Frick's Kings and Queens in the President's Town

Frick 8th-graders get Close Up with our nation's capital

This June, standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his timeless "I Have a Dream" speech, 13 Frick Middle School 8th-graders looked across the reflecting pool to the Washington Monument and let history sink in.

"It's different because we learn about these things in books at school, but once you're there you can feel the historical moments," explains 8th-grader Styliyah. "You get more information than you would from a textbook," adds Yassira. "A book might cut some stuff out, but once you get to D.C. you’ll understand more."
 
Their trip was hosted by the Close Up organization, whose program is "the perfect complement to middle school American history courses, [bringing] locations, lessons, and events from the classroom to life!"

The 8th-graders were awed to visit sites steeped in so much history, including the Vietnam Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, and Smithsonian Museum. "The Smithsonian was really cool – we saw the Hope Diamond. I'm surprised Willie doesn't have more things to say," John says, grinning at Willie in the next seat over.

"It was really interesting seeing the Vietnam Memorial,” says Willie, quickly rising to John's goodnatured challenge. "We got to see how many people fought, and there were vets there to honor their brothers in the war. We also saw the historical documents that showed how our rights are being preserved so that we can all know our rights as citizens."

Representing Oakland
 
While the close-up look at American history was clearly unforgettable, Frick's kings and queens wanted to make their own memorable impression as they represented their school, their neighborhood, and the city of Oakland in Washington, D.C.
 
"We felt some pressure," says Styliyah, "to carry ourselves with respect and courtesy."
 
As one Close Up instructor attests, they did not disappoint. “They [did] fantastic. In fact I've never seen a school [in] their very first year at Close Up not have homesickness or schedule issues.” (Watch this video testimonial here.)
 
"We were really proud of them," says 8th-grade teacher Susan Rafert, who chaperoned the trip along with fellow teacher Stacey Berry. "Adults came up to me frequently – from flight attendants to leaders of the Close Up program – and gave our kids so many great compliments."

Frick's 8th-graders also connected with the other students taking part in the Close Up program. "We loved meeting people from other parts of the country," says Willie. "They were all nice and I learned about their towns and what they did for fun out there, and they asked us about Oakland and what we do out here." The kids met students and teachers from Texas, Hawaii, New York, and more. "It was easy making friends with the New York people," recalls Aujahnee. "They were really friendly." Several kids are now Facebook friends with the students they met in D.C.

During the post-trip interviews for this newsletter, Principal Jerome Gourdine pops in to praise Frick’s D.C. 13. Before he can say a word, from the back of the room Cintia exclaims, "Mr. Gourdine, we were the ones [the Close Up staff] respected the most out there!"
 
"I'm really proud of you," says Gourdine. "Hopefully this spurred your appetite to travel around the country. This is one of the highlights of the year for me. When people see and hear what’s really going on in Oakland, they're blown away. You represented yourselves like the kings and queens you are."

“I can’t wait to go here”

EnCompass 5th-graders visit UC Berkeley, Mills College

“It was so big, it was like a city,” says EnCompass Academy 5th-grader Rahjae about his first glimpse of UC Berkeley’s campus during his class’s tour of the university this June.

“The moment they crossed the street onto campus and saw all the college students, you could just sense a change in attitude,” recalls 5th-grade teacher Marisa Villegas. “They were asking so many questions, wanting to know how a university works, what goes on in every building.” Approaching the campus’s main entrance, the kids stopped to take in the banners depicting Berkeley students from all around the world. “The kids got really excited about that, seeing the incredible diversity of students who go there,” says Villegas.

After visiting the Education Psychology Library Children’s Room (run by Villegas’s mother) and seeing the T-Rex in the Valley Life Sciences Building, Villegas introduced them to a less scholastic but equally defining college experience: pizza. “I’d told them again and again about how I ate Blondie’s Pizza when I went to Berkeley,” she explains. “They decided they wanted to taste this amazing pizza for themselves!”

Fueled by their slices, the kids visited Sproul Plaza, where they met Ethnic Studies graduate student Edgar Mojica (a member of OUSD’s new Ethnic Studies Task Force along with Villegas). They then spoke with Admissions Officer Ralph Serrano, who “talked to them just like he’d talk to incoming first-years,” says Villegas. “He answered all their questions about what it takes to get to college. By the time we were heading back to Oakland, every 5th-grader was telling me they want to go to Berkeley or Stanford or UCLA. It was a great day for us!”

“When we went to Cal, it changed me,” says Brian. “Now I feel like going there when I grow up. There are so many things you can learn there.”

“The one thing I was really thinking [on the tour], says Rahjae, “was I can’t wait to go here when I’m 18 or 19.”

The next evening, Villegas took Brian, Rahjae, and three other 5th-grade boys to the College Bound Brotherhood reception at the Oakland Museum. Honoring African-American high school seniors heading to college in the fall, one of the event’s highlights was a spoken-word performance. “The student who read the poem, it was tight,” recalls Rahjae. “It was called ‘Look at My Skin Tone.’”

“Our kids were riveted during that performance,” says Villegas. “They were also observing how the seniors wore button-downs and slacks, but some were wearing hats cocked to the side and sharp tennis shoes. As Brian put it, ‘They still had swag.’ Jarrett told me, ‘He looks like my older brother.’ It was empowering for our kids to make that connection, to see that they too can do this.”

“All these seniors there were going to college,” says Rahjae, “and some to places like Morehouse, Berkeley, and Harvard. It made me feel like even if you face challenges, you can still get good grades and go to college.”

“She’s my shero”

EnCompass 5th-graders also visited Mills College this year, where they witnessed the commencement speech delivered by Dolores Huerta, community activist and co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America.

“When Dolores Huerta came out on the stage, instantly tears started dropping from my eyes,” recalls Arayia. “The words she spoke were powerful,” says Rahjae.

Unbeknownst to the students, Villegas had contacted one of Huerta’s aides, saying, “We’d really be honored if she just came out and waved to the kids. But it wasn’t just a wave.” When Huerta exited the auditorium, says Villegas, “She walked right into the middle of the kids, she was surrounded by our kids on all sides. She was so gracious that she shook every kid’s hand and asked everyone’s name – all 48 kids!”

“When we saw her up close she came and hugged me and I started crying,” remembers Arayia. “She would have given her life for La Causa [the cause], for the workers in the fields. She’s my shero.”

Walden West: Mountains, Wind, and Wintergreen Mints

If UC Berkeley was like visiting “a city,” EnCompass Academy 5th-graders’ four-day experience at Walden West was momentous in a much different way. “A lot of students hadn’t been to the woods before,” says Villegas. “It was very new for them.”

“It felt fresh,” reflects Arayia. “There was no technology. All there is: wind and mountains and trees.”

“When we saw the mountains and all of that,” recalls Rahjae, “I thought that if we don’t save the earth, then there won’t be a lot of places like this left.”

Beyond environmental awareness and hands-on science learning, three nights in the Santa Cruz Mountains was a lesson in independence as well. Case in point: The night hike, with only the moon and their fellow students’ voices as their guide. “They learned how to depend on themselves and each other instead of on [fellow 5th-grade teacher] Mrs. Padilla and I, or their parents,” reflects Villegas. “It also strengthened friendships and created a safe space for them to feel supported by their classmates.”

At the end of the night hike, camp counselors handed out wintergreen mints, telling the kids to chew them up. The cracking mints glowed and sparked in the huge darkness, lighting up the night in a way that looked nothing like the streetlamps and headlights of Oakland.

“I felt different after the trip,” reflects Arayia. “When we came back, I think I was just a little calmer for a while, because we had come from such a calm place.”

They Will Be Change Makers

UFSA leadership team spends unforgettable week in New Orleans

For the ten 7th- and 8th-grade students on United for Success Academy’s Leadership Team, spring break was more like spring breakthrough. “When we had our first circle in New Orleans,” recalls 8th-grader Ameerah, “I told everybody I wanted people to look at Oakland and be amazed. I didn’t want them just to think ‘Oh, Oakland, here comes trouble.’ I said, ‘We’re bringing Oakland with us to New Orleans, and how we act as young ladies and men is how we present Oakland. We’re bringing our home wherever we go.’”

They also brought many months of preparation, having studied social justice and other issues here in Oakland that they knew were also affecting the youth (and other residents) of New Orleans. They arranged to meet with like-minded student leadership groups like Rethinkers, and perform community service like cleaning up around the Lower 9th Ward, as well as helping fix up a damaged library. “We represented well for Oakland,” says Katherine, “because we reacted really passionately about what they told us, and we really wanted to learn to help them make things better.”

They went there to help, something everyone there picked up on quickly. “[All the groups we met] received us with open arms,” says Vanessa, “and with Rethinkers, we created a really good friendship. I felt great about that.”

Rethinkers was just one of the community activist groups the Leadership Team connected with during the trip. They also met with American Civil Liberties Union leaders, and with Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, who shared the story of a school repealing a requirement that students wear clear backpacks. “They educated us about our rights and how we need to speak up and know what’s going on,” says Katherine.

"That’s world-changing right there"

The Leadership Team also witnessed, first-hand, the destruction left behind by Hurricane Katrina. “It’s amazing – not in a good way – but amazing to see how something could just turn over in a couple hours,” says Ameerah. “And now they live in that – that’s their home now. We really wanted to know, after Katrina, how did they make it?” says Ameerah.

“We would drive down the street and actually see all the houses torn apart,” says Esmerelda. “But people like Mack, who lost everything, they keep on going strong.” Perhaps no one made a deeper impression or captured New Orleans’ post-Katrina resilience more than Ward “Mack” McClendon, a resident who lost his home in storm but has turned an abandoned warehouse into a community center complete with library, teen center, community garden, and more.

“I mean, this man is a revolutionary in my opinion,” says Ameerah. “For you to be helping everybody else without having a home of your own to sleep in, that’s world-changing right there.”

The students also absorbed a great deal of “Nola” culture along the way, browsing voodoo stores, strolling down Bourbon Street, and eating gumbo, jambalaya, fried chicken, po’ boys, and beignets. “We also went to the Bayou,” says Esmerelda, “where we saw alligators, lizards, and snakes.” And no trip to New Orleans would be complete without catching some live jazz. “The music was amazing,” says Katherine. “We saw a jazz band in this really little room.”

“In the jazz club,” Vanessa recalls, “it felt like we were in the past. The musicians were all dressed up in suits and tuxes.” The show offered a moment of signature New Orleans spontaneity as well. “At one point, the security guard suddenly took off his jacket and started playing with the band! He played awesome.”

“That’s all a part of me now”

Back in Oakland, it is clear that the experience has deepened the leaders’ community-minded spirit. “The trip was really important to me because, knowing what we’re going through out here in Oakland, I think something needs to change,” says Ameerah. “Rethinkers, they’ve really done a lot for their community, and I feel like we can better our community too. I went on this trip not just to change our city but to change our globe.”

“New Orleans was important to me because it was a change in my life,” reflects Mammaloa. “It was an opportunity to help the people of New Orleans and help restore their schools and community and environment.”

“Some schools in Nola barely have books,” adds Ameerah. “That made me appreciate our school even more. Now, when I see people tearing up books or writing in them, I tell them to respect what we have. My dad and I were saying we should do a book drive, and then ship the books out to different communities that need them.”

“Since we got back, we’ve been emailing with the kids in Rethinkers, and they’re even talking about coming here to see Oakland,” says Mammaloa.

“When we came back to Oakland, we really just wanted to create a group that could help out our community with [some of the same issues],” says Vanessa. Last month, the student leaders did that, founding a group called Change Makers.

“Everything we saw – their schools, the storm’s effects, the food which I loved – it all affected me so much that I feel like no matter where I live, that’s all a part of me now too,” says Ameerah. “When I saw the gardens around New Orleans, I thought, ‘Wow, it’s just like what Mack said: Everything starts as a seed and you have to grow.’” She expands on this thought in her blog entry: New Orleans is not a state or a place. It’s a seed. And that seed, by the minute is is growing and it is going to get bigger ad better. It is the best over here. It is similar to Oakland. Like I said, New Orleans is a seed and I can’t wait to see its full growth.

"[Oakland and New Orleans] were very similar before Katrina. After Katrina, people had to get together to fix the community. We don’t want to wait for a Katrina. We want to be the Change Makers now!" – An entry from Davon and Vanessa’s blog. 

To read more from the students quoted in this article – and from the other student leaders who were on the trip (Davon, Daisy, Hulices, Jenifer, and Vy) – please visit their blogs at http://ufsa.wordpress.com/!