Carson High Juniors and Seniors Travel to San Franciso for APAHE Education Conference!
Apr 03, 2009
Roooooaadtriiiiiiiip!
Along with three other chaperones, I had the pleasure of accompanying a group of seven Carson High juniors and seniors to San Francisco over the weekend to attend an education conference hosted by APAHE, which stands for Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education. For 20 years, APAHE has been the “leading national organization addressing issues such as student admissions, faculty tenure, under-representation in hiring and promotion, affirmative action and Asian American Studies.”
The other chaperones were: Kare’l Lokeni, Director of UCLA’s PIER program (Pacific Islander Education and Retention), Mary Katherine Duran, a PIER tutor and mentor, and Tammy Bird, Carson High Science teacher and faculty adviser for the Pacific Islander club.
A UCLA Grad, Kare’l grew up in Carson and in her current position, manages a group of UCLA tutors who make the trek each week all the way from Westwood to help Polynesian students at both Long Beach Poly and Carson High. To read more about Kare’l and PIER, click here.
The theme of the conference was Passing the Torch: A New Generation of API Leaders. I’m proud to say our kids met the moment with skill and much aplomb. We left Thursday morning, arrived late in the afternoon, freshened up, and then attended a dinner with the rest of the conference participants. APAHE gave our Carson High group a shout-out from the podium, and the kids enjoyed a delicious meal of salmon and steak—with a second helping too (Thanks Audrey)! More importantly, they were able to listen to some pretty impressive speakers and awardees that evening: Paul Fong, Don Nakanishi, Rodel Rodis, and perhaps the most sought-after, I-absolutely-have-to-have-my-picture-taken-with-this-person attendee of the weekend, renown civil rights legend, Yuri Kochiyama. The topic du jour, of course, were the recent admission policy changes announced by the UC regents in January, which has sparked much debate over whether the repercussions will be equitable or not for minorities.
I think I speak for all the chaperones when I say that the highlight of the weekend happened on Friday when we gave our students a surprise mission for the day. After having a little breakfast, we announced that they would be tasked with interviewing conference attendees—on camera! We quickly prepared a little script and some template questions to get them started, set up our video camera, and just like that—snap!—our newly minted band of roving reporters were out in the field getting their first interviewees to be on camera. (I’ll be posting the interviews here on the PICED website in the coming weeks.)
Our students were broadcast journalism naturals. They spoke at length with a number of very interesting people, one of whom happened to be Sefa Aina, the Director of the Asian American Resource Center at Pomona College, who moderated the lone Pacific Islander-led workshop that afternoon, Building on Culture: A Communal Approach to Addressing the Educational Needs of Pacific Islander Students. The workshop panelists included myself, Kare’l, Tammy, Will ‘Unga, Coordinator of Multicultural Initiatives at Salt Lake Community College, and Nu’u Tuimoloau, community activist and business consultant.
We focused on solutions-based approaches to closing the Pacific Islander achievement gap that has continued to persist for far too long. Sefa’s thorough discussion about the role of colonialism in impacting long-term, Pacific Island education opportunities surely resonated with the audience, myself included. I offered my own firm belief as a solution that middle-school intervention via charter schools should be a key component of any discussion on closing the achievement gap. Tammy touched on her experiences over the course of many years within the LAUSD system as an award-winning science teacher, and Kare’l outlined the ever-present challenges she faces in trying to bring Polynesian students into the college fold. Nu’u spoke about the importance of communal-based learning and challenged the audience to be more vocal and involved in helping Polynesian communities lift their young people towards something better. In the end, Will ‘Unga seemed to capture the spirit of the panel discussion best when he described his job in Utah: “Helping someone become the person they were meant to be.”
Our kids were clearly energized and inspired by the panel and the entire conference. They got it. Later that evening, we were hosted by Patsy Tito of the Samoan Community Development Center. The SCDC is an amazing organization in San Francisco doing incredibly important work in the community: parent trainings, academic tutoring, counseling, mentoring, and a wide array of other direct services that enrich and improve the lives of our Samoan people. We spent the day at their center meeting the staff, as well some members of the student population whom they serve. We played basketball, volleyball, and ping pong, and wrapped everything up with some delicious pizza for dinner. In the words of Ice Cube, it was a good day. Patsy also shouted (that’s Kiwi for “treated” or “paid for"—you’re welcome Rata!) us for brunch the following day (Saturday) at arguably the best buffet I’ve ever been to: The orange chicken, usually my litmus test for how good a buffet is, was on-point—not too burnt, succulent, and not so dry as to suggest hours under a heat lamp without being replenished. Yum.
The boys and I spent Saturday afternoon touring the world-famous Pier 39. We saw breakdancers, a golden painted man who moved when you paid him to, an impressive, almost 60-year old high-wire artist, a pan floutist/guitarist, and of course, the illustrious Sea LIons of Pier 39. We waded through the crowds and spent the evening at a local mall, before heading back to the hotel. Sunday, we had a quick breakfast at McDonald’s, and before we knew it, we hit the road on our way back to the familiar confines of Los Angeles county.
It was a good trip. Pictures and video to come later. Check back.
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