ACE Spectrum

Spring Brings KALW’s Audio Academy Into Bloom

Posted by Martha Sessums on Mar 29, 2022 in ACE Learning Center, ACE Partners, Continuing Education | 0 comments

By Ben Trefny, Interim Executive Director, KALW

It’s been a while since we gave an update on KALW’s Audio Academy. At this point, our class is moving into more independently-directed production — they’ve gotten good at making spots, researching information, checking facts, pitching stories, conducting interviews, recording sound, and making their first feature assignments. Those were stories in our @work series — profiles of people and the jobs they do, often highlighting how they’ve changed because of the pandemic.

Here are links to the pieces that have aired in recent weeks on KALW:

Books for all: Medicine for Nightmares opens in the heart of the Mission — Elizabeth Aranda

COVID and gentrification: Bishop K.R. Woods is leading his church through both — D’Andre Ball

Reinventing classical music for the digital age — Ryan Howzell

A State Park Interpreter with a passion for San Francisco’s Candlestick Point Recreation Area — Johanna Miyaki

A shelter manager strives to work harder after the pandemic — Jasmine Ramirez

Veggies on Wheels: How a San Jose delivery program is getting produce to residents more sustainably — Dorothy Tang

Here are some thoughts Dorothy shared about making their first feature:

My first story was really exciting to work on, and I felt ready to finally tackle a story — KALW style. I feel thankful for my sharp editors and really appreciated the wealth of feedback and knowledge I could tap into. I also felt inspired by the work ethic exhibited by my editor and mentor and felt supported in my ideas and how to execute them. Looking forward to my next piece.

Us, too!

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to catch up with alumni from the graduating class of 2021. Scott Carroll, Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman, David Exumé, and Annelise Finney joined me for lunch at Horn Barbecue in Oakland. It was terrific — and the camaraderie between classmates was beautiful to witness. Also, it was truly inspiring to learn that 7 of the 8 graduates are actively practicing the art and craft of audio journalism professionally (with Scott busy spending his time in personal and professional health care). Jobs range from day reporting at KQED, to earning a fellowship reporting on AAPI mental health issues through USC Annenberg, to working at PRX’s Snap Judgement, to getting started with NPR’s How I Built This! So much talent finding its way through KALW’s flagship training program! We couldn’t be more proud.

And just a few days ago, while starting a road trip around Southern California, I met up with one of the Audio Academy’s primary teachers last year: Sonia Narang. She led our 2020 election coverage and then the health and equity reporting that led to our podcast What Works: Grassroots Solutions Around The Bay. Sonia was thrilled to hear about the success of our students, and as you can see, she and I repped the station well with our KALW shirt and sweatshirt down in the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens.

Stay tuned! Just as the flowers bloom in spring, so do the storytelling journalists from KALW’s Audio Academy!

Wellness Ambassadors’ Influence at Oakland International High School Resulted in the District’s Highest Vaccination Rate

Posted by Martha Sessums on Mar 15, 2022 in ACE Learning Center, ACE School Report, Continuing Education | 0 comments

The Wellness Ambassador Program at Oakland International High School (OIHS) is “considered to be foundational to our community’s ability to center wellness in our school culture,” according to Veronica Garcia Montejano, Principal at OIHS. The Ambassadors made multiple class presentations about the Covid 19 vaccines in addition to one-on-one conversations and vaccine days at the school. They also made multilingual videos for the district in support of Covid 19 vaccinations.

The result: currently 93% of OIHS students have received two vaccines and 5% have received one and are on track to receive their second. This puts OIHS at the highest rate of vaccinated students among all other public high schools in the district. “We believe that our Wellness Ambassadors were critical in developing a sense of urgency among our students to get vaccinated,” said Garcia Montejano.

Hear direct from Wellness Ambassadors and OIHS staff that coordinated the effort. They did a great job.

Ricardo Jaramillo, Staff Member

We did a lot to make our conversations positively oriented — i.e., through taking this vaccine, you have the opportunity to make our community safe, to protect yourself and the people you love. We never came from a place of shame or judgement, we always sought to understand where our students and families were coming from, and to meet them where they were in our conversations.

We made our vaccine days fun — we had tamales, music, dancing. It was a celebration! We celebrated our students for making this positive choice for themselves and their community. Ultimately, I think the sense of community at our school is so singular and strong, and I have to think that played a part in why our vaccination efforts were so successful.

Nilya Abdul, Staff Member (Coordinated a lot of the vaccination efforts)

It was a long road. As a community we did both group and one-one outreach. I also spoke to many families to help ease their hesitation and answer any questions they had. I also reached out to the Ethiopian/Eritrean church and had their religious leader help in doing outreach and religious rituals with our students before they got vaccinated.

(OIHS) has the highest vaccination rate because we worked as a community in convincing and doing outreach. Regardless of the job title, we came together as a team and did what was best for our students. One thing I learned while engaging with immigrant youth is that we often need to get a full parental understanding before we proceed in asking the students.

Jakelyn Chopen Gutierrez , 10th Grade

(I got vaccinated) because through the vaccine I protect myself and protect others, so that COVID doesn’t continue to spread. I was scared at first because I’d heard different things, people said I’d feel really bad or even that I’d turn into a zombie, that it would hurt a lot. But I saw that a lot of people were getting sick and some dying and so I wanted to protect everyone.

Filomeno Tomas 12th grade

I got the vaccine because I wanted to be safe myself, and I wanted to make sure everyone else was safe too. The students here are very concerned about their studies, and many think the same as me: they want to be sure that themselves and each other are safe.

Yasser Alwan, Newcomer Assistant

I tell students that I got the vaccine a year ago and nothing bad happened. I try to discuss the fake information they know about the vaccine and dispel them. If they say ‘my parent says no’, I offer to call the parent and try to convince them.

I remember the Wellness Center people coming into each class at the end of the vaccine day and convincing students to take it. That was a pretty good

Our school has the highest vaccination rate because the Wellness Center people really put solid effort into convincing students to take it. Also, having the clinic at the school really helped push the vaccine rate up. Engaging immigrant youth populations has taught me to first listen to students without judgment then see if it’s okay to offer advice, if they are open to it.

Identity Magazine Written by Oakland International High School Students Gets to the Heart of Identity

Posted by Martha Sessums on Mar 14, 2022 in ACE Learning Center, ACE School Report, Continuing Education | 0 comments

By Martha Sessums, President, ACE

Identity means different things to different people. Some identify with their home country. Some identify with their religion. Some identify with family traditions, language and culture. But identity can change when big life events happen and one moves to another country to find a new life or move on from a past one.

Once again, Oakland International High School (OIHS) has created a publication that tells personal stories from the student’s point of view.  This time it’s a student-made online magazine from the 12^th grade reading class (supported by the OIHS ACE Learning Center) and published by Issuu, a digital publishing platform. The magazine’s name is Identity and it’s full of student stories that give insight into the difficulties of moving to the US and learning English but also joyful stories of how students define and keep in touch with their identity.

Their stories are told in a collection of short interviews, essays, question and answer formats, even poems and a graphic cartoon. The stories range from making friends to dealing with emotions of anger and sadness and how to control those emotions. It also includes many types of cultural joys including cooking traditional foods (several recipes), music, art, fashion, sexuality (including LGBTQI) and cultural highlights of religion and celebration.

The beauty is the honesty of how the students reference their lives and identities. It is hard to learn English, hard to make friends, but there is an understanding that working hard and keeping focused on school is key to success. It’s once again a real reflection of the supportive work the teachers and administration do at OIHS and the positive results for each student’s success based on their personal identity.  As poet Rut Valquezwrote in the last stanza of his poem, What is Identity?

Is this me? I’m walking, building a warm home and full of hope inside me.

Identity, the fountain of this garden that gives me a meaning to life.

Identity is soul, identity is discovery, identity is not masks, identity is history.

Identity is passion, identity is art. Identity was born, and became a living being.

I am an identity.

Congratulations OIHS 12^th grade reading class. Another great publishing success. Read Identity here.