An announcement from the Philadelphia Student Union

It is with mixed emotions that I share with you that I have accepted a new position and will be transitioning out as the Executive Director of PSU. While I am excited for this new opportunity, I am also saddened to be leaving an organization that has been such a significant part of my life and has played a pivotal role in my personal and professional development.

As many of you know, I have been with PSU since I was a sophomore in high school, and I

have been deeply committed to our mission of building youth power and improving the lives of young people in Philadelphia. Though the pandemic has presented many challenges for us, I am incredibly proud of the work that we have done together. I am especially grateful to the young people I have had the privilege of meeting and working with over the last three years. Youth organizing during this time has been incredibly challenging, but our members have consistently shown up and brought passion and energy to the work that we do. I am so proud of them and the impact they have made.

I am pleased to announce that Koby Murphy, our current Lead Organizer, will be overseeing all PSU programming with the support of the PSU board. Koby is an alum of PSU and has been an integral part of our team for the past seven years. I am confident that he will do an outstanding job in this role and will continue to lead the organization with the same passion and commitment that I have.

More details about the search for PSU’s next Executive Director are forthcoming. In the

meanwhile, should you need to reach us, you can contact Koby Murphy, PSU’s Lead Organizer, or Chris Rogers, PSU’s Board Chair. Their emails are koby (at) phillystudentunion.org and board (at) phillystudentunion.org respectively.

I want to thank each and every one of you for your support during my time as Executive

Director. I am grateful for the time I have spent with you and the incredible experiences we have shared together. I know that PSU will continue to be a vital force for change and a source of empowerment for young people in Philadelphia. Finally, I'd like to make a final appeal - please consider donating and supporting our important work with young people in Philadelphia.

Sincerely,

Fred

A note from the Board: The Board of the Philadelphia Student Union honors Fred Pinguel for his visionary leadership and dedicated organizing as Executive Director of the Philadelphia Student Union. Originally starting in August 2019, Fred led PSU through one of the most trying times in our organization’s history when the unrelenting and still-yet-unfinished impacts of the global COVID pandemic exacerbated a world of flux in and beyond Philadelphia schools. Embedded within this climate of social turbulence inflamed by insufficient public investment in addressing the needs of our most aggrieved neighborhoods, Fred maintained a committed, compassionate, relational approach amongst all PSU stakeholder communities and strategized breakthrough organizing opportunities alongside PSU staff and youth that upheld a better world remains possible and necessary. During his tenure, we grasped the urgent possibility of just educational futures and reinforced ourselves within a radical PSU tradition. In his transition to a new role with another treasured partner in Philly's progressive organizing ecosystem, we are grateful that he'll remain a champion of PSU and the freedom dreams of Philadelphia youth and families. In the interim, we are proud to uplift veteran PSU organizer and alum Koby Murphy who will be overseeing all PSU programming with the support of the Board, while details of a forthcoming permanent ED search are being shaped. Indeed a moment of gratitude, Fred Pinguel remains forever a PSU-lifer.

— Christopher R. Rogers, Board Chair, on behalf of the full Board of the Philadelphia Student Union. board (at) phillystudentunion.org