Welcome to Temple’s Saturday College, where Philly middle school students can learn on campus for free

Under nearly cloudless skies Saturday, a dozen Philadelphia middle school students wandered around Temple University’s 187-acre Ambler campus, which doubles as an arboretum.

They heard a woodpecker, oohed and ahhed at the little bell-shaped flowers on a Japanese andromeda tree, learned about an experiment in growing fruits and vegetables using solar panels and then planted their own seeds, which they were able to take home with them.

Certainly, officials at Temple hope the students’ seeds grow into flowers and vegetables as intended. But they’re also hoping that another seed the university is aiming to plant blossoms: The university last month launched a pilot Saturday College program to begin introducing students to college at a younger age than high school, when they are faced with having to apply. The program is free and open to all middle school students who live in Philadelphia, though enrollment for the spring is closed.

“The research tells us that decision-making on whether to go to college begins as early as seventh grade,” said Valerie Harrison, vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion. “So precollege programs give us an opportunity to really enhance ... what we call college knowledge. That is a big factor in whether someone goes to school. Is it something familiar to you? Has it been demystified for you?”

The new Saturday College is far from Temple’s first precollege programming. For decades, Temple, like some other schools, has offered programs, mostly targeted at high school students and often run by a particular school or department.

“This is a centralized effort to extend that pathway into middle school,” said Maureen Saraco, director of summer and precollege programs.

It is also a solution to a growing problem facing universities. Temple, like many of its peers, has lost enrollment in recent years. It stands at 30,530 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, down 9.2% from last year and 22% from 2019.

The university sees opportunities for more enrollment from Philadelphia in part by growing precollege programs, Harrison said. Earlier this year, the university also launched Temple Promise, which will make tuition and fees free for first-time, full-time college students from low-income families who live in Philadelphia. It will cover costs for students whose families’ adjusted gross income is $65,000 or less and be applied after other federal, state and scholarship aid is tallied.

The Temple program supports a priority area in the School District of Philadelphia’s five-year strategic plan aimed at accelerating academic achievement, said Monique Braxton, the district’s deputy chief of communication.

Providing precollege access “is invaluable and reinforces the need for students to have access to coaching, mentoring and learning opportunities so that they may graduate career and college-ready,” she said. “This partnership also supports the district’s vision of preparing students to imagine and realize any future they desire.”

» READ MORE: Temple aid to help make tuition free for low-income Philadelphia families

Students already have visited the College of Engineering and the library on the main campus in North Philadelphia, where they used 3D printers and laser cutting to make their own wooden birdhouses. Later this spring, they will go to the College of Science and Technology and attend a session on how to apply for college and obtain financial aid. Officials are emphasizing project-based learning across disciplines.

“It helps them see the connection between the classroom and what they could do with the knowledge once they apply it in the real world,” said Saraco.

Cherish Harley, 14, an eighth grader who is homeschooled, already gets the connection. The birdhouse she constructed serves as a home for her parakeet, Irish.

“I like learning,” Harley said. “Temple is on my list [of possible colleges]. I like the campus and how you have room for all different career paths.”

At Temple Ambler, Sam McGuriman, STEM programs specialist, took students outdoors to see plant beds being grown with and without solar panels. Such research could help with the creation of community gardens in cities, she said.

Aja Johnson, 12, a seventh grader at St. Malachy Catholic School in North Philadelphia, said she has wanted to major in fashion in college and start her own business, but visiting Temple Ambler has made her think about botany. She said one of the instructors, Lisa Blum, agreed to send her a book on flowers.

“I want to come back here during the actual spring when everything is in full bloom,” she said.

» READ MORE: From ‘Truffula trees’ to carbon storage, Temple’s Ambler campus offers new discoveries one year after Ida

Instructors asked students to speculate on what may have happened to a section of campus where tree tops were gone, leaving stark poles with little branches sprouting off.

One student guessed trees were cut down for lumber. That wasn’t right.

“A storm,” said another.

Getting warmer.

“Anyone know what type of storm,” McGuriman asked.

“A mini-tornado,” a student guessed right.

McGuriman explained how in 2021 a tornado tore through campus, causing more than $10 million in damage. Thousands of plants and trees, some more than 100 years old, were twisted at the base, felled, or so heavily damaged they had to be taken down. But the campus has been rebuilding and turned the weather disaster into a learning experience.

In its pilot year, Temple officials are gauging which activities are most interesting to students. So offerings likely will be tweaked next year, when the program is expected to be expanded to a full year and opened to as many as 100 students, Saraco said. Students who attend this year will be invited back, she said.

Temple officials hope the students will stay involved with Temple, such as through a summer learning camp and dual enrollment that allows city high school students to take college classes for credit.

“So by the time you get to 12th grade, you’ve been here so long, you know this place,” Harrison said. “And even if you don’t choose Temple, college will not be intimidating to you.”

Middle school students living in Philadelphia and interested in attending the free program in the fall can email futurescholars@temple.edu