After a 45-minute drive north through traffic on the 405 Freeway
along a labyrinth of other highways and roads winding away from
campus, about 12 undergraduates went to another class last
Wednesday ““ only this time they were the teachers.
The students are part of one of the Community Service
Commission’s projects, Bruins Reforming Incarceration Through
Education, and each sat down and helped tutor juveniles in the
Vernon Kilpatrick School, a detention center for young
offenders.
One of 22 projects funded by the Community Service Commission,
BRITE’s project directors were excited their finances will be
boosted by the PULSE referendum that passed two weeks ago.
“The money that’s going to be going toward the
transportation is going to have the most impact for us,” said
one of BRITE’s directors Amber Yglesias. “That’s
where we’re always short every quarter.”
“These kids who are coming from low socioeconomic status
… don’t have the resources that some other people
have,” said fourth-year sociology student Aaron Allen.
Three groups of students visit the detention center once each
week on Mondays, Wednesdays or Thursdays, and spend two hours
one-on-one with the juveniles teaching basic math and reading.
Allen says he sometimes brings in rap lyrics to help with
lessons.
“I have (my student) read it and have him explicate it.
Then I have him reflect on his life. I hear what he has to
say,” Allen said.
Others bring in books such as John Steinbeck’s “Of
Mice and Men” while some create practice math tests to quiz
their student’s knowledge of multiplication tables and
division.
Tom Barr, deputy probation officer at the detention center, said
each juvenile’s interactions and conversations with students
are more important than the tutoring.
Many of the juvenile inmates don’t have any positive role
models in their life, or they don’t know people their age who
are doing positive or constructive activities, Barr said.
It costs $86 to use one van each day, Yglesias said, and at
three days a week sometimes with two vans, the price tag can get
pretty high.
Yglesias said each quarter she and the other directors have to
ask for additional funds three to four times to keep transportation
available for her project.
“It’s really frustrating because we’re all
full-time students, and we all have jobs. Every time we have to
fill out an application, it takes time,” Yglesias said.
Community Service Commissioner-elect Farheen Malik said the
referendum will help pay for new vans and upkeep, adding that free
and easy transportation services are a good incentive for students
donating their time to projects.
“Transportation is extremely expensive,” Malik said.
“We’re always paying for transportation. Since all of
our sites are in the L.A. community, we want to be able to provide
the service for UCLA students.
Malik said the PULSE referendum was necessary not only because
of deficits, but also because the commission is growing and will
incur additional costs.
Yglesias said BRITE is larger this year than it ever has been,
and the referendum’s passage is evidence that students value
the project and the volunteer’s commitment.
“If (PULSE) didn’t pass, I would have been really
discouraged,” Yglesias said, adding that she knew it would be
difficult for students to swallow because they naturally
don’t want to pay more money.
“When it did pass, we were really happy that the students
were willing to support and pay an extra $6.50 for us to go out in
the community,” she said.