'Pop The Bubble,' Group to Unite Lower Moreland School Community, Started by LM Alum

LOWER MORELAND, PA — When the Lower Moreland school community was debating the hotly contested issue of face coverings on students and staff this upcoming school year due to COVID-19, a survey was making its rounds on the Internet asking folks how they felt about the matter.

The survey wasn’t from the school district but rather a relatively new community organization called Pop the Bubble.

The name still may be unfamiliar to some, but the group is hoping to change that in time.

“I felt the need to mobilize,” Serena Nguyen said about her decision to found Pop the Bubble, whose mission is to connect and uplift the community through bipartisan, inclusive and equitable values.

But it wasn’t masks that Nguyen was initially mobilizing around – it was an incident of hate.

Anti-Asian Sentiment

While the facemask issue spurred the group to create the recent community survey, it was actually a Lower Moreland anti-Asian hate speech incident back in January that was the actual catalyst for Pop the Bubble’s founding in the first place.

“You didn’t really think something like that would come out in the open in our small little hometown,” said Nguyen during a recent virtual interview with Patch.

Nguyen, who was joined in the interview by Pop the Bubble member Gabrielle Janovsky, 22, comes from a family of immigrants who came to the U.S. from Vietnam during the diaspora following the Vietnam War. The family settled in North Philly but Nguyen lived her younger years in Northeast Philadelphia before moving over to Montgomery County.

Nguyen, 24, (she’ll turn 25 in early September), began working at restaurants at age 15. She graduated from Lower Moreland High School in 2014 and went on to obtain a bachelor’s degree in science and biology from Temple University in 2018.

After the Lower Moreland anti-Asian incident, (it hit home for her given her background), Nguyen wanted to do something to “move the community forward a bit.”

She began communicating with the school district and eventually started her coalition, Pop the Bubble. The group currently has seven members, some Lower Moreland alum and others current students at the district.

Provides A Service

“I’m honestly really happy that Pop the Bubble has become a thing,” one of the student members of the group told Patch.

The high schooler asked that she not be named because of her age.

She said the group provides a true service because it helps speak on behalf of students who might otherwise be intimidated to, say, approach the school board on a particular matter since it might be unpopular with peers.

“You’re influencing your own school,” she said about creating a dialogue with the board. “It can be really stressful because you know that their decisions can impact you.”

The difficulty comes with knowing you have to attend school with students who might disagree with you on certain matters, she said. Or their parents might disagree with you.

Janovsky, the other member interviewed last week alongside Nguyen, said Pop the Bubble initially began as a “safe space” for students and alum to discuss the Lower Moreland anti-Asian hate incident. It was that connection that enabled Nguyen to begin fostering a relationship with current and former students moving forward.

“We’re trying to facilitate productive and inclusive conversation in the community,” Nguyen said.

Mask, Or No Mask?

As for the mask survey, Janovsky said it was an opportunity for folks to weigh in on a highly contentious matter just to see where everyone stood on the issue. The survey was made available online, making it convenient for those with busy schedules.

Around the time of the Lower Moreland August school board meeting, some community members complained about the fact that the survey was only shared on social media, claiming it was not a true representation of how Lower Moreland parents feel about universal school masking.

But Nguyen and Janovsky said they are still proud of the fact that they had 290 responses; they initially only expected to receive around 60. And they are equally proud that Lower Moreland’s superintendent agreed to pass along the survey to school board members, something that proved the district was taking this group seriously.

“That was quite affirming for us,” Nguyen said. “The board was recognizing that the community wants to be heard.

“We saw that as an indication that we were going along the right track, that we were filling a need within the community with regard to uplifting the voices of those who might not feel comfortable enough to show up physically to a board meeting to voice themselves and their opinions,” Nguyen continued.

Nguyen said her group doesn’t claim to represent the 13,000 or so people who reside in Lower Moreland Township, but she also doesn’t want to undermine the fact that nearly 300 people took the time to respond.

According to Cheryl Galdo, Lower Moreland School District’s communications official, there are 2,447 students who attend the district, representing approximately 1,300 households. The figure is approximate, she said, because parents/guardians don’t have to report household information so they are simply going by addresses.

Future Goals

As for the future of Pop the Bubble, the members say they hope to increase dialogue and work more closely with the school board.

“I think it’s a lot easier to point fingers than to build bridges,” Nguyen said, noting the ultimate goal is to foster a greater relationship with the overall school community. “I think that’s what Pop the Bubble is to be about. We’re doing our best to just move forward.”

Janovsky, who is studying to become a lawyer, said she hopes the group can one day become a registered nonprofit organization. Members are already in touch with folks who have expressed interest in becoming board members, she said.

Janovsky said Pop the Bubble hopes to have a board made up of Lower Moreland parents, school alum and community members to “best represent the diversity of our community.”