April 10, 2008

Reaching out

Pioneer student group hosts community outreach fair

Fair offers something for everyone

Among those attending the fair was District 10 Councilmember Nancy Pyle, who was allowed to ride Little Bob while visiting officials from various community services. Standing beside her is officer Ernie Brown of the SJPD’s Mounted Unit.

By Carol Rosen
Editor

A group of Pioneer High School students held a community outreach fair on Saturday, April 5 to the delight of the Hoffman Via Monte neighborhood, which turned out to sample food, play games and learn something about what the community has to offer.

Planned, organized and developed by the school’s Youth Re:Action Corps, a group of about 12 students looking for social change within the community, the fair was on the Cornerstone Church parking lot just off Blossom Hill Road and across from the Pat Dando Hoffman/Via Monte Neighborhood Center.

“This has been so much fun, to know that we are doing good for the community,” said Pioneer junior and co-program manager Allie Steinkopf.

About 100 people showed up when the fair began at 11 a.m. and a steady group filed through until the fair’s 3 p.m. closing. A DJ played music and at various times throughout the day offered children, adults—and at one point Little Bob, one of the San Jose Police Department’s horses—a chance at the cake walk, with the prize winner receiving a giant cupcake. Little Bob won one round, but since he actually cheated, he missed out on the giant chocolate or vanilla cake.

Eddie Garcia, who is 2 ½, is looking toward his mom for permission to eat his winning cupcake, which is almost as big as him.

Among those attending were District 10 Councilmember Nancy Pyle, who was allowed to ride Little Bob while visiting officials from various community services including Neighborhood Housing Services Silicon Valley, Santa Clara Family Health Plan, Breath California, Family and Children Services Substance Abuse Services, San Jose Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force, San Jose Public Libraries, Parks and Recreation, Washington Mutual, Work 2 Future and others such as SJPD and the San Jose Fire Department.

The Youth Re: Action Corps has surveyed over 300 community members and they came to the conclusion that the Hoffman/ Via Monte Court neighborhood is lacking some key support. The group hopes to bring some much-needed support to the community as well as build some community unity.

The Youth Re: Action Corps is in its second year at Pioneer High School. Each year the group starts by surveying the community to see how to make it a better place. Last year the group worked with the ESL classes on campus by assisting the teacher and planning and teaching their own lessons. In June they held a graduation for the adult students in the class. They have made an impact on the community and hope to make an even bigger impact in the future.

The group initially began working under the auspices of the Pat Tillman Foundation, but last year changed its affiliation to the Youth Re:Action Corps, which is part of New Global Citizens, a San Francisco group that teams with students at high schools throughout the Bay Area.

Co-program managers senior Alicia Ruiz and junior Allie Steinkopf hope to keep the fair going next year. The group began planning the fair last September, after it surveyed the area, and took about six to eight months to take care of everything they needed.

Walking around the cakewalk circle everyone is poised to stop so they can get a giant cupcake

“We worked with the Dando Hoffman/Via Monte Center to put on the carnival games, music and invite the various community service organization to come,” said Ruiz. “Everything is free, the food [hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, sodas and cookies], the games and the activities. The Youth Re:Action Corps gave us $500 as our budget and the church loaned us the parking lot, restrooms and chairs,” she said.

“Pioneer is recognized as a state service learning leadership school,” said Mike Burrell, the group’s advisor and a history teacher at Pioneer. “We tie the curriculum to these events: health, safety and student engagement and we try to connect classroom learning with community service activities.”

It was obvious these students were learning and having fun at the same time. From the games to the cakewalk and from the service units to the free food, everyone was having a good time. Three-year-old Mason Flores’ eyes lit up as he was welcomed aboard Engine 17 by fire fighters Laura Nores and Scott Burke. Kids eyed their giant cupcakes as if they were Christmas presents and parents learned about services from the city and county.