Rather than sitting back amidst an atypical fall semester, the Lehigh field hockey team made a difference in the community.
The present-day Mountain Hawks teamed up with alum, Dr. Steph Palmieri, and the program she's heavily involved with – Lehigh Valley Summerbridge.
As described on its website, the program is "a free, non-profit enrichment program hosted by Moravian Academy that is designed to assist predominantly low-income students, from nine different middle schools in the Lehigh Valley, in their quest to become a college student."
This dual mission program is also dedicated to teacher training, employing aspiring teachers enrolled in college education programs, many of whom grew up in the Lehigh Valley and are enrolled at Lehigh and colleges throughout the Lehigh Valley.
Palmieri actually began working with Summerbridge when she was at Lehigh working on her master's degree.
"A bulk of our work is in the summer," said Palmieri, who is currently assistant director of the program. "We have about seven weeks, so one week of really intense teacher orientation then six weeks with the students."
Summerbridge conducts school-year programming as well, which includes fun field trips to celebrate students' hard work along with college preparatory sessions.
"This summer, we had to go online, which was very tough," said Palmieri. "So we looked for ways to really engage our kids."
Early in the fall, Lehigh head field hockey coach Caitlin Dallmeyer reached out to Palmieri asking if she had any ideas for community-service opportunities.
Palmieri, who earned her undergraduate degree from Lehigh in 2007 and graduate degree from Lehigh in 2009, came through.
Palmieri with Summerbridge students (pre-pandemic)
"I suggested a book club with Summerbridge kids," she said. "We set up four hour-long training sessions with the team via Zoom. We talked about what it means to be a teacher, how to interact with kids, what adolescents need from us and how we can give that to them. We talked a lot about the barriers that prevent specifically low-income students from learning (and from accessing learning)."
This fall, the Lehigh field hockey student-athletes took on the role of teacher.
"The players saw the difficulties of online education and of working with a low-income population who can't always be [in attendance]," said Palmieri.
Five group leaders were selected, with three groups reading Divergent and two reading The Hunger Games.
"The group leaders were Sam Nason and Maddie Kahn for group one, Sophie Leighton for group two, Anna Piecuch for group three, Sydney White for group four and Lenke Havas for group five," said Palmieri. "Each Monday, the group leaders, coaches and I met via Zoom and we debriefed. We looked at some of the video clips from their sessions and talked about different aspects of leadership."
Every group featured between four and six student-athletes and a handful of Summerbridge students, of which two or three consistently showed up.
"Groups created a lesson plan and received feedback before implementing that plan," said Palmieri. "During book club sessions, each week had a theme. We started with getting to know you and pre-reading activities then went into characterization, setting, conflict, plot and theme."
The student-athletes were given a lot of freedom.
"One question that came up, which was pretty amazing, was in one of the Divergent groups," said Palmieri. "There's this thing called a fear landscape in the book where you have to live out your fears. What would be the fears in your landscape?
"It led to this very fascinating conversation on some silly fears and some really deep, profound fears."
Conversations like that were as much learning and growing experiences for the student-athletes as the middle schoolers.
"We learned to be quick thinkers on our feet as group instructors, and this meant we'd delve away from our initial lesson if we found a certain idea or topic was worth exploring more," said Piecuch. "Steph taught us how to think critically as a teacher in this way. She stressed the importance of asking kids, 'why do you think that?' or 'tell us more' after they gave an interesting comment."
Palmieri was impressed by the student-athletes' questions.
"We did a whole training session on creating good discussion questions," she said. "How do you create meaningful discussion questions and how do you follow those up? When I watched the recordings, I saw so many LUFH (Lehigh field hockey) players coming out of their shells, using those strategies, interacting with the kids and each other, putting themselves out there and telling goofy stories."
The players found a way to effectively connect with the youngsters in a virtual setting.
Summerbridge students visiting Lehigh (pre-pandemic)
"It's hard on Zoom," said Palmieri. "You can't get that natural flow going, but they did a really good job allowing kids who didn't want to speak out loud to type (in the chat) and feel comfortable."
Piecuch hopes Lehigh field hockey helped the middle schoolers get excited about learning.
"I hope through talking with us, they realized that chatting about books and ideas is really cool, and growing the mind makes us more well-rounded and adaptable people," she said. "I hope we helped kids feel energized about learning and to never stop being curious."
Learning is exactly what LUFH was doing throughout the process as well. They knew they were making an impact, but their true impact will be hard to quantify… at least for some time.
"Part of our program is to introduce the middle schoolers to the possibility of college," said Palmieri. "A lot of them are going to be first-generation college students. Each summer, we take them on two college field trips. We talk a lot about the language of college and that it is possible.
"For them to be interacting with not only college students, but also very intelligent, put-together college students, I believe it's affirming," she continued. "The kids see they can do this. The LUFH players were great role models, putting themselves out there, showing up each week and being willing to say and share thoughts and ideas."
White enjoyed serving as a role model.
"It was a truly rewarding opportunity," she said. "I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't had role models growing up who pushed me to be better. That's the great part about LUFH; the coaches instill in us the idea of being part of something greater than ourselves and becoming a person who others look up to."
Over the days, months and years, these student-athletes have certainly made the coaches proud, and this case was no different.
White called the experience "humbling."
Palmieri with a Summerbridge student (pre-pandemic)
"These kids chose to be a part of this book club, which says a lot in itself," she said. "It made me want to work that much harder for them, so they would continue with the same intellectual desire later on. This also gave me perspective as far as the shift to virtual learning for teachers. It is not easy by any means to construct a lesson plan that can be carried out without actually being in the classroom.
"I have a new appreciation for my teachers and the dedication they put forward for my success."
An adjunct professor herself at Temple University, Palmieri knows the power of teaching. She couldn't be more proud of Lehigh field hockey for the way it approached the book club with a growth mindset.
"We don't put gold stars on just doing your job," said Palmieri. "We celebrate the really impressive accomplishments and I've been very impressed by LUFH. They probably didn't realize how much work it was going to be, especially given the circumstances (amidst the pandemic), but they continued to learn and grow throughout the program.
