Throughout the years, Cal High students have unfortunately witnessed many discriminatory incidents on campus that have targeted certain groups of people.
As a way to combat these incidents, a group of seniors in the Social Justice English 12 class planned a class field trip to San Francisco as part of their final project to learn
After reading the book “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas, students were given the option to make a “do-good” project, participate in group learning or write an essay for their final. Seniors Meghana Kolar, Kisha Arora and Vibha Hari chose to create a project and had the idea of a field trip.
“I chose to do a project with a few of my classmates,” Kolar said. “We came up with the idea [to organize a field trip].”
After students came up with their ideas for their projects, they had to pitch their ideas to Cal Principal Demetrius Ball, who had to approve the ideas.
Ball approved the field trip and an email was sent by Social Justice English 12 teacher Eghosa Hamilton in late November for students who wanted to participate.
The field trip was open to all students on campus.
The email includes a basic overview of which historic sights will likely be visited and what topics to be covered on the trip.
Hamilton was excited about this project and the trip’s approval.
“I like to give students choice so they have agency over the things they are learning in a way that isn’t necessarily super traditional,” Hamilton said. “There are ways in which learning can be transformative and not stagnant, and that they can have fun and show their knowledge.”
In a press conference with The Californian, Ball said how he hopes that these projects will hopefully start changing people’s minds.
“We’ve got to face the realities of the negative things that have happened,” Ball said. “It’s easy to make a comment or do something hurtful to someone you don’t know.”
The six-plus-hour trip took place on Jan. 10 after a lot of planning by the group of seniors.
“My favorite part of the trip was teaching everyone about the history and connecting it back to the lack of knowledge we face at Cal,” Arora said. “I feel like it was a good way to educate the youth.”
The seniors took students to many places to help address certain issues related to incidents of hate on campus. They visited the American Civil Liberties Union, Martin Luther King Jr. ‘s Memorial, George Moscone Center, San Francisco Police Department, and Willie May Statue.
In addition to leading students to these historical sites, the seniors created some questions and curriculum to go along with the trip. With visiting these sites, the group wanted to bring attention to topics such as civil rights, activism, police brutality, gay rights, diversity, and inclusion.
“I feel like people don’t know much about it [discriminatory action in history],” Kolar said.
The group of seniors sent an email with Google Slides, an interactive curriculum, questions, and worksheets that they made for students who didn’t attend the trip.
Ball said he hopes to use this information and share it with staff and the student body.
Although the seniors said the trip went smoothly, they claimed organizing the trip took a lot of time and effort. There were challenges along the way of planning that the seniors had to work through to make sure the trip was a success.
There would be no trip without students, so the group asked teachers if they could visit their classrooms to talk about the trip to bring more attention to it.
There were also some things out of their control that they had to take into account, including the weather.
“Also figuring out where we go and the route,” Kolar said. “That was pretty complicated to figure out.”
To find chaperons was difficult for the seniors as well. They had to send emails to every Cal teacher to find someone to attend the trip with them in order to provide supervision.
To provide transportation, the senior had to get a district bus which was expensive. To keep the trip free for students, the seniors got funding from the Student Site Council.
The council is made up of students, teachers and parents who get together to choose what the school should fund. Other groups from the class that chose to complete a project for the final received funding from the council as well.
With this trip, the organizers are hopeful students can form a better understanding of the reality and negative impact their actions have.
“I’m super proud of my students,” Hamilton said. “All the students that have done the “do good project” were phenomenal in a lot of ways, were creative and did things that are beyond our classroom in terms of impact.”
