Esek Hopkins Middle School
Khoo Kitchen
Who is Esek Hopkins Middle School Named After?
- Khoo Kitchen just had its official grand re-opening this year. The restaurant had to change location due to a fire.
- While we were there, we observed that there were a lot of local families coming to pick up dinner.
Esek Hopkins was commander in chief of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary war. He was highly respected in the North End Rhode Island Community and served the Rhode Island General Assembly until 1786, then retired to his farm where he died February 1802. His home, the Esek Hopkins House, is still located in Providence.
Providence After School Alliance (PASA): Club AfterZone
Esek Hopkin +'s
- AfterZone is the PASA program geared for middle school students in Providence, RI
- As volunteers, we help facilitate pre-planned programs as well as come up with new programs to be executed each week
- An example of a program we created was the “Fly Swatter Halloween game” where students had to correctly guess the Halloween term associated with a given definition. The students really enjoyed the activity and we plan on doing it again but with more educational vocabulary
Esek Hopkins Middle School Background & History
- Esek Hopkins is a nice facilities for a local middle school. There are multiple fields for the students to play on. Other people in the community play on the fields as well.
- A lot of the students walk home after AfterZone ends by themselves. A lot of people in the area walk their dogs with their children during the time of day that we go.
- There are local businesses in the area.
- PASA AfterZone is an asset of the area. It gives the students a safe place to be after school that also provides a constructive environment for the students.
- Esek Hopkins is a middle school in Providence, RI. It is about a 5 minute drive away from PC.
- It serves 6th grade through 8th grade
- The PASA AfterZone Program serves about 150 of Esek Hopkins’ population
-Esek Hopkins Middle School is located on Charles Street. Charles Street is encompassed by the Charles neighborhood with is next to the Wanskuck neighborhood of northern Providence
-This area of Providence is often referred to as the North End but is not part of North Providence
-In 1765, the North End of Providence was annexed to the neighboring town of North Providence.
-By the end of the nineteenth century this neighborhood was comprised of small one to two family homes where many immigrants working in local industrial factories lived. Immigrant families living in this neighborhood were Irish, English, Italian, Scottish and German.
-The rapid growth of the community led to the return of the Charles neighborhood from North Providence back to Providence in 1874, creating the North End as it is known as today.
Street Stories
Esek Hopkins
One of the PASA programs, Street Stories has students write short narratives about every day experiences. This week, they took the students in the program out on a walk around the neighborhood and had them draw maps and write stories about the neighborhood.
- “This neighborhood was once a safe, residential area but it has transitioned into ‘the ghetto’.” – Khoo Kitchen restaurant owner
- The Khoo Kitchen owner has been in the area for awhile now, but he himself does not live here. He is an observer, just like us.
- “I would never walk in this neighborhood alone. I feel threatened.” – Female student at Esek Hopkins
- Although some students do walk home alone after the program ends, we noticed that it is mostly boys. Female students do not feel as safe in the area.