“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.”