "It's a vital skill for our democracy to succeed."

PC’s Upper School students studying Modern and Classical Physics, an Advanced Studies course, design spaceships using concepts typically taught to students pursuing a college degree in physics. The yearlong project demonstrates their knowledge of relativity, particle physics, nuclear physics, electromagnetic waves and quantum communication.

“This spaceship project provides students an avenue to apply their knowledge in a creative, imaginative and rigorous manner while showing that these topics have concrete and tangible applications in our world,” teacher Jonathan Bacon said.

Bacon’s inspiration for the assignment came to him while reading a Star Wars book to his seven-year-old son. “The book provided cross-sectional views of some classic Star Wars vehicles and explained the technology behind these sci-fi creations,” he said. “It referenced ion blasters, nuclear power cores, focused lasers and solar arrays—all concepts that are part of modern physics. I thought that students could take what they are learning in class to research, create, design and refine their own spaceship.”

In their spaceship designs, students included descriptions of six different subsystems: artificial gravity, propulsion, navigation, communication, power and a system of their own choosing. Because the project was yearlong, students were able to apply to their designs what they were learning in each unit of the course. The final product included a 3D model, a diagram with design highlights, a document that expanded on their  ideas and cited research, and an “elevator pitch” for showcasing their designs in a final gallery walk presentation.

“We really enjoyed the ability to research our own options for every component,” wrote project partners Matt Dunn and Anay Lodhavia, both juniors. “The project was so independent—all we received were rubrics and due dates, which gave us a ton of flexibility in crafting each subsystem.”

Thomas Le, a junior, said the most challenging part of the project was “backing our sci-fi designs with legitimate physics. A lot of the concepts we wanted to include were so advanced and theoretical that finding credible sources was difficult. We could’ve taken the easy route and designed a boring spaceship to the moon, but why would you when you could be traveling at 671,081 miles per hour after five years of acceleration?”

Students were also given choices about how to share their designs with classmates and the community. “I learned a lot about myself and my research and presentation styles,” said junior Olive Donaghy. “Instead of writing papers for each subsystem, I made videos with slide decks. I found that I do much better talking through how something works rather than trying to write it all down.”

Junior Moyo Adewunmi learned how complex it can be to collaborate in a group setting. “Throughout the project,” he said, “we had difficulty scheduling and conflicting ideas on how to construct specific parts of the spaceship, but by communicating and compromising, we were able to work efficiently while also maintaining group cohesion and balance.”

“The people made this project what it was,” said Thomas, who partnered with fellow junior Henry Gelbach. “It's rare to have that kind of sustained collaboration where the creative process itself becomes just as valuable as the final product.”
 

During the month of May each year, eighth grade science students immerse themselves in their annual physics project, the Physics 500, where they brainstorm, design, construct and race a cardboard car.

Using their understanding of forces, energy, torque, simple machines and more, they work in groups of four to brainstorm ideas, draw preliminary designs in their “race journals,” decide on a team name, logo, and slogan, and engineer their cardboard car. In the classroom, they study simple machines. As the project rolls on, students are assigned a “pit” space in the IdeaLab to construct their cars. After receiving their first distribution of cardboard, they move on to making measurements, hypotheses and detailed sketches. Teams build cars using cardboard, glue, and PVC pipes that carry a 25-pound weight with a mannequin driver.

The cars then compete in a gravity-powered distance race where teams face off in elimination rounds until the ultimate winner gets crowned. The goal is to see how far the cars can travel rather than how fast they can go. This year several Upper School students kicked off the event by racing two electric cars they had built from the ground up under the guidance of physics teacher Tim Clarke.

Congratulations to “Space Jam” on winning this year’s Physics 500!

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In the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy, a child-centered approach to learning, the parents and the classroom teacher are considered the primary and secondary teachers of a young child. As partners, they support and guide the child’s development. The third teacher is the child’s environment—the physical space that stimulates curiosity and encourages exploration. 

The new Richard A. Balderston OPC ’69 Lower School embodies this third teacher, offering an environment purposefully crafted to deepen and enrich every child’s learning experience. 

Since Penn Charter’s pre-K to grade 5 students rushed through its doors on Sept. 3, 2025, the Balderston Lower School has served as a wondrous, welcoming space for curious learners of all ages—a teaching and learning community that fosters collaboration, makes the curriculum come alive and redefines possibilities. 

“Our goal is to present kids with tools and experiences and have the students apply them independently,” said Dan Stahl, innovation and design teacher for grades 1-5. “If they can walk out of the Lower School feeling like, ‘I can laser cut, I can 3D print, I can graphic design, I can code, and I can do all of that for a math class or an English class or a social studies class,’ that's a win in our book.” 

“They'll take something that we present in a certain way and then take it in a different direction we never thought of,” added Rachel Evans, who teaches innovation and design along with Stahl. 

It’s easy to innovate with all the tech options in the Idea Lab, including a ChompSaw, laser cutter, 3D printers, Cricut machine, Makey Makey, Hummingbird Robotics, Micro:bit circuit boards, Sphero coding robots, and Lego Education Spike Essential kits. 

Stahl and Evan’s classroom in the original lower school building had some older versions of those tools, too, but they didn’t have space—if the 3D printer was out, the ChompSaw was tucked away—and that made a tangible difference in students’ agency. Now, Stahl said, “students feel like they can solve the problem because they see the tools that are readily accessible for them … it builds resiliency within them.” 

They can also follow their imagination. “When they're working on a particular project,” Evans said, “they get to choose what they’re interested in and where it leads.”

Imagination is Brooke Giles’ specialty. A pre-K teacher for 14 years, she now teaches Studio to both pre-K and kindergarten, and coordinates the Discovery Room, the newest space for multisensory play and experiential education in the early-childhood curriculum—though everyone is welcome to play. 

Influenced by the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy, Studio and Discovery are captivating rooms where children explore and create through art, movement, drama, storytelling and engineering. Until this year, Penn Charter’s pre-K was located adjacent to PC’s campus, in the Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd on The Oak Road. 

For Giles, the proximity and connection to the rest of the Lower School community—for both her and the students in pre-K—are pivotal. “I love being seen again by my former students or the students who didn't know me,” she said. “It’s really good to feel that my connection isn't lost. I want the Studio to be a resource for all the students, no matter what they want to create.” 

Kindergarten students have brought third grade—their buddy class—to the Discovery Room, which was designed for multisensory play and experiential education. “I'm loving that,” Giles said. "They're playing dress up, building with blocks, building giant marble ramps.” On a recent visit, third graders built a push car with Rigamajig, a building and engineering system. It doesn't take the older students long, Giles said, to stop wondering if they are too cool for the Discovery Room. 

Second graders are so intrigued by the Discovery Room that many of the students visit independently. When Giles saw them playing with the Busy River, the small stream just outside Giles’ room that meanders through the playground, she encouraged them to experiment in the Discovery Room. Which materials sink? Which float? Can you recycle materials to build a boat? 

The Balderston Lower School has a connectivity that the former building did not. Spaces that allow for collaboration and gatherings, like the Discovery Room, Friendship Hall and the Activities Room, which opens wide to the outdoor Amphitheater, are only part of it. The physical openness—skylights, hallways with large windows to learning spaces, connected classrooms—translates into community and well-being. 

“Everyone's class is seen, and every teacher is seen,” Giles said, ”and that makes a difference in a student's sense of belonging and community. No one's hidden in this building. We're all very present.” 

The thoughtful design of the Lower School “gives you a glimpse of the magic of what’s taking place,” added Director of Lower School Thu-Nga Morris. 

At a particularly exciting art class in October, fourth graders became graffiti artists. Though the class size was small, graffiti can be big and bold, so teachers Michelle Dowd and Karen Riedlmeier opened up the doors that divide the large art studio—one side outfitted with the tools and technology for 2D art and the other for 3D art such as clay and woodworking. The goal of this project was to teach positive and negative space and shapes, and graffiti was a way to engage the students. 

After learning about famous anonymous street artists Banksy and Blek le Rat, the latter often called the "father of stencil graffiti," students practiced graffiti-style lettering and made their own “tags” (an artist’s stylized signature). Then, on large sheets of paper that Dowd had stamped with a block design to resemble a brick wall, students tried their hand at graffiti. 

Blek le Rat and Bansky “decided their art was worth the risk because they had something important to share that they wanted to make accessible to everyone,” Dowd said. “And that's why I really loved that wall where our students all came together. Each stencil that they drew reflected some part of them, whether their favorite animal or a motif they enjoyed.” 

The graffiti project illustrates the flexible space of the double art room that enables teachers to set up multiple stages of an activity so students can move through the project independently. This, combined with smaller class sizes for specials, Riedlmeier said, “honors children’s natural learning rhythms and patterns.” 

Every feature of the Balderston Lower School was designed to foster a sense of community among students and educators. The building itself is a nod to Wissahickon Valley Park, with its winding form echoing the river valley that is muralized on its walls. The early childhood wing, comprising grades pre-K through one, supports gross motor skills through play and exploration with direct access to the outdoors. Friendship Hall, with its nature-inspired design, lush foliage and student art is a popular place to host faculty meetings and parent coffees. In the spring, students will generate ideas for what to grow in the second-floor terrace garden and then donate the produce to local organizations that support food security. 

“Because it's easier to collaborate—to connect with each other—we're hoping this new environment inspires teachers to pursue new ideas and new projects in support of our students,” said Thu-Nga Morris, director of Lower School. 

Such pursuits are underway. In October, fourth grade students partnered with Emily Brennan’s and John Tralie’s Upper School Advanced Geometry students. Brennan recognized that her class could use the dotted patterns on the Friendship Hall windows—designed to protect wild birds from accidental window strikes—to practice calculating slope and equations of lines. She reached out to fourth grade teachers and proposed a collaboration: Geometry students could teach fourth grade math students how to calculate slope—typically taught in Middle School— using dry-erase markers on the floor-to-ceiling Friendship Hall windows. 

“That was a really fun way for us to enhance our academic program,” Morris said. “It was also a fun way for the kids to build community and connections with each other cross-divisonally.” 

Students and teachers aren’t the only ones who have fun while learning in the Lower School. This year, parents and caregivers have been invited to sign up for MakerLab Mondays. About once a month, Dan Stahl and Rachel Evans offer parents a creative start to their day in the Idea Lab. In October, parent-child teams designed a mini catapult to fling candy pumpkins through a series of challenges. In November, they used the ChompSaw to create a mini parade float and then coded a robot to drive a Thanksgiving parade route. And in December, their assignment was to use simple circuits to create festive greeting cards that light up. Collaborative opportunities like these foster a supportive and engaging learning environment. 

“The power of teaching, learning and the student-teacher relationship has always been at the heart of the Penn Charter experience, and we see that reflected in this building,” Head of School Karen Warren Coleman said. 

“Like others in our community who worked hard to realize this dream, I was so excited about the plans and details of this project. I knew it would advance the mission of the Lower School, elevate learning, widen opportunity. But it wasn’t until our students and teachers and families walked through those red doors that I realized how much the Richard A. Balderston OPC ’69 Lower School would nurture and uplift our entire community.” 

– Rebecca Luzi
 

Read more stories in Penn Charter magazine.

Inspired by Brandon Stanton's Humans of New York, Joy Lai, chair of the Visual Arts and Design Department, had long wanted her photography students to create a similar project celebrating the Penn Charter community. This March, that vision became People of PC.

Studying works by photographers like Dawoud Bey, Carrie Mae Weems and Irving Penn, students learned about pose, angle and background before each chose a PC teacher or staff member to photograph and interview. "The goal was to celebrate the people who make up the school while highlighting meaningful personal connections," Lai said. Students created black-and-white portraits layered with colorful artistic designs of their own.

Freshman Sophie Wilmerding photographed Shelby Tucker, a Middle School teacher and her former lacrosse coach. Tucker told her that watching students grow over the years—rather than losing touch after Middle School—was her favorite part of teaching at PC. Sophie set the portrait against the "Joy in Community" banner with purple accents, "because it feels like her vibe."

Sophomore Bridget Elliott photographed frequent substitute teacher Yola Nakchbandi, learning about her past teaching at a military school in the UAE. "She really loves being a part of Penn Charter, and the community loves her," Bridget said, choosing warm accent colors to match Nakchbandi's personality.

Students found the project offered a new way to connect with teachers—and a deeper understanding of the people behind the PC community.

In October, Upper School students in David Nichols’ Biotechnology class made science glow, quite literally. 

Conducting a transformation lab—a process in which foreign DNA is introduced into bacterial cells, resulting in new genetic traits—students first extracted a gene responsible for bioluminescence from a marine microorganism called Aliivibrio fischeri. A. fischeri helps creatures like the bobtail squid and pinecone fish shine in the ocean depths. 

“These animals share a symbiotic relationship with A. fischeri,” Nichols said. “The bacteria live in pores on their surface tissues, where the host provides nutrients, and in return the bacteria emit a soft blue-green glow. This bioluminescence helps larger organisms attract prey and mates, as well as camouflage themselves from predators.” 

Biotechnology, a new course added to the Upper School science curriculum, is a hands-on experience designed to familiarize students with laboratory techniques utilized in molecular biology, specifically DNA isolation, characterization and manipulation. Students work in teams to collect and analyze data, and then explain the results as a laboratory cohort. 

After long preparation, Nichols explained, students used the transformation process to remove the gene from Aliivibrio fischeri using restriction enzymes and inserted it into E. coli, a common laboratory bacterium that can grow at room temperature via plasmid vectors. “Plasmid vectors are small, engineered pieces of DNA that can be used to insert the genes of interest—in this case, the ones for bioluminescence— and transfer them from one organism to another,” Nichols said. “They often have other engineered genes in them to use as what are called ‘selectable markers.’ These markers make it easier to screen for the [bacterial] colonies of interest.” 

Once transformed, the E. coli was grown on Petri dishes and observed in a dark room. When the plates began to glow, students had visual evidence that the gene transfer had been successful. 

“It’s a fun lab,” Nichols said, “because the proof of concept is right there— you literally see the bacteria glowing in the dark.” 

Senior Zsuzsi Pollock (pictured above, right) shared what sets Nichols’ biotechnology class apart: “I love biotechnology not only because it is a smaller class and we can have more fun as well as learn more, but I also love how Mr. Nichols does not want us to stress over quizzes or tests, but instead allows us to dive deeply into labs and learn through hands-on experience.”