Amadee Braxton
A group of young students are learning about environmental justice and advocacy. Block by block, reporter Anaiah Davis brings us this story about a South Philly teacher who helped her second graders take their message to City Hall.
Anaiah Davis
Angela Chan teaches second grade at Fanny Jackson Copeland Public School in South Philly, where I work as a media instructor. Part of her work involves teaching students about science and nature, which is something she wishes she had learned to appreciate when she was their age. Angela is a first-generation American who was born in Philadelphia and was very involved in her Chinatown community when she was growing up, doing things like tutoring neighbors who were learning English. But it wasn’t until she moved to Arizona to complete her student teaching that she came to see the beauty in protecting nature.
Angela Chan
Growing up in the city, I did not appreciate wildlife and nature until I was a young adult. It was probably in Arizona when I noticed the red rocks and the canyons that I started to notice the natural world around me.
Anaiah Davis
Angela doesn’t want her students to realize the beauty of nature in Philadelphia late in life as she did.
Angela Chan
My belief is that we are all connected. We’re connected to the smallest creatures in the world, and I really want students to feel that connection, since they’re growing up in the city, they might not notice the nature that’s around us. But I believe that if we learn to connect with nature, and if we learn to take care of even the smallest living beings in our world, it will help us to become better human beings. My own love of nature and my belief that everyone and every living being is connected helped me to want to introduce environmental science, environmental justice, to my students. Sh
Anaiah Davis
She wanted her students to learn how to use the equipment to interview Philadelphia Council member Jamie Gaudier about her proposed Stop trashing our air act. This act would stop Philadelphia’s trash being sent to the Reworld Trash Incinerator in Chester, Pennsylvania. The students would also create posters in collaboration with ArtWell, a Philadelphia art nonprofit, to bring with them to City Hall, where they would speak in favor of the bill. Using these partnerships, Angela helps bring to life what the students want to voice-not only to each other, but to their wider community. The video called “Save Our Air” was completed in March and shared to the school community. Soon after, the students took to City Hall to voice their concerns. Cyrus, one of the children in Angela’s class, was a little nervous about going up to the council.
Cyrus
So when we like walked in, I I was really nervous. But when I saw other people do it, I was like, oh, it doesn’t seem that bad. When I did it, I started to like not feel that nervous because all I was doing was. Talking and most of the people that were there were sitting behind me, only like the council members were in front of me, so that made it less stressful.
Anaiah Davis
Poppy, his classmate, felt almost like the experience was dreamlike.
Poppy
My experience speaking at City Hall is kind of surreal. It felt so cool to be in front of an entire crowd and in front of such important people.
Anaiah Davis
Itwas this maturity and motivation the students showed that made Angela want to bring the children to City Hall in the first place.
Angela Chan
It was a little bit nerve-wracking in the beginning because City Hall is just not a kid-friendly place, but it was very powerful to see students say, “Hey, we can’t just let this stand. That really touched me and gave me hope that we have young people who know so clearly what’s right or wrong. So really, I just made the process possible for them to do.
Anaiah Davis
With this event and with Angela’s teaching, students like Juno feel like they have a voice in how their city is run.
Juno
I might not like go to City Hall and public testify again, but I might email council members, tell them that like this isn’t right, or I might send letters to the government, stuff like that. Yeah.
Anaiah Davis
What does Angela want her students to take from learning advocacy? That not only should kids be included in the conversation, but that every battle may not result in a win. Something that’s important for children to learn.
Angela Chan
The fact that as a community we made this decision to put our strength together and our voices together to make a difference. What we’ve learned in the process is as important as whether or not City Council voted to shut down the trash incinerator. So that was something that the kids took with them. That if a vote doesn’t work out for us this time. The work continues.
Anaiah Davis
For Block by Block, I’m Anaiah Davis.
This story was broadcast as part of the June 10, 2026 episode of Block by Block.
Note: This transcript was machine-generated and may contain some spelling errors or other inaccuracies.