Last week was the last week I hosted FHE, Fellows for Higher Education, at my old high school, KSJC. Starting this past week, the school year had already begun, with freshmen roaming the halls and new teachers looking just as confused as the new students. The old students that I knew, juniors and seniors, were now the leaders.
My summer was meant to help the rising seniors with their college applications, essays, and to help them find scholarships. While fewer students showed up than expected, my group of teammates and I were able to find a way to work around that issue. We had decided, instead, to create a Google Drive filled with a wealth of information on various scholarships, paid internships, or summer programs that were either heavily subsidized or covered for students.
While the summer did not turn out the way I had expected it to, I actually like to think it’s better! I learned that resources like this help the students and teachers much more at a campus like mine. The teachers are much better equipped to persuade the students, especially the stubborn ones who would rather be told they’re right. Through that specific experience, I definitely learned that working with high schoolers is not my strong suit. However, I loved working with the teachers and staff to create materials that would be helpful to the students indirectly throughout the school year.
The summer, overall, was rewarding. It was trying at times to work with students who were strong-headed, and with students did not show up, despite saying otherwise the day before. I would not trade this experience though, because I learned that I really did want to advocate for education equity and that it was an important issue that meant a lot to me as a FLI student. I ended this summer with a clearer picture of what I want to accomplish this next year as a Service Focus Fellow and with new ideas on how to help my community!
KSJC, otherwise known as KIPP: San Jose Collegiate, became the first KIPP school I worked at. As a former KSJC wolf myself, the amount of joy I had when I worked with my old teachers was indescribable. As a charter network, KIPP prides itself as “once a KIPPster, always a KIPPster”, with the motto extending to the KSJC Wolfpack. Coming back and creating a small change put the belief in perspective for me.
On that end, I was also extremely excited when my old teachers who have begun their first years as principals of new KIPP: schools responded to my emails. I’ll be working with them in the near future to create the same type of worksheets and spreadsheets for their students as well!
