28-05-2025
Political Empathy Lab tour returns to Johnstown
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Professor Lia Howard and student Noah Kocher visited Johnstown last year during the hyper-political time of a president election.
On Tuesday, they returned to the city as part of a University of Pennsylvania Political Empathy Lab tour during a slower-moving, off-year municipal election cycle.
Although the political environments were different, the goal was the same.
They and other participants set out to travel across the commonwealth, talking to people to learn about their concerns, beliefs, communities and political opinions.
Howard, Kocher and seven other students from the Philadelphia school met for over an hour with Penn Club of Western Pennsylvania President and Johnstown native Donald Bonk, Johnstown City Councilwoman Laura Huchel and a reporter from The Tribune-Democrat at Balance Restaurant. They also toured the downtown neighborhood after the luncheon.
'Part of the reason I wanted to do it again was because the first group had such an amazing experience,' said Howard, with Penn's SNF Paideia Program. 'It was over 10 weeks. It was a lot longer. I wanted to do a concentrated experience (this year). It's not a national election, so I was really interested in what Pennsylvania was thinking 100-plus days into (President Donald) Trump's administration and what does it feel like when it's not the pressure of a national election. Do people go back to normal?'
Kocher, a resident of Chester County in suburban Philadelphia, is the only student to participate in the lab both years.
'I feel like we're getting kinda similar conclusions in terms of it's really rewarding and good to go around and talk to people and hear from lots of people about how their lives are and what they care about,' Kocher said.
He added: 'People are really willing to talk and eager to be listened to.'
The students, including Wesley Liu, a philosophy major from the San Francisco Bay area, come from backgrounds that include living in major metropolitan regions.
The weeklong tour is scheduled to include about a dozen stops in major cities, such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and towns such as Bedford and Connellsville, Fayette County.
'It's been really great. I think I've learned a lot about communicating to a wide variety of people from Pennsylvania,' Liu said.
'I think I came in with a certain impression of what Pennsylvania was going to look like – blue-collar, working-class, et cetera. (Monday), we visited Hazleton, and Allentown and all these places. There's just a wide array of people, whether it's Hispanic- speaking migrant population, or a group of firefighters or a family walking their dog in Scranton late at night. It's talking to a wide array of people and seeing what works and what doesn't in getting them to talk about what issues are important to them both locally and nationally.'
Bonk talked to the students about Johnstown's history, the steel industry, immigration, eds and meds development, population decline, and culture.
Huchel, a Princeton University graduate, provided insight into local government.
'For me, a group of highly educated students who are really caring about the political situation, it's invaluable to have them come to a place like Johnstown,' Huchel said. 'Johnstown, of course, is a political enigma in many ways. It's certainly a nexus of influence. Obviously during the last presidential election we saw numerous visits from both campaigns.
'I think people trying to understand Johnstown and understand what the needs of our people are is a prevalent question. I think taking that message out where more people can hear it is important.'
