Monday, May 12, 2014

A Day at UCLA- People of Color Tour and meeting with MECHA

This past May 8, 2014, students from Gardena High School, including those participating in the Women's Leadership Project and the Young Male Scholars groups, visited UCLA's campus to learn more about the school, the campus climate for students of Color and to gain more information.

Briana Little, who is a fourth year student and very active on campus with the Afrikan Student Union (ASU) and with current campus elections, gave a People of Color tour that spoke of the rich history of activism from students of Color on campus. During the tour, she also asked her peers and friends to come speak to the group, further giving more insight to the diversity of experiences from undergraduate and graduate students on campus. Many spoke of the challenges they faced in their lives as well as the reality of student life for many students of Color.

Sebastian Flores, a transfer student from Riverside Community College and an active member of MECHA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán), met up with the group to introduce the organization, its history and relevance. Sebastian and his MECHA colleague, Isai Madrid who is also a transfer student, spoke about their experiences, challenges and lessons learned as transfer students. Towards the end of the discussion, a Q&A session opened up allowing the students to ask whatever questions they had.

Overall, the not-so-typical visit to UCLA was not only fun but informative, with all of the speakers being warm, approachable and honest. It left many of the students's minds open to the possibility of attending UCLA in the near future as well as offering helpful advice and resources to assist in navigating their journeys to academic success.

 

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Denim Day Workshops- Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault Prevention Education

Still today, in 2014, sexual harassment and sexual assault occur at alarming rates. With this reality and in conjunction with Denim Day (http://denimdayusa.org/), the young women of WLP at Gardena facilitated six necessary and important discussions regarding sexual assault and sexual harassment. The differences between these two issues were laid out as well as discussions revolving around gender, gendered expectations of men and women and rape myths occurred. Also discussed were what young men can do to help stop this epidemic that affects too many women as well as many boys and men.

WLP conducted eight facilitations in all at Gardena High School, as well as Washington Preparatory High School and Duke Ellington Continuation High School, which produced fruitful discussions with the young women and men of these schools.