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"Our students went from 457 at their home school of attendance to 638, which is an increase of 181 points on the API."

 

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“As a partner, SOCG has been tireless in its effort to bring thousands of K-12 students and parents to our campus to engage in the work of making their schools better and safer. In my opinion, without SOCG, the schools would not be the centers of transformation they are today.”

-Dr. Munashe Furusa,
Director, Institute for Global lntercultural Peace Building
Chair, Department of Africana Studies
Chair, Academic Senate
California State University, Dominguez Hills

 

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Other words of support …

“One of our greatest collective accomplishments in the effort to foster positive behavior and improved interpersonal relations at Markham was the participation of 600 Markham students in the Secondary Transition Education Program (STEP). In May 2007, every incoming 8th grade student participated in the STEP camp to help instill a sense of leadership, camaraderie, and responsibility in those students who would be perceived by the rest of the student body as the school’s leaders.

During STEP camp, groups of Markham students, who would normally be divided along racial lines or because of gang-affiliation, worked together and engaged one another to reach a common goal. Furthermore, the program allowed students to build stronger relationships with their teachers. School administration and staff credit the noticeable change in student behavior on campus to this tremendously moving experience.”

Rocky Delgadillo,
Office of the Los Angeles City Attorney
BLUEPRINT: IMPROVING SCHOOL SAFETY IN THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES

“Thank you for planning a content rich event, and for ensuring authentic student voice. The students touched the hearts and earned the highest respect of all in the library.  I am so very proud of Jefferson’s students. Congressman Becerra, as teacher and facilitator was truly inspiring.”

-Office of Human Relations Administrator, LAUSD

"The Secondary Transition Education Program (STEP) was provided under contract for the Los Angeles Unified School District as a recreation of Standing On Common Ground's Transition Institutes from September 2006 until June, 2008. The partnership with the City Attorney was a product of that collaboration."

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“I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I knew I cared about helping people but was not doing well in school and failing almost all my classes. SOCG helped me to focus on finding a purpose bigger than myself and now I want to go to medical school.”

-Celeste F, Santee Education Complex

“Working with the Disabled students from the Harmony Elementary School in our Cross-Age Tutoring program made me realize how fortunate I was and how valuable it is to serve others. The looks on their faces when we showed up told the whole story.”

-Erendira G. Carver Middle School

“WelI things have been alright. I’m really glad to be in high school. I really feel that Animo Ralph Bunch High School is going to get me prepared for college and I'm really excited. Though I'm a bit nervous about the whole college thing, I'm going to be the first one in my family to go to college. Thanks for working with us and making this possible.”

-Adriana, Animo Ralph Bunche High School

Thanks so much for the great recommendation with the lady hiring for the job. She said you were enough and she didn't need to call any other references. Yes, I did get the job. Today was my first day of the job. I am so glad I nailed it. I work with middle school kids, but man it was some long process Thank you so much for all the work we did with SOCG and for sending us to Japan as the guests of Sanrio. This wouldn’t have happened without the experiences I had with the P3 Program.

Thanks and I hope to see you soon.

-Ivan, Sophomore, California State University Northridge

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Rosa Hernandez, 9th Grade
New Technology High School

Student Empowerment Academy (SEA)

 

ON THE TRANSITION INSTITUTES      

 

As an 8th grader I was terrified at the thought of having to suddenly mold myself to high school life. During the whole of that year I decided to live it like never before; making friends everywhere I went, messing around in almost every class I thought was boring, juggling my buddies and school work, and making an image for myself. I had all of that mastered before the graduation ceremony!

You can see why I was so reluctant to give it all up and start again as a high school freshman. Little did I know that that summer I would be facing some of my biggest fears like growing up, speaking in front of a giant crowd of rowdy teenagers on a sugar-high, and even my fear of heights! Back then I was horrified at the thought of being put into these scenarios, but thanks to Transition Institutes, now I can say with a smile and a shrug, "Been there, done that."

It wasn’t at all a "facing your fears, time to grow up" experience; it allowed us to connect on a deeper level with people who have faced extreme hardships, ultimately inspiring us to strive for our sense of worth. I could never have said that without experiencing firsthand a little thing called a Transition Institute.

No, they don't call you back during summer break and stick you in a hot cramped room with your future classmates and talk endlessly while you just sit there and daydream about the beach. It was an opportunity for adventure, new beginnings, and a head start at high school life.

My experience at the Transition Institute was one of the best things that happened to me in my life! One of the things that stand out in the haze of my memories of those days was the incredible atmosphere! Everyone was so polite! Everyone was cooperative with the facilitators and some became good friends with them. I, for example, caught up with one of my favorite people in the world - Mr. Rubine - we went way back to my middle school years, he was one of the main speakers during the program who everyone wanted to talk too and everyone still remembers. I attribute my success in high school both socially and academically to him. I swear when I heard him greeting us on the bus trip to Cal State Dominguez Hills (that’s where the program was held), I felt my smile go from nervous to happy in seconds! He got me out of my shell on the first day of the transition institute by calling on me for my opinion on just about every issue raised! No, we weren't talking about shallow topics like the ones I am so used to; we got deep into an intellectual conversation between him and other facilitators.

When I realized that I wasn't being booed for giving my opinion in front of a crowd I became more passionate about the issues like homosexuality, discrimination, prejudice, gang activities, and many more subjects that teens are not usually big on discussing with adults. Many friendly people approached me afterwards during breaks to continue a discussion about the subjects we had been talking about. These adults that were our facilitators made me question the myth that went something like "adults just don’t get us."

We had a guest speaker, Chico Brown, come in and talk to us about his gang ties and I remember the dead silence as we were all enthralled by his story of how he lost his best friend to gang violence. He was but one of the many guest speakers we got to ask for advice and inquired about aspects of their lives we found interesting. We had three very compassionate adults come in and talk to us about homosexuality and share with us their experiences, thoughts, and feelings. In the same room at the Museum of Tolerance we had a Holocaust survivor answer all our questions, not caring if they were heartfelt or even based on the thoughtless curiosity teenagers are known for. I quote him now in his isolated tone of voice that, after we went through the museum we understood; "In about 5 years [from now] you won't find anyone else who has lived through [that] hell and gotten out physically, mentally, and emotionally alive, anymore."

Maybe it was really that we were seeing it as a one sided problem, maybe.... Perhaps adults really do understand us and are trying to help us, after all, did adults want to be spend their break time with a bunch of teenagers with too much energy and not enough outlets? Now that I remember, the facilitators at Cal State Dominguez Hills tackled that too! We hopped back on the bus and embarked on a journey to one of the scariest and productive experiences of our lives! "I thank the Transition Institutes for giving me the courage to stand up for my opinions and beliefs on anything."

Like I said before, I AM TERRIFIED OF HEIGHTS!! I hate it and when I do have to do things up high I NEVER look down, but that time I had to look down to stay alive (Maybe that's overselling it but that’s how I felt at the time). I was scared and even considered skipping that day's program because the facilitators joked, "you will need to sign a death waver." Then in a rush I found myself at the park playing 4-sided tug of war with all the freshmen and some sophomores from New Technology High School. Everyone tugged in every direction without much success, we later finally figured out we were supposed to help each other, not fight against each other. I felt so dumb while I lay on the grass exhausted. That was not the end of that day. Later that day I finally stood up to my fear of heights and yanked it all the way up onto the top of the climbing wall. Later I got over my shaking knees to climb as high as an telephone pole and crossed to the next one on a very thin log (like a tightrope walker)! I had to look down as I was only being held up by a harness sustained by my future classmates. At first just looking up was enough to deter me from wanting to even try, but by the middle I realized that that point wasn't only to face my fear but to trust others to help me face it. It was pretty funny to see our future teachers freak out on top of that log as they had to participate too.

At the end of that day I actively participated in recognizing the facilitators in mini ceremonies where we presented to them little hooks (called carabiners) that helped them from falling to "death". We did this so that they would remember the experience as well as us, the terrified students. They were being recognized for helping us to finally understand what the meaning of the Transition Institute really was – creating trust in yourself and others. You won’t fully understand the miracle until you experience it, there's no other word but... enlightenment. After that you feel like there's nothing you can’t master and that wasn’t even the last day!

The last day was the best!! Everything built up to us feeling like a great big family! I knew most of the Animo Ralph Bunch kids because they were my former classmates from Carver Middle School and I knew everyone who would be attending my new high school, New Technology. So, I hung out with a lot of fun people talking about the "old times", like when we laughed so hard milk came out of our nose or we would anticipate what high school life would be like. It was fun and nice to be able to spend time with our old friends before we got split up into different high schools. The food was great too, which contributed to the great atmosphere. So by the time we were all stuffed, tired, and emotional, we climbed back on the bus and waited for a week and then finally... high school would start!

I thank the Transition Institutes for giving me the courage to stand up for my opinions and beliefs on anything. I’m no longer a follower of fads and at my school I try to break the idea that we all have to be in a type of clique. We could all get along if we just respected each other’s views and listened more than we talked. I took home a lot of new values as well as souvenirs from the experience, we all made new friends that know us better because they heard our personal opinions and had time to reflect upon the idea that perhaps we don’t always have to be right, and that together we can find a good path to walk on hand in hand, everyone as friends looking for a better tomorrow and striving for it today.