Manual Arts High School students research impact of prostitution

October 26, 2010 By 1 Comment


This is the third of eight write-ups from freshman students at Manual Arts High School. Some participated in weeks-long projects about animal abuse, drugs, gangs, prostitution and racism. Part of their projects included surveys they created for their communities. After they gathered information, all of the groups presented their findings at a school presentation. Two days later, each group wrote about their experiences during an Intersections: The South Los Angeles Report mentoring and writing workshop.

Prostitution

By: David Delgado, Jocelyne Recinos, Jesse Rodas and Sophia Salazar

Prostitution is a concern in our community, and we would like to change or help in any way we can. Our main question was, “How does prostitution affect women in our community, and would it help if we made it legal?”

While doing this project, we learned that prostitution has been seen by a lot of students at Manual Arts High School. We handed out 136 surveys to students, and our team visited about 10 classrooms. We discovered that prostitution is in a lot of our communities.

We also learned that making prostitution legal, or giving it its own area, will not make our streets safer. Our group thinks this because we believe a lot of people will still prostitute themselves for drugs or other illegal substances.

Our group interviewed Mr. Irving, our principal, and he was concerned. He asked us why we had chosen this topic, and we answered that we were concerned about our younger family members. We told him we wanted to know how to explain to them why these women do what they do. We discovered that most prostitutes do what they do because they are poor, and they have no other ways to get money. Instead of helping them, the government is investing money in prisons and the war.

Some women do not have any jobs, and they need to pay rent, bills, and food and water to support their children. But prostitution is basically slavery for women.

Wherever there have been bad economic situations, there has been prostitution.

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Exploring the meaning of racism

October 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment


This is the second of eight write-ups from freshman students at Manual Arts High School. Some participated in weeks-long projects about animal abuse, drugs, gangs, prostitution and racism. Part of their projects included surveys they created for their communities. After they gathered information, all of the groups presented their findings at a school presentation. Two days later, each group wrote about their experiences during an Intersections: The South Los Angeles Report mentoring and writing workshop.

Racism

By: Anahi Acevado, Daniel Aguilar, Ana Gonzales, Dillon Rivas and Darwin Vicente

We chose racism because it is very interesting to us. It is an issue and problem we wanted to discuss and look up. We studied and searched websites, articles and documents. We found and discovered many things.

Our group learned that racism is very familiar to people and it exists in our community. We surveyed many classes and students, and we interviewed five people, including an English teacher, a physical education teacher, a coordinator and an assistant dean.

Everyone we interviewed felt the same way we did. We all feel that racism is a problem that needs to be dealt with. This problem will not change or stop if we do not work together to make a difference. We think that if everyone works together and resolves their issues, we will succeed.

Our group also thinks racism most likely comes from pure ignorance. Ignorance is the cause of racism because people who are racist do not realize that racism just brings more problems and violence in our community and world.

Racism can negatively affect you and everyone around it. It can start problems and create violence. Race itself can stop you from getting or keeping a job. We believe you should earn your job based on your hard work, experience and loyalty, rather than your race. Most importantly, race can keep you from having a nice, soothing and joyful life, but that is not okay.

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Researching animal abuse at Manual Arts High School

October 21, 2010 By 1 Comment


This is the first of eight write-ups from freshman students at Manual Arts High School. Some participated in weeks-long projects about animal abuse, drugs, gangs, prostitution and racism. Part of their projects included surveys they created for their communities. After they gathered information, all of the groups presented their findings at a school presentation. Two days later, each group wrote about their experiences during an Intersections mentoring and writing workshop.

Animal Abuse

By: Carlos Amaya, Marisol Cruz, Robert Escobedo, Oscar Rivera and Andrea Sosa

We chose to research animal abuse because we care that animals cannot stand up for themselves, unless a person speaks for them. We also chose to research this topic to help people see how badly others treat animals and that everyone needs to help stop animal abuse. It is necessary for factories to stop using hormones, mistreating animals and overfeeding them. We want to create harsher laws against the use of hormones in animals we eat. Dog fighting, and other forms of animal abuse, should also stop.

We believe that when animals are abused, it is similar to abusing a family member. That is what one teacher at Manual Arts High School said when we interviewed her and asked, “How would you feel if you saw an animal being abused?”

Our group also surveyed 238 students, went to 13 classrooms and interviewed five others. We asked, “Have you ever seen a dog or cockfight?” One person said yes, that he also bet on the fight. He said it was worth his money. It is important to have more economic resources in our community, just so people will stop trying to make money off of breeding and fighting animals.

We also asked, “Have you ever abused an animal?” One of the members of our group chose that question because he knows some people who abuse their animals. When we heard that, we felt mad because some people just act as if killing animals and hurting one another is fun or normal. More than half of the people we interviewed have witnessed animal abuse. We discovered that most people are against animal abuse, but there are also some who said they would not help the fight against it.

Overall, this topic was important to us because we see that people take advantage of animals for their own gain. Cruelty to animals is the infliction of harm or suffering for a purpose other than self defense.

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“Down for Life” explores one girl’s reality of life in a gang

October 21, 2010 By 1 Comment


Listen to the audio story:

—–

Read the audio script:

LeTania Kirkland: I understand you were chosen for this role under unusual circumstances. What were they?

Jessica Romero: I was at school. I was going to Manual Arts High School in South Central. They were having a casting call at my school. Some lady asked me if I wanted to be in a movie, and I told her, ‘No, I’m cool, no thanks.’ Another lady came up and asked me about five minutes later. She was just like, ‘It’s a really good opportunity for you, so why don’t you just go?’ So then, I was like, ‘Alright then, I’ll go.’ So then I went, and they were asking all of these girls. There were a lot of girls in the auditorium, and they were lined up on stage, and they were going into this little room for about three minutes and coming out. It was my turn to go into the room, and I went in for about 20 minutes, and in those 20 minutes, they were just asking me different questions like, am I in a gang, have I ever been in a fight, have I ever started a fight. I just answered pretty honest, you know. And here I am, three years later.

Kirkland: And the reason why they were looking at high schools, they thought it would be better to choose kids from South Central because they do relate to the story. How did you relate to this character Rascal’s story?

Romero: At the time, I was more involved in gangs and stuff. I didn’t really have my priorities straight or anything. The character Rascal, she kind of discovered herself, too, in the story. At the time, that’s what I was going through. Now I’m 18, and thanks to this movie, I’ve kind of found my way, and I know exactly what to do with myself now.

Kirkland: And you said you know exactly what you want to do with your life now. What is that?

Romero: My dream is to be a marine biologist. That’s what I want to do with my life. Before, I didn’t really look forward to anything besides the day I was in. Now, I have goals and stuff that I want to do five, 10 years from now. I think Rascal goes through that. In our story, everything takes place in one day, but what I discovered in three years, she discovers in that one day.

Kirkland: This story was based on the actual writings of a girl at Locke High School. Do you feel like you did her story justice?

Romero: I met her a couple of times. She told us herself, ‘Wow, you guys did it right.’

Kirkland: Has being a part of this film changed your mind about the power of art and the effect it can have?

Romero: Yeah, I mean, there’s a lot of things out there, and a lot of different books and movies and poems. But it’s different when something comes straight from the heart, when something is real. That’s how our movie is. There’s no fancy stuff, no extra stuff. It’s just plain and real, and I think that’s what touches people.

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Manual Arts team builds robot, helps Chilean students

March 3, 2010 By 2 Comments



Manual Arts High School students are engaging in science diplomacy.

Fifteen students participate in an international robotics competition and have been assisting a team of students in Chile build their robot.

The students have been working afterschool and on the weekends to build a robot to compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition, which will be held in late March.

The Manual Arts team is in its seventh year of competition and has climbed steadily, placing fifth in the competition in 2009.

“We are learning to reach out further than our borders and see what we can do to help the team,” said Bayron Lopez, a former Manual Arts student, about the sharing of resources.

All participating teams of the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Competition receive an identical kit of parts and are given six weeks to create a robot that can participate in the challenge of the year.

Prior to the earthquake, students at Manual Arts were communicating with the Chilean team, Corazon de Chileno, using Skype and Facebook.

Students have been exchanging ideas with one another.

Engineers from Raytheon and Boeing, who volunteer their time to mentor the group in South Los Angeles, also assist the Chilean team with formulas and troubleshoot through video chat.

“We wouldn’t be able to participate this year without the help of team in L.A.,” said Juan Pablo, a student from the Corazon de Chileno. “This year, we’re naming our robot John Santos as a thanks for all he’s done.”

John Santos is the teacher for Manual Arts’ Math, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program and has been instrumental in making the academic and cultural exchange with Chile.

“Last year we received an email from the team a month before the competition asking if anyone could provide them with support because they’ve never been to Los Angeles,” Santos said.

Manual Arts helped the team by supplying them with tools, sharing transportation to the competition and helped with anything they needed to keep the robot running, Santos said.

“We have known them for a year, we have pretty strong bonds,” said Jose Serrano, a senior at Manual Arts and the team captain. “We are trying to communicate through Facebook and Myspace, but we’re worried about our friends.”

Through robotics, the students have had the opportunity to work on team-building and problem solving skills.

Working with the team in Chile has also improved students’ Spanish speaking skills, said Lopez.

In fact, Santos often speaks to the Chilean team in Spanish and then translates the conversation to his team members.

The students from Corazon de Chileno submitted their robot on February 23, just four days before Chile was hit with a magnitude 8.8 earthquake.

With the aftermath of the disaster, it is unclear if the students will be able to fly to Los Angeles to compete.

“The average family in Chile makes about $11,000 a year, the students would have to spend 10 percent of that on airfare to come out here for a week,” Santos said.

The Manual Arts and South Los Angeles community is opening its doors to the students, with many teachers offering to provide housing and take care of the team during their visit. Funding, however, is needed to assist the students in buying their plane tickets.

“We’re not the richest part of Los Angeles, but we’re willing to share whatever we have,” Santos said.

Approximately 12-15 students are needed for the competition that will be held March 26 and 27 at the Long Beach Sports Arena.

Manual Arts is helping the students fundraise by sharing the story of the team and directing donors to the Corazon de Chile web site where the team is accepting donations.

“What is really important is making sure the people in the country are safe, but this has a place too,” Santos said.

Check out Manual Arts High School’s robot from last year:

Filed Under: Education, Featured Tagged With: , , , ,

Protesters seek decreases in prison spending

October 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment


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William Grant held a magnifying glass to his eyes and read a speech to community members gathered at a protest in South Los Angeles. Legally blind, he testified his supplemental security income has been cut by $100 a month, making it difficult for him to pay his expenses.

On-lookers shook their heads when Grant shared that the state pays over $50,000 a year for his son to be incarcerated in jail, while his resources have been cut.

Grant’s son was convicted and sentenced according to the Three Strikes law for stealing a 10-speed bicycle from his then-girlfriend’s garage.

According to Families Against California Three Strikes (FACTS), Grant’s son is among 57 percent of Third Strikers that were incarcerated for a non-violent offense.

Grant ended his address by urging people to demand that the Three Strikes law, which was introduced in 1994, be modified to violent crimes only.

Protestors asked for legislators to reform the Three Strikes law, the death penalty and to implement the Federal Court order on prison overcrowding.

Students, teachers, and community members held signs in front of Manual Arts High School chanting phrases such as, “the power of the youth don’t stop.”

Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), FACTS, and other organizations arranged the event.

Army Cachero held a brightly decorated sign reading, “educate don’t incarcerate.” Representing the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team, Cachero was diagnosed with HIV in 2002.
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Cachero said disease education, counselor support and medical expenses are publicly funded by the state. He worries the state’s budget crisis and their commitment to jails will cut funding of programs that support him and other HIV positive people.

Other speakers expressed their concerns through art.

David Montes, a senior high school student, rapped a piece titled, “Schools not Jails.” Alejandra Lemus from the Community Rights Campaign group wrote a poem for the event narrating, “is it really a stretch to ask for books, not bars?”

Organizers passed out letters from Stop the Cuts Coalition and CURB for attendants to sign that will be sent to the State Assembly Speaker Karen Bass. The letter urges the state to re-invest money into communities, and support the Federal Court’s order to reduce prison populations by 44,000. It argues that, “Experts agree that reducing the prison population will not threaten public safety.”

While some support the current Three Strikes law and other prison policies, the purpose of the protest was to argue that the increase in prison spending decreases funding in education.

Katie Briggs, a teacher at Manual Arts High School, says cuts in education are “guaranteeing a bleak future.” She continued to ask, “Why invest in the death penalty? Why invest in something final? Let’s invest in something progressive. Let’s invest in something we know in the end helps every one of us. And that’s education.”

Filed Under: Featured, Politics Tagged With: , , , ,

Beyond South LA, youth explore college, activism and the Black Panthers

September 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment


Read the full story on the South L.A. Road to College blog…

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Exploring a community’s needs,  students vow to “change this place”

August 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment


LOS ANGELES – When Isaac Jimenez, a Wilson High School senior, finished the school year last May, he could have chosen to enjoy his summer break. But instead he opted to spend five weeks learning about and doing research in the communities of Greater Los Angeles.

Jimenez is one of 25 high school students from Los Angeles Unified School District hired to participate in a youth research seminar sponsored by the UCLA Institute for Democracy, Education and Access, an institute that brings together scholars and community representatives to improve the number of students of color in colleges and universities. The seminar teaches students college-level research to motivate them to address social issues in their communities.

“Young people need to be major players in conversations about educational reform,” said Ernest Morrell, the institute’s associate director.

Morrell has been involved with the project since it was established in 1999 as a way to determine why there was such a high academic failure among students of color. Over the years the project has grown and explored several research topics.

This is Jimenez’s second year in the program. He was first recommended by his history teacher and said he was drawn to return to the program because of this year’s topic: the affect of the economic recession on a student’s ability to get an education.

Running out of paper

Jimenez said he felt the affect of the economic crisis when his school ran out of paper with only a few weeks left of the school year. “If you wanted to make copies or print something out you had to take your own paper and they still charged you for the ink,” he explained.

Jimenez, who lives in East Los Angeles, said he’s eager to learn how the economy has impacted other communities. “I wouldn’t know if the same affects take place . . . it [the research] will teach me if we have all had the same affect from the economic crisis.”

Jimenez is part of a group of five students who will conduct their research in South Los Angeles.

The students will spend one week becoming familiar with university-level work, learning theories they will talk about and putting together their research design. The last four weeks are spent conducting their research and analyzing their data.

Each group, consisting of five students from different schools, will explore a community in Los Angeles.  They will visit schools, organizations, and public spaces in their designated community and collect their data through surveys and interviews.

With the support of five teachers from Los Angeles city schools and UCLA graduate students, the students will look at the communities of South, East and West Los Angeles, Watts and the San Fernando Valley.            

“Every teacher has this dream of having 30 students in a space that’s not school,” said Morrell of the seminar location, “in a highly resourced space because most of us feel like the reason students aren’t learning has a lot to do with what schools are as institutions and a lack of resources. If you have the space and the resources, kids can do amazing things.”

Inspired to change “this place”

The seminar is funded by a collection of grants that help provide students with the materials for their data collection.

Aaron Armstrong, a senior at Manual Arts High School, participated in the seminar last summer and took what he learned to begin a program at his school to develop a better connection between students, teachers and administrators.

Armstrong said his experience made him more willing to listen and work with others to become active in their communities. “It showed me that there’s more out there than just me and my little bubble because at first I never liked going anywhere outside of this area [South Los Angeles],” he said.

Locke High School senior, Gregorio Arenas, said curiosity is what attracted him to join the seminar. “I didn’t know anything about my community. At first I didn’t care because I felt like my educators didn’t care for me so I stopped caring about my own community.” he said.  Arenas said he was angry with the fact that a lack of resources in his school caused him to get lower grades because he wasn’t able to buy materials for projects that the school should provide.

Now that he is in the program, Arenas said he has a different perspective.“Seeing the community around me and seeing how we’re treated, it makes me want to change this place.”

The seminar concluded on Aug.7 with a presentation of the student’s findings to parents, teachers and city officials at Los Angeles City Hall.

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