Tag Archives: high school

12th Grade, School

Senior Prom

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April 14, 2018

Their time has come.  Magical.

Happiness
Amelia and Jeremy

Beautiful and elegant!

So proud of Amelia.

Adventure, Hiking, Holiday, Recreation, Travel, Vacation

Spring Break 2018

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April 5, 2018 , Carmel-By-The-Sea

A much needed spring break at the Carmel Valley Ranch with her generous and gracious  host family…. happy and relaxed after a grueling semester.

Carmel Beach
Carmel Beach

Wild deer, domesticated cat on Adirondack chairs and a bunny… gentle hikes and good food.  Life’s good!

Carmel Valley Ranch Swimming Pool

Carmel Valley Ranch
Carmel Valley Ranch

 

10th Grade, Activism, School, Spiritual

Camp Unity

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April 19 – 22, 2016

“Camp Unity is a requirement for the social justice pathway since it is great camp that focuses on social injustice of all types that help students become leaders within the school. This goal ultimately aligns with the Social Justice Pathway’s (SPJ) goals for our students as it serves as foundational understanding for our students in terms of discussion, understanding of leadership, and our perspectives when considering social justice issues.

Furthermore, this camp will help unify the students within SJP as a shared experience. Ms. Evans and I find that this will be such valuable experience for Amelia because it will give her a platform to explore issues she is interested in as well as allow her to bond with other classmates beyond her immediate friend group.”

Day (Evening) 1:

We arrived at Camp around 7:00 PM after a long and windy trip through traffic to Boulder Creek, in which my friends and I pretty much just slept the entire way, as comfortable as we could get in the cramped bus seats, one torso piled on top of another.

First things first; bags out of the buses, and we entered into the main lodge with our duffles piled on a lunch table outside and newly made nametags secured around our necks.

“Rainbow!”, someone called, and we learned that “Rainbow” meant the whole room shuffled around seats, actively trying to sit with people not of the same race, gender, or friend group.  One of the best traditions of camp, as I don’t believe all 60 of us would’ve gotten half as close if we hadn’t been forced to sit and eat and talk to everyone else we didn’t know.
It was here we first met Richard, the lead counselor and adult of Camp Unity.  Not so tall, not so short, bone white hair and a grizzled, tanned face.  I remember one of the first things he said to us, an order to enjoy the food of our first dinner, to clean our plates because of how good the pasta bake was.  I jokingly replied, “we’ll try,” and he clapped me on the shoulder and chuckled.
After dinner, it was bunk assignments and I got to meet my cabin mates.  Luckily, they put me in one closer to the main hall so I didn’t have so far to go in the morning.
Back at the main hall, we all sat in a huge circle and introduced ourselves and “built community”, until the main event of the evening; tackling racial stereotypes.  No notice, just straight “hey kids while this particular ethnic/racial group steps out of the room, please come up with every derogatory term/slang/stereotype for them you can think of, and we’ll bring them back in and make them look at them.”
Peer Comments

“Ace Emelia Straight”

  • strong sense of self
  • not afraid to talk about it
  • educator & tolerance
  • fearless spirit
  • always looking out for others
  • a voice for those who can’t
  • voicing your opinion
  • you know who you are
  • strong and courageous
  • gorgeous
  • teach and educate
  • passionate
  • very unique
  • born leader
Peer Comments
Peer Comments
Conclusion

In the end the entire camp became friends and started talking about their shared experiences, triumphs, failures, successes, preconceptions.  And the world moved forward one little step in one small way.

10th Grade, Activism, School

Sources of Strength

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Sources of Strength

AMS has been nominated by her teacher to participate in this new program at Paly.  See the excerpt of the email sent out to her parent.

“Dear Paly parent,

Congratulations! Your child has been nominated by the school’s teachers and administrators because theyve been identified as a leader on campus and someone whose voice is heard by other students. They will be receiving an invitation letter this week (SEE ATTACHED) to participate in a new school-wide program at Paly called Sources of Strength.

What is Sources of Strength?

Sources of Strength ( sourcesofstrength.org) is a training program that brings peer leaders together in partnership with caring adults. Sources is a widely used national best practice program. More than 10,000 youth leaders have participated from across the U.S. and Canada. The program uses a fun-filled style of active learning to encourage open discussion about the very real problems that youth face and the sources of strength that help in navigating those problems. It trains peer leaders on how to connect their friends – and themselves – to the help and support they need when they’re struggling, aiming in particular to significantly reduce those in severe distress who may consider ending their lives by suicide. The program will be led by a certified trainer and adult leaders from Paly. Ultimately, Sources is an “upstream” wellness program designed to leverage student voice to help change the culture of our school for the better – one that helps youth identify, discuss openly, and strengthen protective factors in their lives.”