Monday, March 2, 1998
Inner-city, middle-school students get taste of college life
OUTREACH: Project gives Mortar Board mentors chance to guide
children
By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Contributor
Last Saturday, a group of junior-high students marveled at some
of the wonders of Ackerman Union: the arcade, the candy store and,
of course, the birds that live in the Treehouse.
"Hey, I just saw a bird in here!"
"Man, you’re trippin.’"
"Wait, I saw it too! It flew by."
"I told you."
UCLA’s Mortar Board, a national honor society, was holding "L.A.
Teen Mentoring," the main service project for which they had been
preparing all year. About 60 students from Charles Drew Middle
School in Watts arrived by bus at 9 a.m. to meet and spend the day
with UCLA students.
Last year was the first year Mortar Board participated in L.A.
Teen Mentoring, said Community Service Chair Khanh Nguyen, a
fourth-year biology student. "We hope it’s a trend."
Due to the nature of the Mortar Board, members change every
year, and so a continuation of the program is uncertain. Khanh
hopes to influence the next Community Service Chair to make this an
annual event.
The day began with introductions and a breakfast of donuts and
orange juice. Afterwards, the students were split into groups of 10
and taken on a tour of the campus, during which they followed the
footsteps of hundreds of past tourists and had to guess, according
to tour guide Joseph Abrajano, "the one lie we’re going to tell
during the tour."
The tour was an eye-opener for the adolescents to the various
activities and opportunities of campus life. They suspiciously eyed
the campus squirrel population, observed a women’s basketball
practice session in Pauley Pavilion, climbed atop the Bruin Bear
and watched, enthralled, as a troupe of theater students vibrantly
performed Shakespeare’s "Much Ado About Nothing" in the middle of
the Sculpture Garden.
"Hey, that guy kissed that other guy!" one student noticed.
Students also wandered briefly onto Spaulding Field, and some
boys got a taste of UCLA football when they rammed, full force,
into a hanging, heavy punching bag for the tackle.
"Arrrrgh! My arm!" one boy shouted feelingly, clutching a
wounded limb.
The Mortar Board has had a history of helping out Drew Middle
School, in particular, with its community service programs. During
the school year, members work as volunteers to the after-school
program, "Teamworks," a 15-week leadership program for Drew
students.
Drew students can get into Teamworks by filling out an
application when someone – a teacher or even themself – nominates
them.
"Normally somebody sees something in them, some leadership
ability. It can be good or bad – we have some gang members in the
program, too. But they all have charisma. We’re hoping for a kind
of ripple effect," said Michael Breen, School Coordinator for
Teamworks and a science teacher at Drew.
The program, which centers around team-building and leadership
activities, has been very successful at Drew. Each year the
students divide into smaller groups headed by a teacher, community
service leader and college student, and participate in a major
community service project. The projects are unique: the students do
the majority of the work, and the adults merely guide. Past
projects include raising money for a battered women’s shelter and a
school recycling program.
Breen’s enthusiasm for this year’s project was evident: "They
had a clothes drive this year and collected over 3,000 pieces of
clothing. The kids did most of it; actually, the adults didn’t do
anything at all.
"They made posters and went to every homeroom to announce to
drive."
"We want them to be exposed to activism," Breen said. Teamworks
is partly supported by One-to-One, a nonprofit organization; that
day, One-to-One paid for the buses.
"We’re always looking for college students to help out at
Teamworks. People are interested in something that looks good on
resumes and changes lives. We still have kids who stay in contact
and call us, and they’re in high school."
After the tour and lunch, students participated in games for the
whole group, such as "Clumps," wheelbarrow races and other picnic
sports.
Then came the revealing of the "one lie" – which turned out to
be "that we told you there was only one lie," – and the
distribution of prizes which had been donated from groups on
campus. There were Bearwear items from ASUCLA, sports posters from
Campus Athletics and items donated by the Community Service
Commission and Campus Tours.
Abrajano, a fourth-year English and biology student and Mortar
Board member, said of the day, "We wanted to be a positive
influence and show what UCLA’s all about. This project specifically
deals with children from the inner city. It was definitely
successful."
Nguyen agreed. "We wanted to give them an idea of the college
experience."
The children themselves enjoyed the day. Though some had a
different perception of what the day would be like – "I thought we
were going to a basketball game" – others knew exactly what the day
involved and were eager for the tour and having their questions
answered.
"I wanted to know the school," said seventh-grader Hector
Barrios. He added that he wanted to attend UCLA.
Juan Hernandez also enjoyed the experience: "We had a fun day.
It was real interesting, and it’s cool to know about the arts and
statues and trees."
He also, humbly enough, "wished good luck" to the UCLA students
he had met that day. He had only one, mild complaint about the
campus: "It’s big. You can get lost here."