BALTIMORE — For the past year, the Orioles and the Heart of America Foundation have been working to create a space that students at Harlem Park Elementary and Middle School can be proud of.
It was raining and pouring, but you wouldn't be able to tell based on the enthusiasm of the students. Who were celebrating, not just the anniversary of their school's participation in the Adopt-A-School Campaign but also being chosen by the Orioles to participate for the second year in a row.
"It may be raining, but it is sunshiny out here and let me tell you why — you said equity," said Principal Venus Jackson. "The Orioles has really put us in the limelight in a way that Harlem Park would not be in the limelight. Our children get to see themselves as confident. They get to see themselves as having an organization and players right behind them."
Because of the Orioles and their partnership with the Heart of America Foundation, the students of Harlem Park now have an updated outdoor learning area which includes musical instruments, a refreshed playground, and an outdoor experience.
"We believe in the concept of the third teacher and that is that you have your teachers, your traditional teachers here in the school, those adults in the community that support, and then you have your families at home," said John Flynn, the Vice President of Innovation at the Heart of America Foundation. "Then the third teacher is the space. So, the spaces you go, and a lot of times these spaces are largely undervalued, under supported, very draining spaces, fluorescent lights, old materials, poorly painted, not inspiring, not imaginative."
All of this is part of the idea that the environment of where you learn is just as important as what you learn.
