Aim High summer program gives middle-schoolers plenty of food for thought
A summer program serving middle schoolers throughout the Bay Area allows them to explore subjects that don't often get talked about during the regular school year at their age.
"Has anyone ever heard 'You talk white,' or 'You're white for your race?'" instructor Brisa Cledenny asked a class recently.
Immediately, students said "yes," prompting an extended conversation.
These are the types of discussions kids are having in their Issues and Choices class at Aim High, a summer program that serves kids throughout the Bay Area. Many of the sites serve communities of color. But it's not j,st what some may call a "summer school." It's much more.
Issues and Choices is one of four classes students go through during this five-week period. In this class, students get to talk about topics they don't always get to discuss during their regular school year. They include conversations about what they experience, like racism and the feeling that you don't belong.
"People are gonna tell them where they don't belong, when they should always know they belong here," Clendenny said.
Clendenny was one of three teachers inside the classroom at an Aim High site in San Francisco. This site is called Baytola because it serves students in the Bayview and Portola neighborhoods of the city.
In each class, you'll have two to three teachers – a lead teacher, a college intern, and a high school intern. Clendenny went through Aim High herself as a student and came back to teach. This is her first year as a high school intern.
"It was a good way to build community and come out of my shell and socialize with other people, and what's taught here, you don't see in school," she said.
When you walk into her class, on the board you see the word of the day. On Thursday of last week, it was self-love. And the discussion that day revolved around internalized racism.
In addition to Issues and Choices, students participate in Book Club, where they read short stories by authors of color. Then there are STEM and Humanities classes that focus on an issue. This summer, it's about access to water – a problem for many in the U.S.
"I get to learn different things, hands-on experience," said Soni Foster-Jackson, an 8th-grade student at Aim High.
This is her third summer in the program, and she says she looks forward to it every year.
"I kind of have been counting down the days and weeks," Foster-Jackson said. "It's exciting for me to make new friends, learn new things."
Making new friends and building a community is another essential part of Aim High, said Michelle Cody, the co-site director at the Baytola site.
Students have recess and lunch during the day's sessions. During that time, you'll see Cody playing basketball and engaging with students.
"If you can sit next to a kid and ask them about how they're feeling or what are they watching or just playing checkers or sucking at basketball, it allows them to see themselves in you, and it creates a sense of humanity, and that's important," Cody said.
Teachers range in age, giving kids an opportunity to relate. Cody said another important factor of Aim High is that students get to learn from teachers of color.
Outside of the classroom, students get their hands dirty with activities from gardening, arts and crafts to cooking.
"We were just discussing, what should we make. One of the kids said, quesadillas, and that's an easy thing and affordable thing to make," said Clendenny as she helped kids whip them up.
Through all these classes and conversations, part of the mission is to give students a space to ask questions, engage critically, and create a community.
"We don't need other people to save us. We need to save ourselves," Cody said. "And how do we do that? By giving them the tools, so they could be successful, and they can go out there and make the change they want to see in the world."
