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Student Story

How CHAD has changed my life

Antonio was a sophomore at a large, rough inner city high school. School was not a nurturing place for him. He was a good student, but his creativity was not celebrated or even encouraged when he went to school each day. The other kids made fun of his desire to learn.

After school he danced, acted and taught younger kids as part of teen community at the Village of Arts and Humanities, started by celebrated artist and community activist Lily Yeh. There was no serious art, no architecture or design classes at his high school, so the Village was his lifeline and refuge.

CHAD came to the Village of Arts and Humanities to recruit interested students. After hearing about this bright, safe, creative new school, he transferred the next week! Mid-way through his sophomore year! He didn’t want to take a chance on missing this opportunity. They don’t come around too often in the city.

“Since coming to CHAD, my life has turned around. As a result of CHAD sending me to a free summer program at Lehigh University, I discovered Industrial Design! I learned that designing furniture is what I love, and want to do with my life.

I never knew careers like this existed before CHAD. Through CHAD I am working with frogdesign in New York [helping to create an identity and branding for CHAD]. I have met designers from Knoll furniture, spent the morning with Hella Jongerius of Droog Design, worked with David Macaulay to build a replica of the Petronas Towers, learned how to draw and build modelsÉthe list is pretty awesome.

“I take a full load of college-prep classes, like Spanish, Chemistry, Statistics, S.A.T. prep, learning to write better and putting together a professional portfolio for college. My world has opened up 1000 %. I love my school, the teachers and the beautiful, art and design-filled environment. My school is filled with some of the best design in America!”

“I wish I had found CHAD sooner. CHAD has changed my life.”(2002)

UPDATE!

Antonio graduated in May 2006 with a degree in Industrial Design from the Pratt Institute. He is currently employed by Fisher-Price.

Paul Musumba

By Paul Musumba

Paul Musumba has been an organic chemistry instructor for CHAD Phila since December of 2017. Prior to his stint at CHAD, he was a chemistry teacher at Delaware Valley Charter High School in Philadelphia. He received a B.S. in Biology and Organic Chemistry from Drexel University in 2010, and a masters degree in Chemistry and Computer Science with Teaching, Organic and computational Chemistry from Temple University in 2016. You can read more about Paul's experience and publications on his LinkedIn profile here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-musumba-53194b14/

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