Empowering high school youth through immersive art mentorship

Every Wednesday and Friday, fourth-years Ejun Mary Hong and Jack Nicholas Roney visit William L. Sayre High School in West Philadelphia—a University-Assisted Community School (UACS) supported by Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships—as part of the Participatory Art Action Mentorship Program (PAAM), a weekly after-school initiative that immerses young students in the fields of animation and film production, architecture, illustration, photography, and design.

PAAM, which Hong launched with the Netter Center during the summer between her second and third years at Penn, enables high school students to learn skills in artmaking software, gain hands-on experience with various mediums and methods, present their artwork at local exhibitions and sales, and connect with industry experts to explore career opportunities.

Hong and Roney, both students in the College of Arts & Sciences and graduating this May, plan to spend the next year expanding the PAAM program to PIXEL, or “Project for Inspiring eXpression, Education, and Leadership”, a comprehensive effort designed to build bridges between the creative industries and under-resourced public high school students in the greater Philadelphia area. The project reflects Penn’s strategic framework, In Principle and Practice, with goals to address timely challenges, promote leadership and community service, and be an exemplary neighbor.

PIXEL is one of two projects selected this year to receive a President’s Engagement Prize, given annually to academically outstanding, civically active Penn fourth-year students. The competitive award—one-of-a-kind in U.S. higher education—provides $100,000 to fund each project and a $50,000 living stipend for each student, empowering them to dedicate the first year after graduation to service-oriented projects that make a tangible impact in the world. The PIXEL team will be mentored by Jarrett Stein, UACS director of health partnerships and social ventures at the Netter Center.

PIXEL will build upon the creative programming, skill-building, and industry networking that PAAM offers to local high school students who may otherwise lack equitable access to these opportunities—and whose stories can often go unheard.

“Meeting with students from PAAM and from Sayre High School, I learned the powerful stories that every individual student has to tell the world—and then I’ve seen how those stories could also inspire others,” says Hong, a dual major in fine arts and cinema and media studies whose PAAM leadership was recognized in 2024 with a Shah Family Prize for Innovative Undergraduate Student Projects from the Netter Center. “We’ve been creating artwork that tells stories not often heard in the media. We recognize the importance of creating a space for these students to share their stories—and providing an opportunity for their stories to be heard.”

Project expansion: From PAAM to PIXEL

The PIXEL endeavor has four core objectives: expand university-led art mentorships from local to global scales; link industry experts with high school teachers through professional development seminars; offer advanced workshops for high school students in the Philadelphia area; and promote students’ art through exhibitions and publications.

Hong and Roney have already laid a strong foundation upon which to implement PIXEL.

Through PAAM, they have invited 18 art students from Penn to host workshops for high school participants and coordinated several exhibitions and public events, including an art sale last fall at Moore College of Art & Design. PIXEL will help extend these programs to new schools and locations in Philadelphia.

Additionally, they’ve invited numerous industry professionals to engage with the students, including artists from Marvel, Pixar, and Sony Animation.

View large image

“Participating students are able to connect with these creative professionals and learn that art is an area they can pursue as a career,” says Hong, whose plans for PIXEL involve increasing the number of industry experts who visit the high school students.

Another focus area for PIXEL will be expanding PAAM’s partnership with the Teachers Institute of Philadelphia (TIP). TIP connects professors with School District of Philadelphia educators to host seminars that enhance art education through knowledge-sharing and professional development. PIXEL will help bring TIP workshops to local high schools that collaborate with the Netter Center, as well as enable Hong and Roney to launch similar efforts at Drexel and Temple.

Hong notes that PIXEL will place heightened emphasis on mentoring art teachers and building local relationships through an integrative approach that considers the varied backgrounds, needs, interests, and career goals of participating high school students.

“We are focusing on artists and inviting creative professionals and Penn professors to host more workshops, so that [it’s] not only us directly reaching the students through art mentorship programs like PAAM, but also by sharing knowledge and resources with these high school educators so that they can reach their students,” Hong says.

PIXEL is designed to help develop and inspire the next generation of artists, changemakers, and visionaries, all of whom have vital roles in advancing society—both in Philadelphia and beyond. “Artists are some of the first in line to be activists,” notes Roney, who has served as assistant program coordinator and lead artist at Upper Darby Mural Arts.

“I really find power in sharing artistic vision with people and collaborating and using that as a catalyst for change,” he says.

Personal experiences fuel social impact

A dual major in architecture and fine arts from Jonesborough, Tennessee, Roney understands the impact of providing youth with equitable access to educational and career opportunities.

“Building bridges, for us, means a multifaceted approach to providing resources and opportunities to students who otherwise wouldn’t have them,” says Roney, whose Penn tuition was supported by a scholarship from QuestBridge, an organization that connects high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds with critical resources and financial aid.

View large image

Through PIXEL, Roney hopes that his expertise in design, photography, and mural art will help to enrich the skills and interests of high school students participating in the program.

“For me, [the President’s Engagement Prize] is this almost incomprehensible privilege,” Roney says. “I just hope to show through the next couple of years of work that it was absolutely worth it, and that people like me and from my background can go on to succeed at the highest level.”

Hong met Roney while partnering together on their senior thesis project. The duo bonded over shared experiences with personal adversity and making art for social change, both of which have been driving forces behind their PIXEL project.

As a child, Hong faced health issues resulting from an eye disorder. Watching animated films and creating narrative-driven stories helped Hong realize the healing power of art. In recent years, she’s produced animated films about her grandfather’s life, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and patients with lymphoma in South Korea, among other themes.

“I’m really passionate about how storytelling and art could be used as a form of care,” says Hong, who has lived in several countries, including Slovakia, Canada, and South Korea. “I think that’s the biggest driver in my life right now and that led me to doing service work related to art.”

Building momentum through mentorship

Hong’s idea for the PAAM program—which would later blossom into the PIXEL project—was initially seeded during an internship where she taught animation to young students. Stein, who has guided Hong since her first year at Penn, helped bring the idea to fruition along with colleagues at the Netter Center and Sayre High School. Since then, Stein has witnessed Hong and Roney flourish into service-oriented leaders who continually strive to enrich the lives of high school students through art.

“They both have this intrinsic purpose that is just so special to support,” Stein says. “Witnessing the high school students discover their own artistic interests by participating in PAAM, and then be so excited about sharing what they’ve created, has been incredibly rewarding.”

The PIXEL team will meet regularly with Stein and his Netter Center colleagues throughout project implementation. In the short term, Stein anticipates more high school students will gain exposure to new skills, interests, and networking opportunities. Meanwhile, Penn students who volunteer with the program will continue gaining invaluable mentorship experience.

“Long term, I think that Ejun and Jack and the PIXEL project will help establish a model of university-assisted art mentorship in K-12 schools,” Stein says. “They have been proactive in their leadership of developing the PIXEL project, which is really growing from the model for PAAM that they’ve developed here at Penn. They had a vision of expanding it, and I’ve been there to provide guidance as they’ve been developing and implementing their ideas.”

As Hong and Roney gear up for graduation this May, they are prepared to spend the next year giving back to a community they hold dear.

“I always wanted to start something like PAAM, and now PIXEL, to have a bigger and broader impact,” Hong says. “I think this is such a privilege and also an honor to receive the [President’s Engagement Prize] and then give back to the community that was my home—and is still my home—for the past four years.”