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.”

Washington, D.C. Trip Presents Monuments, Cherry Blossoms, and One Daunting Challenge

For the eleven 7th- and 8th-graders who represented Urban Promise Academy in Washington, D.C. this spring, the application process was so rigorous that it resembled applying for college. Not only did students need to carry at least a 3.0 grade-point average and write an essay, they also had to secure recommendations from their teachers and go through an interview.

“It was their first experience formally interviewing for something,” says UPA Assistant Principal and trip organizer Dennis Guikema, “and they were awesome. They came very prepared and I found out things I would have never expected. 7th-grader Maria, for example, recited from memory the entire preamble to the Constitution.”

The trip itself was monumental for the kids – and their families. “All the families took a leap of faith,” says Guikema. “This was the first time they’d been separated from their kids for that long and that distance.”

They were also incredibly excited for them, and lived vicariously through the students. “In D.C.,” recalls 8th-grader Alejandra, “my mom called me every five minutes to say, ‘Send me some pictures, I want to see what you’re doing!’”

What they did, thanks to the well-organized Close Up program, was a what’s-what of Washington, D.C.: Visits to the Arlington Cemetery, Vietnam Memorial, Holocaust Museum, Lincoln Memorial, the seasonal cherry blossoms, and more.

“Maybe I wasn’t alive while they fought,” says Alejandra of the soldiers buried in Arlington Cemetery, “but it felt like you lived through their stories and you lived through what they lived through.”

While these experiences made the students feel at home in the nation’s capital, they soon encountered a situation the typical tourist would never face.

Taking part in a mock Congress session, UPA’s exercise involved reviewing the Dream Act and deciding whether or not to amend it. “After we said we believed all immigrants who want to go to college should have the right to gain residence or citizenship,” says Alejandra, “a student from another school stood up and said that all immigrants should go back to their country because they’re stealing our jobs.”

"We were so emotional about that," recalls 7th-grader Jennifer. "One of us was crying.” After briefly venting their frustrations back in the hotel room, the kids calmly planned a measured, mature response.

“We started talking amongst each other about how it was not really fair, how they don’t know us or where we come from,” says Alejandra. “We wondered what we should do, and how we should face it.”

What ensued, says Guikema, “was really powerful. That conversation was so intense,” he recalls. “It was one of the most memorable experiences of my UPA history so far.”

“We talked as a group and told each other how we felt,” says 7th-grader Maria. “We expressed our feelings to each other.”

“We decided we wanted to talk to the coordinator of the program and let them know our experiences,” says Alejandra. “We also wrote letters to Senator John Kerry and we went to his office where we met with his senior aide. We told him that inside and outside the community these things just happen, and we don’t want these things to repeatedly happen.”

“In an unsafe situation, they didn’t act inappropriately in the moment,” Guikema says. “They came together as a group, calling in support and figuring out what to do next.”

“In all my years of working in schools,” says Guikema, “I’ve never seen students have the opportunity to speak to power so directly.”

To drive this point home, Guikema shifts his attention from the Promise reporter to address the D.C. students directly. “You had a chance to present letters to a senior-ranking senator on a really timely policy issue. A group of kids from an Oakland school who historically are marginalized in the political process, you went into the belly of the beast and made your voices heard. I’m so proud of you guys.”

In the heat of the moment, says Guikema, “I was really questioning whether we could do this trip again. But then I realized that the way they handled it just made them that much stronger.”
“You should go again,” asserts Alejandra. “And next year when you select the students, you should tell them this might happen.”

“You can help me interview them if you want!” replies Guikema. “You can explain the right way to handle a challenge like that.”

“[This experience] helped me believe that what I want to do is possible,” reflects Claudia. “[It taught us] how to be leaders, how we can be responsible and represent our school and how other kids can look up to us.”

“I’m going to miss being an UPA Warrior,” says Alejandra, “but you kind of carry that around wherever you go. The experiences you have [at UPA and in places like D.C.], no one can take that away from you and you remember them forever. We learn things you don’t see on TV or in newspapers. When younger kids ask you about D.C., you have stories to share. You have the honor to say, ‘I went there and stood in that spot.’”

"College for All" Campus Tour Tradition Continues

Urban Promise Academy added another inspiring chapter to its College for All program this winter, with 80 8th-graders visiting Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Santa Cruz on a three-day, two-night trip.

The tours and panels offered UPA students a wide-ranging impression of the college experience. At Santa Cruz, they got an inside look at daily student life, seeing dorm rooms and eating in the dining hall. At Santa Barbara, they took an “activist tour,” which covered different movements on the campus throughout its history, and the efforts to build diversity at the university. The kids were surprised, says Johnson, to hear so little talk about coursework. Then at Cal Poly, where most of the panelists discussed academics, the 8th-graders told Johnson, “They don’t even care about race here!”

The kids also picked up on the schools’ quirks: “They thought all the bikes at Santa Barbara were hysterical,” recalls Johnson. “Bikers just have the right-of-way everywhere.”

The kids still laugh about the preponderance of bikes. “My favorite was Santa Barbara,” recalls 8th-grader Susanna. “They have a lot of [extracurricular] clubs and I like that. But the bikes were kind of creepy.”

“A lot of the kids just felt relaxed and free,” says Johnson, “ready to have fun and see everything, just breathing everything in. They were fabulous – no drama, no issues.”

“At first I didn’t think I wanted to go to college because I thought it was too much hard work,” says Susanna. “But during our visits the college students told us it is hard, but at the same time you have fun doing it.”

“I thought they really changed their outlook,” says Johnson, “to be more like ‘Yes, I’m going to college and this is what I’m going to do.’”

“My favorite part was Santa Cruz,” says 8th-grader Denise, “because I want to go there. I don’t want to be too far from home – or too close. They showed me they want to get more diversity on campus. The students there told us, ‘We thought we couldn’t do it but we’re here,’ so I think I can do it too.”

CCPA 9th-Graders Come Together in the Great Outdoors

While CCPA’s 10th-graders were bonding around a common college-minded vision, our 9th-graders were coming together at one of California’s natural wonders: Yosemite National Park.

“It was fun even though I’m normally not a nature type of person,” says Michelle of her class’s three-day adventure at Yosemite. “It really brought the 9th grade together. [Out of our element] we had to stick together and make sure everybody else was okay. Some people weren’t people I would normally hang out with, so I made new friends.”

They also learned what they were capable of, fortitude-wise, particularly during their 5-mile group hike up to Vernal Falls. “I don’t give up that easily, even though it was hard going up the mountain,” says Michelle’s classmate Ericka. Not only did they face a daunting incline, they also got soaked by the falls, which cascaded dramatically thanks to recent downpours. “We thought it would just be mist,” says Michelle, “but we wound up having to wear rain jackets and everything.”

Ericka says the kids later used the grueling hike as motivation for future schoolwork. “We applied it to a test we had to take, and realized the test was going to be much easier!”

At UCLA and Pepperdine, a Glimpse of the Future

If you want to give high school students a vivid impression of university life, try dropping them into the middle of finals week on a campus of more than 50,000 students. This is where 30 Coliseum College Prep Academy 10th-graders found themselves this past spring, on a tour of the University of California, Los Angeles and Pepperdine University.

“It was finals week,” recalls 10th-grader Alberto, “so everyone was walking around with their blue books and running [to their exams]. During finals you can go to the library any time, it’s open 24 hours a day.”

Alberto and his classmates were impressed by the collegiate sense of purpose on display all around them. “Seeing everybody carrying books, heading to class, ready to study — it looks cool,” says fellow 10th-grader Elier.

“Before these tours,” he reflects, “I wasn’t really sure about college, but this trip kind of convinced me.”

CCPA staff chose these two campuses for their differences as much as their similarities: Pepperdine, with just 5,000 students, offered a look at a much smaller campus. While that smaller feel – perhaps a little closer to CCPA’s small-school environment – appealed to some, both Alberto and Elier preferred UCLA for its bustling energy and range of extracurricular activities.

“I really liked UCLA,” says Alberto. “I liked seeing the bookstore, all the athletic fields, the student clubs they have – just the whole world there. We got to see that whole view of college life.”

Like the Class of 2012 leaders profiled in our last Communicator, Alberto and Elier are aware of their unique place in CCPA history. “It’s cool we were the first [CCPA students] to experience [these southern California college tours],” says Elier.

They both speak of how tight their class has become. “We’ve all known each other since 6th grade, it’s all the same people.”

Science Teacher Elli Jenkins saw this on display at the year-end assembly in June. When Alberto, Elier, and the rest of the sophomores were announced as “CCPA’s first graduating class, the Class of 2012,” “All of the 10th-graders went ballistic! You guys are in this together,” she tells them. “You’re this really strong group. You show such spirit, and every one of you is helping each other to ensure you all graduate.”

With their ideas of college coming into clearer view, the kids are eager to get a look at more potential destinations, locally and elsewhere: There is talk of touring a few East Coast colleges in the coming year. For now, UCLA and Pepperdine loom large in their sights as they continue their march toward graduation in 2012. They’ve been there now. And they can picture being there again, in the fall of 2013, as college students in the throes of finals week themselves.

Camp Arroyo Expands Students’ Horizons, Increases Environmental Awareness

At Bridges Academy, the traditional “Three Rs” – reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic – are just the beginning. Through field trips like the three-day, two-night adventure at Camp Arroyo in Livermore, they are becoming experts in “The Four Rs” as well. Fourth-grader Leslie explains:

“I had a good time at Camp Arroyo because we learned about nature and ‘The Four Rs’: reduce, reuse, recycle, and rethink,” she reflects.

Learning about the camp’s green architecture, use of solar power, and organic garden, students got a hands-on look at conservation, composting, and other forward-thinking environmental practices. Using field guides, binoculars, and magnifying glasses, the students got up close with the 138-acre camp’s flora, fauna, and animal life. “My favorite part was when we hiked to Cresta Blanca [a demanding three-mile hike overlooking Lake Del Valle]” says Leslie.

“It was a great opportunity for students… to thrive and learn in the manner that they best learn, which is through experiences, dialogue, observation, and fun,” says 4th-grade teacher Candice Camp.

“Camp Arroyo is a good experience because you can learn more about the wild,” says 4th-grader Erika. “[It was] also good because you go on a bunch of trips. I felt amazed to know there are a bunch of things we can do to help the environment like recycling all the plastic bottles and glass. I especially liked the solo hike because we got to walk in the woods alone.”

“It is always an enriching life experience to be away from home for the first time in a setting where you need to depend on yourself and your friends to take care of the everyday tasks of living,” Camp adds. “I always see a great development of independence and trust [on these trips].”

And the learning doesn’t end in the woods. Back on campus, 4th-grade classes connect the experiential lessons to grade-level science standards.

“We did a lot of fun activities like go hiking, gardening, and go see animals from the forest,” says 4th-grader Jorge. “We saw wild turkeys in a big group of about 13 of them. The people there were really nice and you get to make a nametag out of wood and take it home.”

“[If you go], one thing you will absolutely enjoy is the breakfast, lunch, and dinner because they make good stuff like fruit,” says Leslie. “One thing I liked was when we went to the garden and tried new fruits and vegetables.”

Fourth-grader Joshua also has a message for next year’s Camp Arroyo attendees: “You should go to Camp Arroyo because you will go on adventures to the mountains, learn about ‘The Four Rs,’ plants, trees, how to save our world, and try new vegetables. You can eat, drink, and sleep for two days in cabins that have names like Walnut, Pine, Willow, and Madrone.”