School is a word teenagers my age tolerate, despise, or love. As a learner who has always loved education, I inherently loved school. I loved learning new topics, sharing that information with my family, and overall expanding my thinking. Now, part of what made school enjoyable for me was the community and teachers. City Neighbors High School (CNHS), a small high school in Baltimore, Maryland. CNHS truly embodies the words community, family. Their motto is : Known. Loved. Inspired. From my first day there after transferring from a different high school everyone welcomed me with open arms. I immediately felt like I belonged after just stepping foot into the school. From my time there from 2021-2024, every single day, my needs as a learner were met. I felt connected to the school and its mission, but most importantly, I left with a whole new meaning of community, family, and education.
Even though I’m a student still loving school, I am now attending college and recently joined the Board of Education Reimagined. When I was at a conventional school, I was never delighted with how separated I felt from the teachers and the staff. When I was at City Neighbors, everyone made me feel at home. As mentioned previously, the first day I came to CNHS, I was welcomed as if everyone had known me since I was a child. The staff was lovely to me by introducing themselves to me and being their genuine selves. The staff and teachers let their personality show in their work which helped everyone in the school feel closer together. Within the first week, the principal Ms. Zahrt knew my name. She greeted me with a smile and asked me about my day. A little thing such as knowing my name and asking me about my day was foreign to me compared to the other educational institutions I had attended. You never saw the principal or vice principal (Mr. Toops) greet students or even openly walk the halls on a daily basis. The other staff members working at the school didn’t pay any attention to you and the teachers never cared enough to make you feel known and loved. I distinctly remember Mr. Toops, Ms. Tanya, Mr. Ben, Mr. Martin, Ms. D, and Ms. Jolly were my backbone throughout my entire time at CNHS. If I was having a rough day or needed someone to talk to Mr. Toops and Ms. Tanya would let me into their office with open arms. I could vent to them about my rough situations at home, tough times with my parents, or even how poor my mental health was. They were there to listen and give me snacks to help cheer me up or just because I was hungry. Mr. Ben, Ms. D, and Mr. Martin are teachers I could openly talk to every day whether for advice or just to have a chat. They always supported me in my goals, ideas, and made sure my years in high school were rewarding. They reminded me to take breaks, say no, and prioritize what’s best for me. Lastly, Ms. Jolly, who helped reignite my passion for the environment, always saw my potential. While these are the teachers closest to me every single teacher is like this and treats every single one with love and respect.
The CNHS motto is, Known. Loved. Inspired. This motto is what symbolizes the community that City Neighbors High School has fostered. The teachers know, love, and inspire just as much as the students do.
Syrae Jennings
The CNHS motto is, Known. Loved. Inspired. This motto is what symbolizes the community that City Neighbors High School has fostered. The teachers know, love, and inspire just as much as the students do. Yes, there are times when students get into fights but they’ve all come together to make sure we all reached the goal of graduating. During senior year, I personally saw people who don’t talk to each other, who maybe don’t even like each other, help each other. From getting their grades up, to words of encouragement, to communicating to their teachers for them if someone was struggling to graduate the class of 2024 as a collective helped them to get that diploma. The Class of 2024 and the students of CNHS are one big family. We fight, laugh, cry, fail, and triumph together. The teachers and staff contribute to that family with quality education.
City Neighbors is a project-based high school that focuses on art integration. Most, if not all the assignments allow for creative freedom and expression. In my computer science class, I was able to create my own original game. In my math classes, I created art using math formulas inside applications like Desmos or just on paper. In my French class, I created an original painting to represent a place. These are just a few examples of where art/projects come into play and every single class I took at CNHS had the project-based art element to them regardless of the subject. One of the most notable examples of this is the way the high school does midterms and finals. For each grade, your midterm will be a presentation that demonstrates what you’ve learned in class. The basic format includes process, project, demonstration, and conclusion. The process shows the steps you take to complete a project for a class, the product is the project itself. The demonstration is a way to teach the audience you’re presenting a skill you used to complete the project, and lastly, the conclusion is how the project connects to you and your future (career). You can design your midterm known as a POL (Presentation of Learning) any way you want to. For instance, my POLs had Kahoots in them, videos, live demonstrations, gifs, various colors/themes, etc. They also always started with a quote that connected to whatever stage of my life I was in or how I was feeling about the school year at the time of my POL. This way of learning helps students see the value of what they’re being taught and allows them to connect their learning to their interests, hobbies, careers, etc while building public speaking skills to prepare students for adulthood. Education always had value. The teachers taught us what the value was and we as the students learned to recognize it ourselves.
The value of your education is what you can take away from it and apply it to your life. Whether that be new knowledge, skills, etc you, your community, and the support of educators alike are what bring the importance of education to life.
City Neighbors High School is part of the City Neighbors network of schools, operated by the City Neighbors Foundation. Serving over 1,000 students from kindergarten through 12th grade, the network was founded in 2005 by a grassroots coalition of families, community members, and educators who were passionate about creating a new vision for education in Baltimore. Bobbi Macdonald, now Education Reimagined’s Senior Partner for Ecosystem Growth and Advancement, served as a co-founder and director until 2018. City Neighbors High School is part of the Big Picture Learning network.
