The Catalyst Project

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U.S. WORLD SOCIAL JUSTICE Student Opinion

BLM E&A: Emily Jones E&A: Ava Piliang E&A: Iris Qi E&A: Eva Kroh

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About Home What We Do Partners Our team '24 Publishing U.S. WORLD SOCIAL JUSTICE Student Opinion Projects BLM E&A: Emily Jones E&A: Ava Piliang E&A: Iris Qi E&A: Eva Kroh Events Previous Events New Events Get Involved Apply Contact Submit a piece Subscribe

The Catalyst Project

BREIF Introduction and background on Shaker Heights

The CatalystMay 8, 2024

Capstone Brief Video

The CatalystMay 8, 2024

Meet Eva at Hathaway Brown; an Equity and Action Capstone Student!

Eva’s capstone project, described by Eva;

My page is about understanding the social inequalities of shaker heights. Holistically, shaker heights succeeds national standards in

average income, health insurance, and poverty percentage. However, this affluence does not apply to all of our community. IN my

project I use public 202 cencus data to find this divide. I also investigate the history of shaker heights to understand why this has

happened.

Eva Kroh

Hi everyone! My name is Eva Kroh and I am a senior at Hathaway Brown and am publishing my capstone findings on the Inequalities of Shaker Heights on this page! I have worked for The Catalyst Project since my sophomore year and have served as a contributor, Outreach Director, and now Executive Director.

Project brief video;

Why explore inequalities of Shaker Heights?

Hi if you don't know me, my name is Eva Kroh. I am a Hathaway Brown student and an Equity in Action fellow. Although I was born in Mayfield Hts and my family lives in Cleveland Hts a majority of my growing up has been within the community of Shaker Heights, Ohio.

I started early childhood here at Hathaway Brown in Shaker Heights. As kids, my siblings and I would run around Horseshoe Lake. Today, I walk my dog every weekend at Shaker Lakes. My friends and I’s favorite pastime is the Van Aken District in Shaker Heights. My first job at Mitchells ice cream? Yes, also in Shaker Heights. The list is exhaustive but its safe to say that my fondest memories can be located within this city, and I know that can also be said for many of my peers My childhood has been centered around this community. With tutor suburbs, lined with paved sidewalks, and large lush oak trees. This is exactly what my friends in Abu Dhabi picture when I say American Suburbs. However, as I grew older, I started to realize that not all of Shaker Heights fit the advertised image of this community...

I used to think that I would be well acquainted with the familiar sites of North Park Blvd, and wore my knowledge of certain back roads as a badge of honor. After all, I spend so much time in one area I must know this city like the back of my hand. However, it wasn’t until a few months ago I was trying to get to one of my friends' houses when I took a wrong turn and I was completely disoriented. I was less than 5 mi from my house, and still in Shaker Heights, but I was completely and turned around. These houses didn’t match the advertised aesthetic of Shaker. I was surrounded by houses built in the 60s and 70s and the large shady oak trees weren’t present. This was side of Shaker I had never been in before.

Eventually I got to my friend's house a little late, but my confidence in understanding the boundaries and totality of Shaker Heights simmered in my consciousness. To my surprise when grabbing some after school groceries with my mom, at my local Heines I saw a poster for senior sports at Shaker Heights. I could’ve sworn that the Heines located on the corner of Lee and Shaker were in actual Cleveland. In the past, I had thought that Shaker Heights had ended south of Chagrin blvd.

Click here to download the whole project!

Learn more here; links worth a look!

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