Vol. 1, No. 1 | Spring 2002
Jennifer Vakiener and friends from the Expedition UC Links program in east Oakland.
UNDERGRADUATE VOICES
Leading Expedition
UC Links in East Oakland
BY JENNIFER VAKIENER
I am the undergraduate site coordinator for Expedition, the UC Links program at Roosevelt Middle School in Oakland. Our program, staffed by UC Berkeley undergraduates, is designed to integrate anthropology, geography, and history with education by using computer software, Internet activities, and hands-on projects for the Expedition kids, who are called "Explorers." Graduate student Amy Ramsay (Anthropology, UC Berkeley), Professor Ruth Tringham (Archaeological Research Facility, UC Berkeley), Tamara Sturak (Interactive University Project, UC Berkeley), Roosevelt Middle School teachers, and the San Antonio Village Collaborative worked together to design and implement the program.
I began participating at Roosevelt last year as a student in Anthropology 128. I was apprehensive about working with middle school students when I first visited the school—but what I wanted most of all was to be an excellent teacher. I wanted to make learning a fun and interactive experience, especially for students who were struggling in the traditional classroom. I thought that I would be the one teaching and the students learning from me. A year later, I have discovered that teaching is not a one-way process, that learning will occur best when you accept everyone as a skilled person. This means acknowledging that we are all life-long learners and also that we all have something to add.
Aida, my first Explorer, introduced me to Spanish. By sharing her poetry with me, she helped me appreciate the beauty of a new language. I am now studying introductory Spanish at Berkeley because of Aida. She guides my Spanish pronunciation, and I help her with her English writing skills.
Another Explorer, Jerome, showed me that motivation comes from within. You can only achieve what you expect for yourself. Jerome did not expect to go to college. When I first met him, he was interested in things other than school, and he mentioned graduating from high school with "the same bad grades I have now." That was then. Now he wants to improve his reading fluency because his future goals have changed. He wants a college education. I encourage him to read more so that he can get the grades he needs for college acceptance. "Really, you think I could go to college, Jen?" he asked me while writing a letter on the computer. Before joining Expedition and interacting with university students, Jerome did not see college in his future. With his ability to set a new goal, Jerome has given me an epiphany of my own: being with these students has shaped my future just as I have shaped theirs.
Expedition is more than mentoring, teaching, learning, or friendships. Rather, it is all of these augmented by the shared skills of everyone involved. What I love best about the program is summed up in the words of one Explorer. De'Anna said "I like Expedition because it lets you teach yourself the boring stuff and makes it fun." I know the Explorers have taught me a great deal. They have given shape to my professional future in education. I want to provide more services for urban students that help them strive for a college education by starting my own mentoring project in a public school. Every day, I look at the thank you cards on my wall from students and remember the benefits and perspective this program has given me.
Jennifer Vakiener is a senior at UC Berkeley. In the fall, she will attend a master's program in educational policy and administration.
La Clase Mágica: New Communities of Learners
HumaniFest Online: Linking Humanities Out There and the Whittier Fifth Dimension
The Magical Web Fifth Dimension
Digital Storytelling in West Oakland
Undergraduate Voices
Jennifer Vakiener
Brianna Guillermo-Newton, Miranda Cheang, and Robyn Rachac
Links for Kids
How to Make Links: Social Capital and Community-University Collaboration
Growing up with UC Links: An Interview with Jesse Paulos