May 26, 2005

SCHOOL SCENEin Almaden Valley

Almaden Country School presents ‘A Midsummer’s Night Dream’

Almaden Country School Middle School students presented two performances of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare last week.

The sixth, seventh and eighth grade students took on the roles from the whimsical play and delighted the audience with what Principal Jean Delwiche described as “an outstanding performance.” The students built the intricate sets, designed props, and worked as stage hands, and the sound and lighting technicians as part of their elective class.  The production was directed by middle school teachers Linda Baxter and Johanna Hirt. The Shakespeare elective is offered annually for middle school students, giving them the opportunity to study historical and literary elements along with the experience of acting complex roles using the language of Shakespeare.

Time travel

Los Alamitos relives the Gold Rush days

By Kymberli W. Brady
Staff Writer

“Panning for gold is a lot of fun and it’s really dirty,” said Marissa Hidalgo, who rolled up her sleeves with several of her fourth grade friends. “Plus you get to gamble,” admitted Jennifer Masters, who bought jerky sticks with her winnings. Shown from left, Nicole McDougal, Marissa Hidalgo, Maria Popov, Emily Lovelace, and Jennifer Masters. Photo by Kymberli Brady

Instead of dodge ball, hopscotch, plaid skirts and polo shirts, fourth-grade settlers headed toward the Los Alamitos gold mine.

A swarm of pint-sized cowboys and girls in bonnets strolled along the nearby grassy path, lined with a covered wagon, a blacksmith, general store, saloon—even a jail—as they journeyed back to the Gold Rush days and experienced first hand the lifestyles of the early settlers.

“It’s really dirty, but it’s a lot of fun,” admitted Marissa Hidalgo, one of the last to leave the gold mine, her rolled-up sleeves tipped with mud.

“Plus you get to gamble,” exclaimed Jennifer Masters.

Whether panning for gold, buying beef jerky and pickles at the general store, making fresh strawberry jam, or playing black jack while sipping a tall glass of sarsaparilla, the day served as a step back in time and a real-life experience of the old West.

Community Building

Pioneer High School Service-Learning Fair—better than community service

By Kymberli W. Brady
Staff Writer

Although 40 hours of community service is required to graduate from high school, Pioneer High has raised the bar-with lifetime expectations.

The Service-Learning Fair, held each year on the Pioneer campus has become a model program for other schools in that it not only addresses and fulfils the state-mandated requirement, but it looks to make community service a lifelong routine by immersing students in service learning-finding something that meets real community needs and fosters civic responsibility. For some students, it has even developed into a calling.

During the daylong event on Tuesday, students participated in workshops featuring Dr. Linda Murray, Amy Buelow, Bob Vasconcellos, Bev Madden, and ASB President Joanna Quach on topics that included Service Learning Basics, Reflection in Service, and Youth Engagement." Project tours followed lunch at the annual international Food Fair, a fundraising mechanism featuring items prepared by various school clubs, including the California Scholarship Feder-ation.

After eight months of brushing and braiding, Sarah Worrell offered up 2.3 feet of her tresses to Locks of Love, thanks to the skill. For Lisa McMahon, who can normally be found at Palazzi Salon in Downtown Campbell, providing a good cut can ease the initial short-hair shock.

Students were also encouraged to donate their hair to Locks for Love and those who didn't meet the ten-inch requirement had the option of donating a pint of blood to Stanford Hospital.

By definition, service learning incorporates education through active participation in organized service that meets the needs of the community and fosters civic responsibility-much like on-the-job training, only without the paycheck. Students are exposed to the relationship between school and community.

By taking it one step further, principal Barbara Lepiane remains convinced that it becomes more than just a check off the box exercise. Students have the opportunity to become teacher aids or tutor at local elementary and middle schools. Partnerships have been formed with the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, where students help monitor local streams for toxic waste, Mercury, and PCB. Funded by the Children's Discovery Museum, Pioneer's BioSITE project The San Jose City Emergency Housing Department used Pioneer students to create a forty-foot wall mural at the emergency shelter. Locks for Love encourages students and community members to donate 10 inches of hair that will later be woven into hairpieces and given to children who have lost their hair to illness.

"We have a group of about 20 students that do advanced water quality monitoring on the Guadalupe," explains Service Learning Coordinator Mike Burrell. "While most of it is field testing, we're trying to work on higher level testing for PCB's and mercury, but it's still in the research phase."

"Our students remember these projects," he adds. "They're more likely to get involved as adults in the community and we want to promote that."

"This is all about getting people to see that our community service project is more than just going out and doing two hours here and four hours there," she says. "It's about really being part of the community. Giving blood to Stanford or hair to Locks for Love are just one-day things, but it's something they can give back."

Although the service-learning program originally implemented at Pioneer is not new, Lepiane says it has evolved in a unique way that is thoroughly integrated into nearly all aspects of the student's academic year.

"The Fair is the culmination of a yearlong project that starts each fall as an outreach fair inviting various agencies to recruit students," Burrell explains. "That's when we introduce the project and they'll find out the type of theme they want to cover. So today is the result of that effort."

As a national Service-Learning Leader School, one of only three in the state, the goal is to promote service learning as a way for students to get engaged in education and raise test scores, while serving the needs of the community at the same time.

"Our theme this year is 'Serve, Learn, and Achieve,'" Burrell says. "We feel this is a great teaching tool and the more schools do it, the more fun will be created for it. It opens up opportunities for them to get really involved in the community."

"One of the most important things is at the beginning of the day, we have the early morning conference," Lepiane adds. "Dr. Linda Murray spoke today and the message is for so many surrounding schools, even those outside our district is to get the idea across that community service shouldn't just be something that a student goes out and does for ten hours, we want it to be a part of their lives. And by integrating it into the curriculum, many of the kids get so tied into the organizations, that they stay with them throughout their four years and beyond. It really makes them a part of the community and develops great leaders."

Because Pioneer is also the only high school in the San Jose Unified School District to offer a service-learning program, its innovative programs and leadership position helped secure the CalServe Learn and Serve America Grant that will help foster the development of service-learning instead of community service throughout the district.

Lepiane says a couple of kids, because of their involvement with animal shelters are now planning on attending UC Davis with aspirations to become veterinarians. Mertz spoke of another student who "found his calling" through a search and rescue program.

The project
The process starts at the freshman level, where students are introduced to community service through the outreach fair and most go on to complete ten hours by the end of their first year.

Most of the weight of the Service Learning Program hits during the sophomore year, where students are assigned a project that incorporates a minimum of 15 hours of community service per semester and deals with world problems, which fall under the California social studies framework and includes participation in tutoring programs, neighborhood clean-ups, volunteer work at hospitals and animal shelters, and others that address world problem issues. They then prepare a three-panel presentation and research paper, followed with a term paper outlining the problem and its relevance on their lives.

With college decisions weighing heavily, as well as PSAT and SAT testing, honors classes, and advanced placement classes, juniors are given somewhat of a reprieve from an already stressful workload and seniors who wish to continue with the program are invited to participate in a Senior Exhibition that involves research, journaling, and preparing a presentation on their chosen area of interest.

Although 40 hours of community service is required to graduate, Burrell says surpassing it is more the rule than the exception for many students, some of whom have logged over 100 hours and will receive the Presidential Service Award.

"A couple of years ago, we had tons of entries on illiteracy," notes Burrell. "This year, terrorism is one of the biggest topics because of recent events and violence seems to be escalating. It's interesting because projects usually follow the public trend. We've had the most Obesity entries that I've ever seen. It seems like they're following the media-what's in the air at the time."

And yet, no matter what is in the air at any given time, students are getting involved-and staying involved.

For more information on Service Learning, Youth Community Service (YCS) offers support for teachers who are working to use service as a teaching tool to bring the real world into their classroom, making their curriculum more relevant and hands-on. YCS also provides training and technical assistance to teachers and school districts in San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito. For more information, visit www.youthcommunityservice.org or call (650) 617-8963.