By Taylor Muse, Director, Youth Initiatives
Remembering Eighth Grade
How well can you remember your eighth-grade experience? Can you recall the pop culture of the time, how you dressed or spoke, or what was happening in your immediate world? Did you rely on newspapers, magazines, or television to help make sense of current events? Or were you scrolling social media, engaging with content from across the globe in real time?
At such a pivotal age, how did you learn to navigate the world around you? How has that shaped who you are today? How might your life look different if, in eighth grade, you had been given the tools to cultivate healthy relationships, strengthen your sense of identity, and build bridges across differences?
How might your life look different if, in eighth grade, you had been given the tools to cultivate healthy relationships, strengthen your sense of identity, and build bridges across differences?
The Heart of the Multi-School Program
These questions sit at the heart of Interfaith Philadelphia’s Multi-School Program. Grounded in curiosity and relationship-building, the program brings together eighth-grade students from Al Aqsa Islamic Academy in North Philadelphia and Waldron Mercy Academy in Merion. Through games, breaking bread, shared projects, and guided dialogue, students are learning each month how to thrive in diversity, stand tall in who they are, strengthen their value systems, and break down barriers across religious and cultural lines.
Learning Through Sacred Spaces and Shared Stories
Meeting every two months, students visit one another’s schools and other houses of worship. In November, Waldron Mercy students led their new friends on a tour of the Sisters of Mercy Chapel, highlighting artwork that depicts stories from the Bible. In small groups and pairs, students wandered the chapel whispering questions and observations to one another.
As Al Aqsa students looked at the images, they realized that some depictions represented similar accounts of stories they knew from the Qur’an. After clarifying that “Jesus” and “Isa” were the same, students began to observe the artwork in a new way. “I saw Isa healing the blind man,” a student from Al Aqsa pointed out, “and Adam and Eve (Hawa) in the garden,” another student chimed in.
Soon enough, students from each school were naming meaningful shared stories from their respective faiths. In addition to pointing out similarities, Waldron Mercy students also had the opportunity to share about their favorite holidays and food traditions, such as seven fish on Christmas Eve, or how they choose to observe Lent.
Service Learning in Action
In addition to interfaith learning, the Multi-School Program emphasizes service-learning as a core component. During the first session, students volunteered with the Lower Merion Conservancy. We began with get-to-know-you activities, and the beginnings of curious questions and open conversations between the students. Then we moved into an informal but essential component: students weeded a community area and together painted fish to decorate the park, all while emphasizing the importance of empathy, compassion, and civic responsibility.
These activities provided an informal setting to delve into curious questions about one another, as they connected about favorite TV shows and soccer, connections to God/Allah, and significant cultural differences between them. Throughout their conversations, we overheard common values again and again. These hands-on experiences help students translate values into action and see themselves – together – as active contributors to their communities.
Friendship as the True Measure of Success
The true measure of this program’s success has been the lasting friendships developed throughout the students’ time together. By acknowledging differences and embracing their curiosity, we’ve seen students gain the confidence to be true to themselves without fear of judgement, and take pride in relationships that thrive beyond program sessions. Students quickly formed a group chat, and hug one another at the start and end of each visit. Invitations have been extended to celebrate holidays together, and students are excited to visit each other’s schools.
Looking Ahead: Expanding the Vision
Looking ahead, Interfaith Philadelphia plans to expand participation in the Multi-School Program by welcoming additional partner schools, further strengthening opportunities for interfaith learning and collaboration among Philadelphia-area youth. We are overjoyed to empower students with the confidence to positively shape the spaces they inhabit, drive systemic change, and contribute to a world rooted in hope, reconciliation, and understanding.
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