Dear Cooper Team:
Cooper University Health Care’s hometown of Camden continues to experience a renaissance. Investments in the city’s schools have had a widespread, positive impact on the community. We are pleased to share the message below from the Cooper’s Ferry Partnership highlighting the transformation of Camden’s schools and the educational achievements of its students.
Strengthening Camden Schools
Camden’s test scores aren’t the only thing going up around here — so is the quality of our school buildings themselves. From 2009 to 2019, an incredible $465 million was invested in building and renovating no fewer than 14 neighborhood schools across the city, from Centerville to Whitman Park to Cramer Hill. Check out this map showing just where each of these schools is located, and don’t miss the great clips below highlighting a few of Camden’s tremendous educational success stories.
Community Celebrates Early Construction on New Camden High School
As published by TapInto.net on June 19, 2019
Photo by Camden City School District.
When the school long known as the “Castle on the Hill” was torn down, those in the area wondered if another truly would rise in its place.
Demolition on the century-old Camden High School began a little more than a year ago, with pieces of the building salvaged for use again. But members of the community worried that the 1700 block of Park Boulevard would instead be plucked for residential development, or that construction for the planned modernized facility would stall for an indefinite time.
The concerns could be tossed aside Wednesday afternoon as the New Jersey Schools Development Authority gave tangible evidence — cranes, steel, and the ceremonial mound of dirt and shovels — that it was certainly following through on a $133 million commitment made three years earlier.
From Juvenile Delinquent to Juris Doctor: Camden Woman Keeps her Promise to the Judge Who Gave Her a Break 12 Years Ago
As published by The Philadelphia Inquirer on June 23, 2019
When a Family Court judge gave her a second chance after a brush with the law, Carmen Day promised to return to his courtroom one day — as a lawyer.
Twelve years later, Day is just a semester away from fulfilling her dream. She is a third-year student at Rutgers-Camden Law School and has reunited with Judge Charles Dortch, who adjudicated Day so long ago.
It has been a long journey for Day, 29, of Sicklerville, from the past that nearly landed her behind bars as a teenager. Her time before the judge was a wake-up call to turn her life around and pursue a childhood dream.
“I always wanted to be a lawyer,” Day said during an interview on the Rutgers campus. “I didn’t want to tarnish my record and hurt my chances.”
Born in Camden, Day was raised by her mother and stepfather and her biological father. Her legal troubles began when she enrolled at nearby Pennsauken High school and succumbed to peer pressure from her boyfriend and friends. The once A+ student thought about dropping out of school, but her mother, also named Carmen, refused to allow it.
McCOMBS: Continuing the Progress and Looking Toward the Future
At the close of the 2018-19 academic year, I want to congratulate Camden City School District’s students, educators, staff, and supporters on another successful year full of milestones and academic achievement.
The mantra around the city as of late has been “Camden Rising,” an encapsulation of both the city’s various accomplishments in public safety and public health, as well as the literal rising of towers and buildings that mark an economic renaissance. Yet, there has been no single group that has embodied the spirit behind this slogan more than our schools and students. The goals they have set and met this year and in the last five years are emblematic of the city’s resurgence, and the widespread impact it is having on our communities.
As a 26-year educator in the Camden City School District, I have seen the district change and transform in various fashions for nearly three decades. I have seen periods of struggle, and I have seen upward trends that lifted our students to new heights. I have seen students leave Camden schools and accomplish incredible feats, and I have seen others falter without recovering. With all of this in mind, I can say with certainty, that today, Camden schools are on a path to progress unlike anything I have experienced since I was a Camden student myself, growing up on Morton Street.