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The News from the Network section of IdealistOnCampus.org is a space to
highlight the interesting and innovative programs, people and events
connected with the Idealist On Campus Community. As a resource for the rest
of our constituency, these individuals and organizations who have made a
tremendous impact are invited to share how they've turned a concept into
reality and continue to work each day to build a better world.
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At Stanford University, the Haas Center for Public Service encourages students to connect their academic and service work. One of their programs is the East Palo Alto Stanford Academy, which takes at-risk middle-schoolers and provides tutoring and mentoring from undergrads both during the school year and the summer. We have asked Elise Miller, Communications Director of the Haas Center, to provide background on the Center and EPASA below; the article also includes excerpts from an article by Carolyn Abram of Stanford University.
East Palo Alto Stanford Academy at the Haas Center for Public Service, Stanford University
By Elise Miller and Carolyn Abram
In 1983, Stanford University President Donald Kennedy challenged graduating seniors to dedicate some of their talents to serving society and humanity. He appointed Catherine Milton as Assistant to the President to evaluate the state of public service at the university. Milton found numerous public service efforts by students, but a lack of institutional support and chronic leadership challenges. On her recommendation, Stanford officially established the Public Service Center in 1985, with Milton serving as founding director.
The Public Service Center was renamed the Haas Center for Public Service in 1989, honoring the $5 million contribution of the Haas family of San Francisco to the founding endowment. Today, with its 20 staffed programs and its many student, faculty, community and alumni collaborators, the Haas Center is known as a national model for public service education. By connecting academic study with community and public service, the center aspires to strengthen communities and develop effective public leaders. To accomplish these broad objectives, the center, collaborating with associated units at Stanford, implements programs in five contexts: Fellowships, Courses, Research, Community Programs and Leadership.
The center's community programs in the area of youth and education-at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels-integrate student learning and leadership opportunities with assessment and evaluation of outcomes for the children in partner schools. One such program, the East Palo Alto Stanford Academy (EPASA), offers a two-year-long learning opportunity for seventh and eighth grade students in the Ravenswood City School District. Founded in 1986 by Stanford undergraduate Lorne Needle '87 (Public Policy) in response to a community need, EPASA was student-run until 1999 when a Haas Center staff person was hired as director of the program. This change was made as the result of a self-initiated evaluation through the School of Education to enhance the program's continuity and accountability to the community.
Middle school participants in EPASA are highly motivated, making a two-year commitment to the program, and represent differing academic abilities and socio-cultural backgrounds. During the school year, tutoring and mentoring are provided on Saturdays when middle-schoolers are matched with Stanford students who challenge them with an academically enriching program that complements and enhances the curriculum offered by the district. During the summer, these students come to the Stanford campus for a six-week academy taught by the Haas Center's Education and Youth Development Fellows. Past fellow and current tutor Richard Cox designed an elective for his first summer teaching: poetry with an emphasis on hip-hop. Richard spent his whole spring quarter preparing for the summer - creating lesson plans, learning classroom techniques, and designing the course. As for future involvement with volunteer work, "I'd like to create a large program, similar to Upward Bound at Stanford. I like teaching middle school, but I am more fanatical about getting them into college and giving them all the resources and information before they apply." Throughout the year, EPASA works to ensure a successful transition from middle school to high school by increasing social awareness and by teaching the skills and strategies needed to pursue educational opportunities in high schools outside of their community.
Noah Borrero, current EPASA Director and a PhD candidate in the Stanford University School of Education, reports that the program currently has 37 seventh and eighth graders from three local middle schools. The Saturday program continues to offer one-on-one tutoring for all students along with math and English enrichment classes. EPASA alumni are on campus in February to address the current EPASA students on the transition into high school. This spring, EPASA will be recruiting new sixth grade students and Stanford undergraduate fellows for the Summer 2006 program.
For Stanford students, EPASA provides firsthand learning about the public K-12 educational system, an opportunity to serve a neighboring community, and a chance to develop their own skills as facilitators, coordinators, tutors and mentors. Shaneka Julian '00 (Sociology), a former coordinator with EPASA, is now a teacher at East Side College Preparatory High School in East Palo Alto. "My experience with EPASA has been crucial to much of what I do today, how I feel today, and it will continue to be thatAt EPASA, the students always came first, before anything, and I also hold on to that as one of my guiding principles."
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