In the New Year, the city of Philadelphia experienced 25 murders. Including the death of 2010 alumnus, Kevin Kless, who was beaten to death on the steps of the Second Bank of the United States in the Old City section of Philadelphia on Jan. 14.

The perpetrators responsible for the act are in custody as of Friday, Jan. 20.

Shelli Pennick, a 1994 alumna, has lived in Philadelphia all her life.  Pennick is a licensed funeral director at Pennick Funeral Homes.

“I am often saddened when I have to provide services for young people,” Pennick said. “As long as I have been doing this there is never a time when I feel comfortable because parents should not be burying their children, children should be burying their parents. That’s just the natural order of life.”

Pennick believes that the stop snitching culture plaguing Philadelphia is dangerous, adding how such a thing did not exist when she was growing up in the city. Primarily because drug use, drug dealing and violent crime were not as rampant as they are today.

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