{"id":713,"date":"2018-06-15T11:01:05","date_gmt":"2018-06-15T18:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/?p=713"},"modified":"2018-06-15T12:50:00","modified_gmt":"2018-06-15T19:50:00","slug":"reach-beyond-week-takeaways-there-and-back-again-and-making-a-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/2018\/06\/reach-beyond-week-takeaways-there-and-back-again-and-making-a-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Reach Beyond Week Takeaways: There and Back Again…and Making a Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mary Hammers<\/em><\/p>\n

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This past April, Hillbrook 6th-8th graders embarked on our first Reach Beyond Week, which included nine reflective, engaging, and hands-on experiences that found our students across Santa Clara county, San Francisco, Southern California, and around the globe with service learning and cultural trips to China and Taiwan. Our middle school students were\u00a0reflecting, collaborating, and creating as they explored topics ranging from expression and narrative in the arts, following the paths and voices of writers, investigating what it takes to develop and maintain San Jose’s urban space, the world of sustainable fashion in both San Francisco and Southern California, contemplating how we can preserve (and enjoy) our trails, and more.<\/p>\n

Read on to learn more about some of the Reach Beyond Week experiences:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Art, Identity, and Social Change:<\/strong><\/div>\n
If what matters to you is art, then a deep dive into the local art scene and an exploration of artistic expression during Reach Beyond Week provided a week of inspiration and personal growth. Students who participated in the Art Identity exploration spent the week considering how personal identity informs what artists make, how art can help shape a community, and its ability to touch people in both subtle and significant ways.<\/div>\n
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The week was full of first-person as well as macro-experiences in the arts. Students visited the downtown studios of two San Jose-based artists, sculptor Ken Matsumoto and visual artist Tony May. These visits gave students an intimate look at how professional artists work, their creative process, and what inspire them. Students were able to ask Matsumoto and May questions about themselves and their work, and get to know them as people as well as artists. They got to explore the question of identity in art and view it through the lens of each artist. Elise (\u201819) says, \u201cI was very inspired. It made me really think about how and why the artist created what they did.\u201d Henry (\u201819) added,\u201dIt showed me the simplicity and the deeper meaning behind every stroke of paint.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In addition, students visited three local museums and with the help of museum educators, looked at the message and social impact of artists at the Cantor Museum at Stanford, San Jose Museum of Art and the de Saisett Museum at Santa Clara University. Johanna (\u201819) describes her takeaway, \u201cArt changes the rules, art has no rules, society is based on rules.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Over the course of the week, as they learned about various artists and their work, students considered aspects that define them and make their experiences of the world unique. This understanding helped them to see the relationship between who an individual is or how they see themselves and the art that individual creates. Art teacher Laura Hale says as student\u2019s perspectives on art and art-making became more nuanced, so too, did their self-awareness, \u201cUltimately reaching beyond oneself takes an understanding of self and community and there is no question that our students grew to more deeply understand both.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>Food, Farms, & Community: <\/strong><\/div>\n
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We all enjoy an abundance of fresh produce in area supermarkets, but how many people can say they\u2019ve spent time in a migrant farmworker camp? Hillbrook middle schoolers can. Students who chose \u201cFood, Farms & Community\u201d for Reach Beyond Week took a deep dive into the world of agriculture in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties where meeting farmworkers and experiencing move-in day for these laborers was just part of the eye-opening experience. The group set out to discover where our food comes from and getting to the answer proved a fascinating exploration of\u00a0the people and organizations who help get that food to our table.Over the course of the week, students traveled to Watsonville and Santa Cruz County meeting with farmworkers, labor unions, community action groups and the mayor of Watsonville. They learned about the different types of crops grown locally, how those fields are managed and how the area provides produce for much of the world. They asked questions and learned about issues such as pesticides, migration and immigration, wages and education. Students also helped out at a distribution day to provide farmworkers and their families basic necessities such as diapers, soap, and clothing, and shared a home-cooked meal at a farmworker\u2019s house. They explored grocery stores in Santa Cruz to compare and contrast offerings and prices. Students were also given the opportunity to create a dish using strawberries or mushrooms (two of the most common crops in the area).<\/p>\n

One of the big takeaways for students was learning how the children of migrant farmworkers are impacted by their parents\u2019 work, which often means getting pulled out of school in the middle of the year when parents leave for picking jobs in other areas. From farmworkers to agribusiness, the week provided a real-world exploration into the complex world of agriculture where Head of Middle School Christina Pak says students began to understand how much is involved in getting a box of strawberries to the market,\u00a0\u201cI think our whole group realized how much we take for granted and it really made us appreciate not only our own fortune, but also better understand and empathize with farmworkers and farming\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>Let’s Represent (through Film):<\/strong>
\nHow do you view the world? Hillbrook students in the \u201cLet\u2019s Represent\u201d Reach Beyond Week experience, chose to look at the world through a camera lens for a week in order to understand the power of film and video to tell stories. The goal was to investigate perspectives and the power of representation through filmmaking, and, as a byproduct, to cultivate visual media literacy and skills.<\/p>\n

During the week students\u00a0developed filmmaking skills including production and editing, they learned how to tell a story using only visuals, they explored the ways in which the media can manipulate using visuals, edits and sounds. Students also explored Los Gatos on bicycle and on foot, viewing it as filmmakers and anthropologists might as they learned about ethnographic theory: which is the study of people, culture and everyday life, or as noted anthropologist Clifford Geertz famously stated in 1974 – how people collectively explain themselves…to themselves.<\/p>\n

Students were split into two tracks: Telling and Listening. The Telling track crafted scripted videos designed to convey a message. The Listening track relied on the principles of ethnography to invite downtown Los Gatos to reveal itself through film.\u00a0Student reaction to the week of film exploration showed their growing understanding of the power of film and video to teach us about ourselves, and also its power to manipulate. Erika (’19) describes what it felt like discovering that manipulating audio had been added to a clip to elicit a reaction, \u201cAdding the audio makes it so sad. This is how the media manipulates you.\u201d Amaan (’19) described his growing confidence as a filmmaker saying,\u201cI realized I\u2019m pretty good at video editing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Protecting Our Trails – Mountain Biking & Recovery:<\/strong>
\nCan you push yourself to climb up a mountain on two wheels without bonking? Can you safely shred downhill without losing control of the bike? Can you go farther on a bike than you ever imagined? These were some of the questions students faced as they \u201creached beyond\u201d themselves on a week-long mountain biking adventure in the Santa Cruz mountains. The answer after an exhausting week in the bike saddle, was a resounding \u201cyes\u201d!<\/div>\n
For students, the goal of the week was to journey out into the environment and push themselves as citizens and athletes a little bit each day by exploring the local landscape and learning about efforts to promote and protect natural spaces. Students rode 33.5 miles over the course of the week, through challenging and changing terrain. They learned about different aspects of the Santa Cruz Mountain ecosystem from coastal redwoods of Nisene Marks State Park in Aptos, to the forests of the foothills at the Pogonip Open Space Preserve and the coastal meadows of Wilder Ranch State Park. Each day had a theme based on the terrain, and topics such as flora and fauna, trail management and preservation were built in to the experience. One afternoon was spent picking up trash on Seabright Beach and learning about the risks to marine life of \u201cmicro-trash\u201d or small bits of garbage easily consumed by fish and birds.<\/div>\n
Having a week to explore and learn meant there was time enough to go through equipment checks and safety lessons, and because students chose the mountain biking adventure, the buy-in was automatic. Each day they were excited to get started, eager to explore new trails and work together as a team. Not surprisingly, over the course of the week students became much more skilled as mountain bike riders, and along the way they also gained valuable life lessons. Students learned to be flexible and ready to change course if needed. They found ways to shift gears internally in order to find the strength and wherewithal to persevere on tough hills and switchbacks. And they learned it\u2019s not enough to look at the path right in front of you, you have to look down the trail as well so you know what\u2019s coming and can be ready for it.<\/div>\n
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\u201cSome days were physically challenging, others were technically challenging\u201d says history teacher and bike group leader Vin Gingery, \u201cbut each day we learned something new and pushed ourselves to go farther and dig deeper than we thought we could.\u201d<\/div>\n
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\"\"<\/a>The Future of San Jos\u00e9:<\/strong><\/div>\n
San Jos\u00e9 is the 10th largest city in the country and it\u2019s located just 10 miles from Hillbrook School, which made it a fascinating area of exploration for students during Reach Beyond Week. Fifteen Hillbrook middle school students spent the week walking around downtown San Jos\u00e9, meeting with civic leaders and community organizers, learning about the history of San Jose, and mapping out its future. This timely exploration comes as Google prepares to build 6-8 million square feet of office space in midtown San Jos\u00e9, which will dramatically change the look and feel of downtown. Students spent the week walking, exploring and eating all over the downtown area and making observations about different neighborhoods. In the process, they also learned about the complexities of civic planning from pensions to parks, housing and homelessness. They met with experts and influencers in the city, including former San Jos\u00e9 Mayor Tom McEnery, Executive Director of San Jos\u00e9 Downtown Association, Scott Knies, Homelessness Response Team Leader, Lorena Diez, Mexican Heritage Plaza Executive Director, Tamara Alvarado, and President of Swenson Development, Case Swenson. They also met and learned from Local Color Founding Director Erin Salazar, Groundwerx team member Corinna, and PBID President and longtime downtown business owner, Chuck Hammers. Students noted that seeing the city through so many people’s eyes opened their own to the many competing interests and how difficult it is to find solutions that strike a balance.<\/div>\n
Based on their meetings and observations, students selected an area of focus or a problem and, working out of Hillbrook\u2019s office space at WeWork in downtown San Jos\u00e9, they designed and presented possible solutions. Johnathan (\u201819) suggested adding walking streets without cars and air-purifying towers to encourage community engagement, Brianna (\u201820) and Sophie (\u201820) found out about the oldest buildings in downtown and proposed methods for historical preservation during new construction, Kyle (\u201820) and Jude (\u201820) studied downtown parks and concluded that adding basketball courts would get more people to use them, and Varun (\u201820) and Colin (\u201820) suggested building portable mini-houses to help the homeless.<\/div>\n
Ilsa Dohmen, Director Teaching and Learning, middle school science teacher, and one of the lead teachers for this Reach Beyond experience, says meeting passionate people involved in different aspects of San Jos\u00e9 helped students understand how reaching beyond yourself means finding something you care about in the community and doing something about it, whether that\u2019s running for office, patronizing a business whose values you support, creating a club, supporting a cause, or just being informed about local issues and making your voice heard.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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