Summertime Experiential Education

By Jennifer Fogarty, assistant director of marketing and communications
Several students in the Upper School immersed themselves in experiential education opportunities this summer. From riding water buffaloes in Vietnam to feeding alligators and building homes in New Orleans to holding sharks and snorkeling in the Pacific Ocean, students created memories that will last a lifetime.
 
Riding Water Buffaloes
Combining cultural awareness, adventure travel, insider’s access to living historians, community service work and analytical reflection, nine students and three faculty members spent 15 days in Vietnam discovering Saigon, Mekong Delta, Can Tho, Danang, Hoi An, My Lai and Hanoi in June 2017.

Students visited iconic sites of the American war, including the "Hanoi Hilton"; attended a remembrance activity honoring American veterans; met with survivors of the war, including the family of Kim Phuc, Life Magazine’s 1972 “Napalm Girl”; spent time with their Hanoi University student pen-pals both at the Peace Village and Hanoi University; biked to a farm; caught catfish in waist-deep mud; and rode water buffaloes. The food and karaoke were a highlight; read all about their adventures on the Vietnam trip blog.

Feeding Alligators
On a weeklong trip to New Orleans June 2017, 20 Upper School students and two faculty members focused on community service and enjoyed a bit of Louisiana culture. Students worked with several different nonprofit organizations, most notably SBP, which aims to shorten the time between disaster and recovery for those affected by natural disasters. Students learned some valuable construction skills and worked on repairing, painting, installing baseboards, siding and doors on homes for residents of New Orleans, many of whom had been displaced since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.

In addition, students met with a former public defender, a sociologist who writes about education in New Orleans, and volunteered a food bank.

When there was time to explore the city students attended a jazz band performance at Preservation Hall, had the sobering experience of visiting the Hurricane Katrina Museum, ate Cajun delicacies like Po’ Boys and snowballs, and even fed several alligators on an airboat tour on the bayou. Click here to read about Sincere’ Blackmon’s ’19 experience.

Holding Sharks
Students spent 15 days traveling to 17 different ocean field sites in San Diego County and explored nearly 50 of the approximately 70 miles of the San Diego coastline this summer in the Oceans: San Diego class with Upper School Science teacher Chris Uyeda. This experiential course explores how the ocean works and dives into the marine species, ecosystems and conservation challenges relevant to San Diego.

Over the three-week course, students unearthed organisms of the intertidal ecosystem under the pier of Ocean Beach; toured the laboratories at the Coastal and Marine Institute of San Diego State University; experienced the famous grunion run and grew their own fish; met local scientists, conservationists, and industry experts; and held and snorkeled with leopard sharks at La Jolla Shores.

Click here for the daily blog posts to read about their adventures.
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