Managing Equipment Donations at EPATT, August 5, 6, 7 2017 (Clark)

Clark Safran

July 26, July 30 August 2 2017, 9am - 1pm

Susan Lynch

2017 EPATT Kids Cup Chair and EPATT Board Member

Supervisor contact info: susan.lynch@epatt.org or 650-766-4576

Through managing equipment donations at EPATT, I was providing underserved kids with proper equipment that not only helps there tennis game, but helps there confidence. Using better equipment allows for an advancement in one's tennis game because higher racket technology and simply functioning rackets change the way a tennis player can hit the ball. Furthermore, new good strings and grips allow for the student to be able to hold on to the racket and not mishit the ball as a result of the broken equipment. But most importantly, the new equipment helps the kids feel better about themselves. When they hold new and properly managed equipment, it makes them feel a greater self worth because it shows that someone truly cares about their growth as a tennis player and a person.

Not only did my work at EPATT benefit the kids in the program, but it benefited me. When I witnessed kids with unusable gear, I recognized my own fortune that I take for granted. I never really thought of my tennis gear as a blessing, I just saw it as another thing that I wanted and the biggest issue was what gear did I want to get. It was such an eye opening experience to see how privileged and lucky I am to be able to play the sport I do with the amount of support I have from my family who are more that willing to spend an enormous amount of money to buy me the best gear. After seeing the kids with malfunctioning gear and how much the new gear helped there confidence and tennis game, I am inspired to do more community service in the future and to make a greater impact on underserved kids lives.

Managing Equipment Donations at EPATT, July 26, 31 August 2, 2017 (Clark)

Clark Safran

July 26, July 30 August 2 2017, 9am - 1pm

Susan Lynch

2017 EPATT Kids Cup Chair and EPATT Board Member

Supervisor contact info: susan.lynch@epatt.org or 650-766-4576

I collected, gripped, and strung tennis racket donations for the East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring organization.

I have worked at EPATT a multitude of times since my Freshman year. My freshman year, I taught clinics and fed balls to the kids. For my sophomore year, I participated in a project to fundraise for the organization, called Aces 4 Kidz, which helped raise over 20,000 dollars for EPATT. This year there was an identifiable need in the organization for higher quality and greater quantity of rackets, so I decided to contribute this time to the equipment needs. One misconception about this year was that obtaining, stringing, and gripping racket donations for EPATT was going to be easier, less hectic, and less impactful than helping in clinics or participating in Aces 4 Kidz, when in reality, it was much harder and more valuable.

At first, the project was super hard because I never learned how to string rackets. It took me over 6 hours to figure out how to string my first racket because the string kept snapping and I always made a little mistake, which would cause me to restart the entire project. In the beginning, I was extremely frustrated that it took me so long to string the rackets. But after I got better at stringing and gripping the rackets, I started to enjoy the work because of the reward to come. The program will continue with better equipment and as a tennis player myself, I know the great difference quality equipment can make.

I definitely feel like I am having an impact on the organization as a whole. Tennis is a hard enough sport without damaged equipment. Overused grips cause your hand to slip and poor strings can lead to balls being miss hit. Most importantly, cracked and old rackets can lead to entire game changes from constantly miss hitting the ball to hurting one’s arm. By collecting and improving the equipment used at EPATT I feel like I can help the kids feel better about tennis, which they have dedicated so much time to, and therefore hopefully have them feel better about themselves.

Peninsula Bridge - Reflection 2 (Jojo)

Jojo Bachechi-Clark

6/20/16 - 7/07/16 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Peninsula Bridge

Rolando Victoria

rvictoria@menloschool.org

This was my second week at Peninsula Bridge, and it keeps getting better.  Either way I wasn’t able to work in a classroom with the kids this week, since I was working in the office all week long, I got to go around from class to class taking pictures of the kids all week long. I worked on sending out the letter to parents in both spanish and english to update parents on how their kids were doing in classes.

As the second week started, I continued to endlessly play foursquare. I have been playing it at almost all the free time with the kids getting schooled by them every day because they always like to team up on me and get me out quick. I have also enjoyed playing ping pong and basketball in my free time, and I have learned that even at their young age, they are very skilled at the sports they love. In basketball, I always see Jack dribbling past the other students on the court and schooling the teacher assistants(TAs) who are all in high school!

Mid-Peninsula Bridge - Reflection 1 (Jojo)

Jojo Bachechi-Clark

6/20/16 - 7/07/16 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Peninsula Bridge

Rolando Victoria

rvictoria@menloschool.org

This was my first week ever working at Peninsula Bridge. Either way I wasn’t able to work in a classroom with the kids this week, since I was working in the office all week long, I got to go around from class to class taking pictures of the kids all week long. It was cool because I got to see all the kids participating in all the different classes, like in the art room, I got to see them draw wonderful trees which were then placed all over the walls of the classroom. I would then move over to the math room where I got to see the kids hard at work where they were filling out packets or taking a test.

As a TA, I was also assigned to a family group, which is two teacher assistants and four students. When we first met in our family group, everyone was shy and timid, and no one really wanted to talk to anyone in our family group. Throughout the week as a family group, we have eaten lunch together, and we have done small science labs together. This was great because I was able to witness some of their passion for learning. And in the process, our family group has become more open and everyone has become more comfortable talking to each. I signed up to work at Peninsula Bridge this summer because I really wanted to help kids focus on their education. I know it is hard for the students to be at school during their summer, but I can see that they really want to learn and I’ve enjoyed working with them and I hope to continue having fun for more weeks to come.

Peninsula Bridge - Reflection 2 (Julissa)

Julissa Torres

6/26/17 - 7/28/17 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Peninsula Bridge

Rolando Victoria

rvictoria@menloschool.org

During my time volunteering at the Peninsula Bridge Program I learned that I enjoy working with children. I also find it incredibly rewarding to help children who come from underprivileged communities. I think the reason is because I saw myself in many of the children. The majority came from the same school district that I was part of in middle school and they lived in the same area that I do. I knew going into the program that many of the students were coming from under resourced schools and for that reason I was even more encouraged to help. I believe that my time as a volunteer at Peninsula Bridge had a positive impact on the students. I made strong personal connections with the students in the group that mentored. I noticed they became more confident in themselves throughout the program and seemed more excited for their upcoming years of education.

Mid-Peninsula Bridge - Reflection 1 (Julissa)

Julissa Torres

6/26/17 - 7/28/17 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Peninsula Bridge

Rolando Victoria

rvictoria@menloschool.org

I assisted the director of the program, Mr. Victoria, in the office during the five weeks that the program was going on. My job entailed taking attendance every day, running the snack shop from which the children bought snacks and setting up lunch. I also put together the weekly newsletter and was responsible for translating the newsletter to Spanish so that students could share what they did that week with their parents. During the breaks and lunch I would help keep an eye on the students and I got to play with them. Many of those students had issues at home, but by having programs such as Peninsula Bridge, they were given the opportunity to get away from those issues for a few weeks. My assistance in the office helped the program run much smoother because Mr. Victoria was free to walk around more often and attend to various issues. The program helped the children advance their skills in English and Math. Low income students are often not given these opportunities, but the program allowed them to enter the school year feeling prepared and ready to advance.

VillageTech: 5/28 - 6/2 (Grant)

Grant Dumanian

6/1/17 10:30-3

VillageTech Solutions

Skip Stritter

skip.stritter@villagetechsolutions.org

Having finished up the last of our seven school visits, it is incredible the disparities in both school resources and how schools treated John and I. At Shivapuri Secondary School on the outskirts of Kathmandu, which was a relatively poorer school for one in the city, John and I were treated like long lost friends. We were immediately given drinks and ushered into our own classroom with ample time to prepare, and then greeted by a class full of the five brightest students from each grade (the school really pulled out all of the stops). It was at this school that we had the most fun teaching, found the kids most engaged, and were able to have the most thoughtful interviews with both students and teachers. At St. Xavier’s, which is a very wealthy private Jesuit school, our reception was different. We waited for about an hour only to be thrown into a classroom full of students and had little time to prepare. The one interview we were able to squeeze in was from an unenthusiastic English teacher who remarked “she'd seen better”.

The disparities between schools only reinforced my passion for helping the rural schools with less resources- not only did they tend to actually have more use for Looma, but on the whole the poorer schools were far more warm and enthusiastic about both Looma and having outsiders in their school.

VillageTech: 5/21 - 5/27 (Grant)

Grant Dumanian

5/21/17 10:30-3

VillageTech Solutions

Skip Stritter

skip.stritter@villagetechsolutions.org

For my PACT, a classmate and I have come to Nepal to test out Looma, a device developed by VillageTech Solutions that has the ability to teach a class using a minicomputer and a projector. The goal of Looma is to make global content accessible in areas without wifi, as the devices are loaded with educational information that can all be accessed without connection. While Looma is close to being able to be sent out to classrooms, it has never actually been tested and troubleshooted by students in Nepal. The goal of this trip is to gain feedback on Looma’s ease of use and functioning in classrooms.

John Weingart and I have been in Nepal for several days now, and today got our first chance to see Looma in action in classrooms. We helped teach three classes: science, social studies, and english. Before coming to Nepal, I worries that teachers would be fearful of the daunting capabilities of Looma having rarely used electronics before. Today's classes put that fear to rest- the teacher we worked with was not only enthusiastic about the device but fully capable of operating it. Watching him teach a class and seamlessly use different parts of Looma together was incredible, a testament to the fact that the device can be successful. In our interview with the teacher afterwards, he gushed about Looma, saying it would give children access to content they could never dream of having before university.

LifeMoves: 7/6, 7/11, 7/13, 7/18, 8/3, 8/10 (JOSIE)

Josie Yoon

7/6, 7/11, 7/13, 7/18, 8/3, 8/10; 4-7pm

LiveMoves

Charmayne and Caitlin

cbellamy@lifemoves.org

I helped the Redwood City Family House out with whatever they needed at the time, so for the second half of my visits, I did a few different tasks.

LifeMoves hosts various workshops to help families become independent again, including financing workshops, art therapy, and parenting workshops. During these workshops for the adults, I did activities with the children at a nearby park. By giving the parents some free time, I allowed the parents time to get necessary information without having to worry about worrying their children.

I also did some work on computers, including translating various forms from English to Spanish and helping look for apartments. Although translating forms seems like busywork, it was very important in order for the shelter to accommodate families that only spoke Spanish. I also helped families look for apartments based on the number of people in each family and their desired location, and the rent had to be under $2000 a month. This task was surprisingly difficult and gave me insight into how hard it is to find affordable housing in our area.

My service had an impact on the Redwood City Family House because I was an extra person to help, which was necessary because LifeMoves doesn’t have the funding to have a huge staff. Through this experience, I learned that although I may think I know that, for example, it is difficult to find affordable housing, I can’t truly understand the difficulty without experiencing it myself.

LifeMoves: 6/20, 6/22, 6/27 (JOSIE)

Josie Yoon

6/20, 6/22, 6/27; 4-7pm

LiveMoves

Charmayne and Caitlin

cbellamy@lifemoves.org

I thought I had a pretty good idea of what my PACT project would be like because I had volunteered at the LifeMoves family shelter in San Mateo before. However, the Redwood City location was different even at first glance: the building is much older and smaller, and there were only 5 families there. I believe that volunteering at the Redwood City Family House gave me a more meaningful and educational experience because I had more casual interactions with the people living there. These interactions helped me see the fear and discomfort that many of the families are experiencing—no one expects to be homeless.

My main job for these visits was staging units for new families who were moving in. We only gave them the most necessary items, but I never realized how many items are actually necessary—pots and pans, pillows, towels, and much more. Since LifeMoves runs on donations, we didn’t have a trash can to give one of the units, which was an item I definitely take for granted but actually has a great impact on convenience that I had never realized. Staging units helped me better understand the difficulty of supporting a household: aside from paying rent and buying food, families must be able to furnish their home with basic necessities.