Introspective Spiders

Arriving at Tule Ponds with two of my friends, Auriana and Katrina was exciting.  I was ready to buck down and get my feet wet.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, my feet stayed dry during the two and a half hours we were there.  Pulling in and hopping out of Katrina's mom's blue truck, I saw a few girls standing around in front.  One girl (I can't remember her name, but she was very nice) talked to us and eventually showed us the way to the back.  At the back of the wildlife reserve, the supervisor met us and said hello.  A group of girls lagged behind, so the four of us went ahead to grab a pair of gloves and a shovel.  We later found out that we were the only high school juniors volunteering that day; the rest were college freshmen.  We were tasked with clearing out a blackberry bush.  It had thorns and spiders everywhere.  But like knights fighting for a noble cause, our group of about eight or so people valiantly trudged through the dangerous forest and moonlight spiders of death.  We eventually had a collection of shovels, rakes and hedge clippers strewn across the battlefield.  Our casualties were nothing serious, a few bumps and cuts but the only one bad enough to bleed was solved with a band-aid.  I, luckily, made it out unscathed, despite my furious campaign against a portion of the bush with my glorious rake.  I have no idea how much we actually cut down, but under the intense rain of sunlight I certainly managed to work up a sweat.  Halfway through our time, the supervisor gave us cookies and water, so that was nice.

The purpose of defeating this monstrous bush?  "To clear out a trail for vistors." Said the supervisor.

Other people were not as pleased and complained.  But their attitudes turned around eventually and the ones complaining ended up being the most powerful force on our final showdown!  

Katrina and I in front of our handy work.

Auriana joins us for a group photo.

One girl in our group brought up an interesting point: we are destroying the spiders natural living environment for human enjoyment/little kids, possible forced to learn on field trips.  Is this animal cruelty?  Are our actions on this day counter-beneficial to animal equity?  The only answer I can think of is yes.  But wait, there was plastic trash buried beneath the ground, and animals can hurt themselves on the thorns.  Maybe this is helping this ecosystem, this city, this country, maybe even this world.  Lying down on the couch after the vigorous battles today, I am conflicted.  I thought  I would be helping the environment by volunteering here, by picking up trash and planting things, but is it possible I destroyed the villages of living creatures?  I may have a terrible fear of spiders and annoyance of getting cut by thorns, but does that justify killing these creatures that need sun, air, and water just like me?  This reflection of this community service has resulted in more questions than answers.

Teaching English as main priority !

  My name is Keena. Equity when that word comes up in my mind, I think of equality for everyone. For my equity project I vlonteered in the WHS. Every tuesday and thursday during huskey period, I volunteered in room 43( Ms.Danner-vera). There my few other friends and I helped the ELL (English Language Learner) in there homework for English and few other classes. I know most things about this students because, I myself went threw the same position as they did to learn English. You guys are very fluent in English but, people like us never got same education as you guys did so, We learned from getting help from others and giving hand to them. Ms.Danner-Vera really liked students like us to help this students getting well educated and learn english to live in this country.

 You will never feel unwelcome in the class because, this students are same as us except, they need a little help from us. Every tuesday and thursday, I help Sajjad and some time Rafiullah. This boys are very corporative and  have a higher goal to learn something new. Rafiullah( Rafi) is always playing around and not doin his work but, once you tell him to do something nicely he'll do it. I like helping this boys because I know both of them since last few year and they are like brothers to me. Now, I am helping Sajjad in his I-Search project while, telling him what to do and asking him few question. I am a little worried about him because, this is his last year in the school while, he can't graduate. He is doing his best to keep good grades. As long as I think about Raf, he improved a lot and we are proud of him.

 I would never stop volunteering at this place because, it is like my second home. I love helping this students. We only have kids in this class from Ms. Danner-vera's ELL class who are seeking for help and trying to go for  ELL-2 and regular english. I don't know why some people make fun of this English Language Learner based on their english accent but, once in while think that they have a same heart as you do. They don't get good education in their countries because, there parents can't affort it or they have to walk 3-4 miles just to get a better education. Please, don't treat this people differently help them, if they cannot pronounce something or can't please help them because, you don't they might go further than you, One Day !

Reading for Success

My first part of doing volunteer work is at Vallejo Mill Elementary School teaching children from 2^nd and 3^rd grade how to read.  Some of these children have ADD and ADHD, and some do not.  Their problem in school was that they cannot focus and so me and about 20 other volunteers from other high schools began to help them with their reading.   The man in charge was named John Santonastaso and he was very dedicated towards helping the children increase their reading capabilities.  He was very understanding if people had to leave to go do some personal business.  My student was a 3^rd grader that didn’t have ADD, but he had hard time focusing and would try to find any reason to take up the time in the reading clinic.  He would go to the bathroom everyday and would walk beyond slow to get a drink of water after reading a lot.  I go back to this clinic every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to read with the students.

When I arrived at the school I was directed to go into a small classroom for the training.  The training consisted of utilities to help make the students better readers and how to help them read.  I went to the training for about 3 days and in those days it was a lot to take in.  Mr. Santonastaso had moved us into the auditorium because it was bigger, inside there were tables, baskets of different colors for the children, and flashcards so you can quiz your tutee.  The flashcards are made up of a variety of words and phrases, the volunteers were told that the kids should be able to look at the card and immediately be able to say it without any trouble.  My student who I will keep anonymous for reasons, was a 3^rd grader who didn’t like to be in this Reading Clinic, you could tell he was forced to be there by his parents.  We found books that were spread out on a table and went back to our area and he began to read.  He was an excellent reader and I began to question why he was in this program.  As we were reading I realized that he mixed up his whats and that’s.  One of his favorite things to do was being quizzed with the flashcards and me tallying his time so next time he could try and beat it.  Another reason I could tell he didn’t want to be there was because when the class reached the end at about 4:15, he would stop reading at 4:10 and watch Mr. S waiting to see when he would ring the bell to stop the clinic, my student would be happy and joyful and be the first to line up at the door.  One of the things that I thought was funny is he decided to get this book about under water sea creatures, and it had words that he didn’t even know how to pronounce, or begin with.  He had me read it so he could understand how the words are pronounced, then he went back and read it. 

The Reading Clinic turned out to be a fun thing for me and some of the students, except for mine.  I look forward to coming back with them and helping my student achieve higher reading capabilities and teach him strategies that we were taught in the training, so that when I am not there he can read on his own and not just skip a word if he has problems.  The school has a friendly staff that loved children, except for this one lady whom I didn’t learn her name.  She would walk around and critique all of the students reading and most of them knew her because when she would watch and listen to them, they would become nervous.  My student had to go to the bathroom one time and the ones outside of the auditorium were closed and so he goes to that school and he knows that there are some other ones just down the hall.  This woman didn’t like that and I believe it was racial profiling because my tutee is African American, she was about to yell at him for doing a ‘defiant’ act but as she was about to lose it I told her that I watched him and saw him go into the bathroom and come out without getting carried away.  There always has to be that one person that ruins everyone else’s fun.

Spiky Bushes of Death (Or Not)

Zoë and me pretending to be cool

Part one of our volunteer work resulted in Auriana, Zoë, and I working at the Tule Ponds. I recommended the place because the work focuses on nature and keeping the environment clean, which are both high on my list of priorities. When we arrived, we and a larger group of college kids were lead by the supervisor to an area covered by blackberry bushes. We were told to dig out as much as we could in the two and a half hours we had to clear space for a new path. The supervisor explained to us how to go about pulling the roots out, and then left us to work with only gloves, shovels, rakes, and hedge clippers to help.

Zoë, Auriana, and me standing in front of the bushes

From the start, it looked like a daunting (and painfully thorny) task that would never get done, but once we got to work, we started making some progress quicker than we had expected. While the other group of people worked on the right side, Auriana, Zoë, and I started on the left. The branches had sharp thorns on them and it was hard to find roots to dig around at first, but later we got the hang of it and it turned out to be kind of fun (though I feel bad for the girl with short shorts that had to walk into the middle of the bush.). By the time we were done, we had cleared out more than half of the area. We walked off the site feeling pretty accomplished.

I actually thought the whole thing was really fun. It wasn't too hot, we had lots of shade, the ground wasn't ridiculously hard to dig into, and it felt good to pull out giant roots from the ground. It was extra satisfying to see the end of all of the thorns that seemed to love attacking my legs. I enjoyed the work for the improvement of the environment. Zoë might have had a little too much fun with the rake (and I definitely had too much fun with the hedge clippers), but in the end it was a satisfying experience that left me feeling proud of our work.

Making the Special Feel Special :)

Reaching for Equity 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MXcHudksrc

 Lynn and Sheena 

 Nancy, Lynn, Sheena, Anthony

 Lynn socializing with Sheena and Anthony

Lynn socializing with Sheena and Anthony

Pulling Out

Zoe and Katrina in front of the Tule Ponds sign

For our first set of volunteering hours, Zoe, Katrina, and I went to Tule Ponds.  The original idea was that we would be planting trees, but once we arrived, the supervisor -- name unknown, guy with a beard -- told us we were to tear out blackberry bushes to make a new trail for the elementary schools.  We were given gloves, cutting shears, shovels, and rakes, and left to find our own methods of destruction.  The three of us worked somewhat (okay, very) separately from the other students, who happened to be from a college group.  The work was hard, but not bothersome thanks to how shady it was.  

The three of us remembering we need photographic
proof halfway through.

Pulling out roots turned out to be oddly satisfying.  I have a problem using tools for their intended purposes so I just tore out roots with my (gloved) hands.  I found myself not thinking past the task at hand.  Most of the dialogue was, “Hey, can you dig here?” or “Get this root for me.” or “Rake this bit out.”  It was mindless and I hate my muscles for being sore twenty-four hours later, but I find I don’t mind for once.




I feel as if the intentions of all of this, just getting an assignment done, lessen the meaning to it.  But once I got there, once I began ripping roots out with my gloved hands, scapes up to the elbow, I found myself not caring.  I was there, and I was making things easier on others.  It reminded me of the anti-hero, at least when they say, “I know that was a jerk move, but my motives have changed since!  Forgive me!”  Even as I roll my eyes at how cheesy it sounds, it’s true enough.    

Help With Homework at Cabrillo

Jazmin and I did our volunteering at Cabrillo Elementary. We decided to volunteer there because we volunteered there our freshman year. We already knew the staff there somewhat and we knew they would let us volunteer there because we really did help them our freshman year. Our job this year is to help kids with their homework and such during their afterschool program. We are helping kids that are grades 2-4. We have been leaving to Cabrillo straight after school. We get to Cabrillo around 3:10p.m. And we usually leave around 4:30p.m. So that adds up to a little over an hour each day. We are planning to volunteer 2-3 days every week to get this project done, but Jazmin and I are really thinking about volunteering there for the rest of the year because we really like volunteering there.

            
Upon arrival the first day we volunteered Eddie, the guy in charge greeted us happily because he remembered us. The first thing he told us is that if we could help some of the kids learn a dance to perform for Cinco de Mayo. When we first volunteered our freshman year we taught some kids a dance for them to perform on Cinco de Mayo, so Eddie asked if we could do it again. We sadly told him that we could not commit to that because we would have exactly 7 days to get the dance together and get the kids to learn it. That would also mean we would have to go every day after school so it could be 7 days. We just didn’t have enough time for that. So we just said we would volunteer helping kids with their homework. We noticed that there was about 30 kids, but only 2 adults helping this group of kids. There are other adults but they help the fifth graders and sixth graders and stuff. So we are really glad to help and I know the kids and the teachers are too. I truly feel I am making a difference at that school. I’m actually working with the kids and it’ really nice to get to help them one on one and I know it makes a difference for them. There were surprisingly other students from Washington volunteering there too. Heidy Ortiz was also volunteering there and she asked one of the students if he needed help and he responded no with a very serious face. It had to be the most memorable moment. 

All in all it was a fun and good experience. In order for the program to work the students must like it and we should also like it because if none of us like it then the program just doesn’t work. I love volunteering there because the kids are so wonderful; they are really respectful and funny. At about 4p.m. the kids get a little break where they all get to go outside and they have snacks and just hang out for a quick 10 minutes. During this time we got to interact with all of them. If we have a better relationship with the students it is easier for us to get along with them and help them.

Me helping a third grader with her homework

Something needs to change.

If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them.  When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope?  We have two options, medically and emotionally:  give up, or fight like hell.  ~Lance Armstrong

The Time i Got Ticked Off by Weeds

This is the entrance to LEAF and what do you know THERE WAS A SIGN! Too bad it's too small...

It was about 9 o'clock in the morning. For my volunteer job I was to work at a garden/nursery area called LEAF (Local Ecology and Agriculture Fremont).  LEAF participates in growing local, organic food and plants. You can weed, water, plant, harvest, transplant, compost and much more at this facility. LEAF addresses social interests including health and hunger/food.  I arrived at the area on Niles Blvd. But I couldn't find it for a few minutes because there was no sign for the location anywhere. Then this woman (I'm going to call her W because I never asked her name) noticed my work gloves in my pocket and escorted me to this location that was so obscure that you would never guess that LEAF was literally a garden.

The head gardener, Bruce Cates greeted me as I walked in. W told him I was one of the volunteers. So Bruce just showed us our little workstation. In the corner of the garden, W and I had to shovel and pick out weeds.
Bruce identified what to pick out and not to pick out. I must say, weed pulling is so much tougher than it sounds and looks. Anyone could be thinking, oh it's just some overgrown grass no problem! Well weeds aren't just grass. In fact they are pretty much plants themselves. So their roots can go REALLY deep and you have to use a shovel/rake to get at the bottom of the root before pulling it out. Even THAT wasn't easy. There was even one that took like 10 minutes! With such a tough job a little mood lifting had to be done. W and I conversed throughout the job. I told her about how I am actually getting graded for volunteering. W is from out of town and that she actually took about 6 years of college (or 9...I forget). 3 years in junior and the rest in university (or this other thing).

Together, through the two hours of battling hardships of deep-rooted weeds, we managed to completely clean up our post and rid them of weeds. Oh and silly ol' me had an allergy attack so I had to put up with it as well.
I could have stayed longer but I at least wanted 2 hours in and then just hightail it out of there. Reflecting the image we saw then to the image we saw before we began working really blew our minds. As I walked out the gate, I think about the area that was weeded, thinking, that maybe that spot will be used to grow some more organic produce and plants. Well, to be brutally honest, I'm not working there again because I don't want any allergies.

Brings back my memories...

This is the library that the homework club was held in.

This is the outside of the library.

For the Reaching for Equity project, we need to volunteer at some organizations . For me, I chose to volunteer at Parkmont Elementary School. For the project we did on first semester, I did it on topic of afterschool academic programs and this is one of the organization that i did reach on. On the last Tuesday, April 24^th, 2012, Vivian and I went to Parkmont Elementary School for the afterschool homework club to help out some elementary school students with their homework. I chose this place to volunteer because it is near our area and I started to volunteer at Parkmont starting from last year when I was a sophomore. I enjoyed this volunteer job so I decided to do it again this year and I started during January.

We went there right after school and we got there around 3. When we arrived there, the kids just got into the library and we talked to the librarian, Mrs, Peterson. We told her about our Equity Project but sadly, she told us that it was actually the last day for the homework club due to the testing. I was a bit disappointed and it is going to be hard to find another volunteer. After talking to her, we started to help out the kids. I went up to Yesmine, a third grader that I usually work with. I helped her with her social science homework, which she always struggles on. I walked around the library after I finished helping Yesmine and I noticed that there were three girls which are also volunteer were chatting all the time. I was a bit annoyed and angry because if you come here and just talk for the whole time, you shouldn’t be coming here. I feel like they just want to come get community service hours but not really helping the kids out. Sometimes when I am helping a kid, I see some kids that need help but they just help them to do the homework instead of teaching them how to do it.

For this volunteer, I learned how to much teach the kids on their homework. But the most important is that I like to be around with those kids and help them because I feel happy when I see the kids get help on what they need and it helps them to get better and it is a way for them to be success in the future. It also brings me back the memories of my elementary life.

Easy Tutoring Like 1, 2, 3

The library of Parkmont Elementary where students are tutored at, this was taken when we cleaned up

On Tuesday, April 24, 2012, Kammy and I went to Parkmont elementary school to tutor and help students from grades 1 to 5 with their homework. We decided to do our volunteering work that involved helping younger students as well as work that served as an afterschool program. I personally like helping out little kids and teaching them new things as well as helping them with subjects or things that they struggle with. Since there were not many after school tutoring programs nearby, I had the choice of working at Parkmont Elementary School or Brier Elementary, but I decided to go to Parkmont first since I've volunteered at Parkmont before so I knew how things worked there.

When Kammy and I arrived, we went to speak with the librarian. Last year when I worked at Parkmont, the librarian was a man so I assumed that he must have retired as the new librarian was a woman. We explained to her that we were here to work for hours as well as for our project. Surprisingly, she told us that it was the last day to work because the school has to close the library due to STAR testing. However, when we spoke with some students, they actually said that Thursday would be the last day of tutoring. We also asked for permission to take pictures of the students, but it was rejected because we needed permission from the students' parents in order to take photographs. Pushing that aside, Kammy and I split apart to ask students if they needed help with their homework. The majority of the kids however, mainly copied off of each other's homework--which is no surprise to me considering the majority who copied were 4th and 5th graders. While I was helping a student with a STAR test practice worksheet, I heard the librarian shout at a 1st or 2nd grader, asking the student why she wasn't working. I actually felt bad for the poor girl, but I had to carry on working. As I worked, the kids whom I helped with their homework were well behaved and very polite, some of them even actually managed to amuse me as I helped them by using their vocab words in funny sentences. Then as I walked around, I noticed how 3 other volunteer tutors--all from Washington High--just moved around, talking to each other. One of them also had her phone out in the open too, showing that she wasn't really working considering she looked as if she was texting someone. I was helping two students with forming sentence from their vocabulary list, when some kids began chasing each other in the library. I was starting to see lack of control in the room. When I also went to ask Kammy something, a girl looked up from her work and looked at me, stating in a tone which annoyed me slightly. She said, "Visiting hours are over." I was actually shocked that she assumed that I was a visitor instead of a tutor. So in turn, Kammy spoke to her, "She's not a visitor, she's working here." The girl then looked at me again and said, "You two aren't supposed to talk to each other" and then she went off to tattle on the librarian. I felt as if I was slapped in the face since I had a 2nd or 3rd grader tattle on me. That confirmed my feelings of Parkmont, it wasn't the same as last year.

Over all in the end, there were positive things as well negative things on the first day on the job. On the bright side, I learned how easy it is to help elementary students with their homework. In turn, they would ask what grade I was in and ask what high school is like. I would answer, but I would say things that wouldn't scare them. However, on the negative side, I noticed the lack of control in the room for it was slightly noisy for students to do their homework, how rude the librarian was towards me and Kammy, and to top it off, I was tattled on by a student younger than me. I think that I'll have to look somewhere else to volunteer at considering the lack of control and respect I received and also that the librarian said that Tuesday was the last day for volunteers to come anyways. I hope that Brier Elementary's afterschool program, Bronco Brainiacs, is a much better program than Parkmont's.

Wonderful Students!

   What I chose to do for my American Studies project this semester, was to work with the students at Washington High school who had disabilities. During brunch for the next couple days I would be volunteering, as well as getting familiar with the special Ed students. I first started off by introducing myself to some of the students and teachers. As they did the same, I began to observe around the room seeing how they interacted with each other. I saw the students engaging in multiple activities such as reading news papers, books, drawing, and  playing on the computers. Day by day, I too started getting invovled with these activities so I could get more familiarized with the students. 
  Allison one of the special Ed students insisted I'd do stamps with her. As we stamped along I started talking to the students asking them about their drawings or what they were reading. Cosmo another student was intrigued by grocery ads, wanting to draw every picture of food she came across. It interested me how these students seem to get entertained so easily and seemed to truly appreciate everything they engaged in.

   Every Monday the special Ed students go shopping at the store target. There parents gave them a set amount of money and there they learned the true value of money. For example if their parents only gave them a balance of five dollars, the students learn that they are only able to buy something with the price of 5 dollars or less. Mrs. Deleon one of the teachers who works with these students says routine is the way to teach them, because doing the same things over again helps these lessons become more effective.  The most memorable experience that I had this week was drawing with one of the students, Sheena. She wanted me to draw her and I loved seeing her smile when I drew something she liked about herself. Overall the last couple of days have been more than an enjoyable experience, I look forward to continuing volunteering with these wonderful students!

Bras for a cause!!!!

On Tuesday of this week I went to Safeway with a group of students (Jesse, Jordan, and Chen) to go help out with community service. What we had to do was sell cupcakes to people in the store to help support breast cancer. See the catch was that we the guys had to wear bras ourselves and it was very embarrassing. These bras were all decorated and they lit up and everything. It was really funny but at the same time a little embarrassing but I knew that it was all for a good cause. We sold the cupcakes which were homemade at three dollars a cupcake and all of the money went towards charity. We set up in front of the main entrance so that people could clearly see how ridiculous we looked. Once everything was set and ready I could tell this was going to be the longest two hours of my life.

We put the bras and started to work. Right when we put them on you could hear all the people around us talking about us and laughing at us. Although we were in bras we really didn't look that bad. Jordan was in the front convincing people to try and buy a cupcake. Chen was managing the money. Jesse and I were the ones who made sure they bought a cupcake when they came to us. It was all kind of a process and it worked very well. The peoe were very nice and they loved to joke around with us. I could remember people saying, "you boys look good in those" they also said stuff like, "do you guys dance if we tip you?" this was a really good experience and I enjoyed every single minute of it. I learned that no matter how embarrassing the cause is as long as your doing it for a good cause it doesn't matter. We did this to support breast cancer. We did have some mishappenings while doing this for example some random guy coming up and taking a cupcake without even paying. We were all schooled and didn't know what to do so we kind of just let it go. Another thing was that a lady was telling me was that she had breast cancer and the little girl she was with, her mom has breast cancer and the little girl doesnt know. It was sad but I still enjoyed doing this because it was for a good cause.

The best thing about this was that we did this out of the kindness of our hearts to try and help anyone who has breast cance. Not only that I enjoyed helping out other people and seeing other people smile and be happy. A lot of people also donated mostly women because some people didn't want any cupcakes. It helped to get that extra money to help out all the people that are in need. We are currently trying to find a cure for this disease an all of the support that is going around is going to make it easier to find. There's nothing better than knowing your helping out others and making other people happy and putting a smile on their face. We are goin to go back again to help out and do the same thing. I will enjoy it even more this time because I know what we're doing and it is all for a good cause. I love to help out people and make others feel good about themselves. It brightens my day up to see me putting smiles on their faces.

Lets go on a field trip, kids!

For this equity project I'm currently working on, I volunteered to work with the Special Ed students at Washington High School. I've actually been volunteering for quite a long time now. I have Family Living with Mrs. Bauer, so we would go to their classroom or they would go to ours every Thursdays. On my very first day of volunteering, I've learned so much about these kids. I've got to know a few staffs that works there, and they all look so interested in working with the kids. That is one thing that's important to these students.

You'll never feel unwelcome walking into their classroom. They're very social to you once you walk in! They start to introduce you their names, shakes your hand, and gives you hugs. I was asking Allison about her day, she politely said, "My day was great! How was yours"? Ms. Danielle, one of the staffs, said, "Very polite of you that you asked back, Allison." The students are very well-mannered. I was working with Cosmo one time, and she started to cry out of nowhere because of her current bruise on her knee. I've noticed how the staffs there really know how to tolerate the students. Few minutes later, Cosmo said, "I'm fine Mrs. V! I'm happy again!" I've always thought the students were stuck in their classroom all day. They actually go on field trips every Mondays, to wherever they want! They know how much to spend and how to limit themselves, because their parents taught them how. When they don't have any money, they know that they have to stay in the classroom.  Very well-disciplined. They get so excited when they have the opportunity to go out and explore.

I definitely don't regret volunteering at this community. I feel accomplished by making a handful of wonderful students with a smile on their face. Just simply by communicating with them would make their day, and that's what makes my day. I don't understand why some heartless people would treat them differently just because they're 'different' comparing to the rest. They are just like us. I believe those people should take the time to get to know them, because that's what we want from others too, right? I will continue on going to this program, because so far, I have no negative outcomes from my first experienced. Plus, I love communicating with these students!

Maria telling her story about her experience in Las Vegas.

Ms. Danielle talking about her experience with the students.

Bras for a cause

Last thursday an opportunity came up for me to raise money at Safeway to support a foundation that is trying to help cure breast cancer. My mother works at Safeway and was able to get me and three other classmates this chance to help our community. Although this foundation seemed like the perfect place to volunteer there was a catch, we had to wear bras. Not normal bras, bras with lights, designs and jewels all ready for Safeway customers to see. We set up tables in the front entrance of the store and got ready to sell home made cupcakes for three dollars each. This seems like a lot for just one cupcake but its all for charity. We got ready for a very embarrassing two hours.

We put on our bras and the staring and giggling began. Jordan stood in front of the table to ask customers to donate or buy a cupcake, i stood ready to serve cupcakes, Latrell held the sign, and Chen handled the money. I learned that people are open to donating but make it a point to say its not for the cupcake. Many people didn't even buy anything just donated. With the good customers come the bad, a man came up to our stand said something under his breath and ran out with a cupcake! He definitely looked a little crazy so we didn't make it a big deal but its sad that people would steal from a charity. One little girl couldn't stop giggling at how ridiculous we looked in our bras. She finally said "boys don't wear bras" we couldn't help but laugh. The manager who is a good friend of mine came up to the stand to see how we were progressing. We made over 200 dollars in two hours she was amazed but then said "i guess people will buy cupcakes from boys in bras".

The best thing about volunteering to help cure a disease is the thanks you get. Many people, especially women donated for this cause and were very great full to us for the service we were providing. Two women almost started crying because they had family who was affected. Its sad that this hits so many people and effects so many but it makes it that much more great that we are doing something worth doing. We are going back to sell again this weekend for a long period of time so hopefully we can raise even more money. There is nothing more rewarding than knowing your work is helping someone. I cant wait for day two.

These two pictures are us at our stand at Safeway.

Becoming Cosmo's Bestfriend, ever!

As I was thinking of somewhere I wanted to volunteer, immediately I knew I wanted to volunteer somewhere that would be enjoyable for me, and for me that would have something to do with children or school. At first I thought about my I-Search and going to help out my fourth grade teacher, then I was talking to Marjan and she mentioned she would be helping out at our own school with the Special Education classes. For me, it was a great idea because I have always been interested in getting to actually know these students and see the way that they went about their days at school. These children are the ones that you see going around the school and picking up the recycling from each class, or you even see them sometimes playing basketball outside just enjoying their time. Although I still haven't spent all that much time with these students yet, they have already made a difference to me, and ultimately I'm glad I decided to volunteer in Ms.DeLeon's class.

The very first day going in, I was a little hesitant and shy. The first person to talk to me there was Ethan, and he said "Hey! Your jacket says Sacramento on it, that's the capital of California!", and because of his excitement I found that I was happy to be there. I walked in and saw the students at tables, either eating or playing games, and other students on the computer. Cosmo, another student there told me I'm her "best friend ever". Seeing how happy these students get to have visitors and see new faces is really awesome, it kept a smile on my face. So after about five minutes I was sitting at the table with Cosmo, Marjan, Sheena, and Alxea and we were all just talking, drawing, and having a good time together. For me it's great to see how all the students are always so enthusiastic and happy, and it really makes me think that we take the simplest things for granted. Also, seeing how they looked up to their teachers, especially the way Cosmo looked up to Ms.DeLeon was great, they have such a great relationship with their teachers and it is people like those teachers who are willing to do what many people wouldn't that truly make a difference in these children's lives. Ms.DeLeon talked about how repitition was very important so her students are able to get the hang of things and it doesn't make things so complicated for them, and she also mentioned how important it was for them to get the kids to interact with the community around them. These kids go on plenty of trips, for example they have recently gone to Target and it is always a good time for everyone that goes and helps them become better with their skills of interaction. The next day, I spent lots of time with Sheena and Cosmo again, two very wonderful girls, who are just like anyone else, even though people may think or say otherwise. We drew more pictures and Cosmo even wrote my name on a paper and drew Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana, who she loves. Sheena really enjoys drawing and even drew me a picture (it's on Marjan's blog post)! I look forward to spending more time with all theses students and trying to get to know them all.

After only a couple of hours with the students in Ms.DeLeon's class I already feel like I have made a bit of a difference. I talked to my mom and a few friends about the volunteering I did and it's nice that people care to listen and tell me that I'm doing a good thing with this. Ever since I was a kid, I knew I wanted to make a difference in the lives of young children by becoming a teacher, and being in a class with these students has really made me think about becoming a teacher that gets to help teach and make a difference in the lives of children who do really need special attention. So far, my volunteering in that class has pretty much just been drawing and interacting but I would like to do more than just that, and hopefully I am able to as I continue to volunteer there.

Giving your Knowledge is One of the Best Way to Help

The place where students get help with Geometry

Classroom 54

It always feels nice to teach people who need help and you are one of them who was able to help them. After days of searching for the right volunteer opportunities that would fit my schedule, I decided to work for Math Tutoring since Math is the only subject that I always feel confident about. I ask my teacher, Ms. Joseph, for information and she sent me to Room 54 and there's a teacher that told me to simply sign-up and wait for people to ask for help.
I was amazed for the first time that I realized how people are struggling for solving each problem that it took me a long time just to explain a problem for a person. There were only three tutors which is me, a student and a teacher who were all busy with their tutoring that sometimes I had to tutor two students at the same time. Most of the time I felt that I had hard time explaining the key to solve a problem since the way people think is not the same so I had to use draft paper from the basic they are lacking. I had to open myself and show with my action that I am a "nice" person because we are almost the same age and one of the person I was helping might be feeling embarrassed or afraid of getting mock at since I was explaining at him the same thing over several times. On the second time I went there, I met the same people and I helped them again. I think that they are improving more with basic needs when I saw them again which tell me that they really want to learn.
I was proud and glad that I was able to help with something that I am good at and the students who need help would also be happy that there are people who are willing to help them. For me, I want to do Math tutoring again since it's fun teaching people and the people are actually nice that we, tutors, sometimes help each other with the things we forgot or didn't know how to solve a problem. If you want to volunteer for Math Tutoring you can ask your Math teacher for more information and they will sent you where to go base on what subject you want to teach.

The only person who allowed me to take a picture of me helping someone that all the
 people I helped refuse to take one which they don't feel comfortable getting their picture taken.

Little kids again

Selena Acosta, and Catherine Martinez reaching for equity videocast on the after school program prop 49 at Cabrillo Elementary school.

Bras for a Cause

The volunteer work that I participated in was the fundraising for the breast cancer walk, Bras for a Cause. The fundraiser was for the Safeway team that walks a 6k walk during the night while wearing decorated bras for the support of breast cancer. I joined Jesse, Latrell and Jordan at Safeway to sell cupcakes at the entrance of the store while the three of them wore decorated bras. We sold home made cupcakes for $3 each but donations were accepted too. I noticed that people are really willing to donate to charities regardless of the cost and there are a lot of people willing to donate to the charity even without getting anything in return. We easily got plenty of donations. People that had cancer or knew people that had cancer became really emotional and shared their stories with us. I felt so sad for those people because they lost a loved one to something that they could absolutely do nothing to change.
After doing this volunteer work, I feel like donating to charities for a cause that you feel emotional towards is very important. Since breast cancer has no cure, donations are needed in order to progress closer to an answer. There are also many other diseases out there that aren't yet curable so it is important that the funds are present in order to keep interest and progress. I've learned that donating to a cause with just a dollar can  help in a big way.

Charities

As an active member in society a large part of my time is spent teaching, helping out with all sorts of activities. Some tasks are better than other but every time we have an event I love getting started with anything from helping with the youngsters to organizing donation for family in needs. It might not seem like lot of work but sometimes organizing for a large group can be time consuming specially behind the scene you always want the lots of stuff for the most families.

Growing up, was pretty harsh I went thought tough times with a deadly diseases that isn’t  that common it took a toll on me specially with being social but as time went on I developed a inspiring friendship with a classmate. His name is Alexandre. Knowing his background that he didn’t really care or listen to anyone and constantly getting into trouble, I started accepting and really trying to understand why he acted that way, but I never really understood it was just crazy.  But against the odds we bounded to the point he would do absolutely anything for me.  At time teachers would ask me to work with him all the time I mean it wasn’t that hard he would seat and do pretty much everything. But when I moved we just lost touch.

So when we moved to the US I moved right back into the area of helping first kindergarten (terrible English), then the special led and lastly at WIC a pregnant women center. WIC provides pregnant women, women who are breast feeding and kids up till the age of 5. So as we got to the equity project last semester. I was very excited with so much to think about and do I went right into it. Starting working on my hours with the make a difference foundation, with my church we all went out one Wednesday night and handed out fliers for our store opening on Saturday which would provide families in need with clothing and furniture. On Saturday morning people would come in and donate items while in the afternoon families came in and grabbed whatever they liked.  It was a great success and great opportunity. I didn’t really choose what foundation I was willing to volunteer for I just did it. If it isn’t about me it about helping those in need. I always see it as an opportunity to learn from or to give too. You don’t need to do a lot to help others you just need to be willing.

Acknowledge your schoolmates!

Day 1

 I will never regret the opportunity that I got this week. I learned so much about these students that some other students are missing out on. These students are with a kind teacher named Miss Deleon. She is a very nice teacher who takes her responsibilities with these students seriously. I believe that every student has a right to the same education no matter how incapable they might be whether that be if they have a disability or are deaf or intellectually challenged, that should not prevent them from learning the things that we do. I am glad that Miss Deleon has taken this responsibility and has supported these students.

            

This opportunity gave me the chance to change the stereotypes that were set for these students and the things that people would say now that I realize it was ridiculous. I asked Miss Deleon “What helps them the most?”, She told me that, “ Repetition, lots of repetition.” I realized only then that these students were capable of the things that we can do today. On Monday, when I just started to get to know these fellow students, it was interesting because all of them greeted us when we walked in. Over the few days that I have went, I have realized that these students are intelligent and the things that are said about them are completely wrong. The way they could speak and the way that they could understand might have been a little slow for some of them , but they were capable of understanding. Also, these kids get hands on work which helps them learn and not only do they work on stuff to learn at school, but they get real world experiences. For example, on Monday, they went to the New Target on Auto Mall so they can get an experience on budget and stuff, but they also know that if they do not have a certain amount of money they can not go. They know the same stuff that we do, but they just need more time to be capable to understand.  

I am glad that I had this opportunity to understand these students a bit! This program for these students is very efficient and I am proud that at least this school acknowledges them and gives them a chance to learn. This opportunity was great and I am surely going to go again because of the positive outcomes the first time. 

Photos that  Sheena drew for us. 

The students at Room 28 working on games during H.P
and Ethan standing to go somewhere.

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Alxea and Isabel, (and me, but I'm taking the picture)  drawing with students Cosmo, Sheena, and Amanda.

     Maria and Jessie and a paraed talking with students Allison and one i havent got to know yet. 

Every Step Counts

 For my reaching for equity project, I chose to do an overnight walk in San Francisco called the Out Of The Darkness Walk for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. The AFSB has been at the forefront of a wide range of suicide prevention initiatives, each designed to reduce loss of life from suicide. It was a very easy choice to do this because I have experienced the loss of someone because of suicide.  For this walk, I had to go to a two hour meeting in Sunnyvale to get all the information about it. The walk is about 16 to 18 miles. The reason why it’s an overnight walk because suicide is something no one likes to talk about, and basically everyone is in the dark about it. 

Registration Form and Information Packet 

During the meeting, I met one of the crew members named Ryan Ayers.  He gave me all the information that I needed about this walk. He told us what their organization was about, and he also told us about the fundraising. When he told us about the Fundraising I was a little frightened. He said that we have to raise at least seven hundred dollars for the organization. When I heard this I was definitely shocked, but Ryan made it better when he explained it a little more. He encouraged me that getting the money wasn’t going to be difficult at all. People who have done the walk before were there as well and a girl told me how simple it could be to get the fundraising money.  She said all you have to do is try hard and tell the donators that you are doing it for an important cause. You can’t just broadly ask them for donations, you have to explain what the organization is about and you can add your personal experiences about suicide. When I heard this I was a little relieved about the Fundraising situation. 
At the end of the meeting, the crew members gave us a registration form and a packet about the walk. I’m looking forward to the experience and in the process helping a great cause. 

Remembering the Overlooked.

Many times we forget that there are students on campus that are being overlooked by us. We do not realize that we are contributing greatly to the inequity among the diversity of our own community. I am referring to the special education students with mental disabilities. I decided to do my project on this because it was a great opportunity to be engaged in something that many of us who come to Washington and are interested in it, can make a big difference.
           
The first day I went to meet with Miss Deleon, the main instructor. I was amazed at how loving and polite many of the students were. When I entered the door, a student named Ethan asked, " Hi, what's your name, my name is Ethan, nice to meet you," It was such an incredible feeling... Throughout my first visit, I spoke to Miss Deleon about her program and she told me that she had been the one who had created the program and there was not any other one like it anywhere in the district. She also said that the administration was incredibly supportive with all the students. Miss Deleon explained to me that how when they first to get their students, many are illiterate and after some months of working with them, there are able to write paragraphs.
         
 I had the opportunity to observe their discussion during what they call the journal time. Miss Deleon asked of her students to write about what they like to do in hot weather, what are some of the problems(health wise) and how you can prevent them. Some of the students raised their hands and said things like swimming (as a fun activity) or even dehydration as a problem. The more I observed how well they could conversate, the more I realized the brightness of these students. I feel ignorant to say that many times I would hear people say or even I thought that most kids with mental disabilities were not capable of having their own thoughts or learning further than very basic thoughts. Now, these students have had impact on the way I think because throughout the time I observed them they were being cooperative, they were all being part of the discussion and they were unseasonably happy.
       
 On another visit, Miss Deleon explained how every single one of their students had a different learning, motor skill, or health need therefore without knowing she explained how she was working with what her other teachers to be equitable to them as much as possible. She provides each one with what they need so that one day they could become as independent as their disability could permit them to be. Some of her students have even received a certificate to move on to a higher adult level program.
         
When I left, all the kids were anxious to know when I would be back to visit and that made me realize how just by sitting and talking to these students can make a great difference.