Real Life Experiences for Paul Revere Middle School Students

Revere is a Title 1 school, PITCH, which focuses on AA success, 70+% English Language Learners and overall we have a great amount of room for improved achievement. Much of our population is from the Bayview/Hunters Point communities. Many of our kids have experienced heavy trauma and regularly deal with challenges.

The beauty of Revere is the enormous amount of ‘love’ offered by staff. This sets the tone for great connections and trust with students. The relationships and experiences offered by the school are extremely important and invaluable.

Real world opportunities help to offer students a way to see their own life in ways they may have never dreamed or imagined. Every seventh and eighth grade student will have a career experience in their desired field. Students in leadership class, student aides, honor roll, and most improved academically are some examples of the many student groups also offered real world opportunities. There are other experiences that may be offered for highest achievement (unrelated to honor roll requirements) for AA students, positive behaviors, music genre interests, etc…

Previously, some of the experiences have been sailing, surfing, SF Jazz, music writing and studio taping, medical, automotive, FBI, social work, Netflix, advertising, architecture, fashion, art, cooking, Dandelion chocolate and so many more.

Many of our kids are hungry so often I will include healthy foods in rewards and experiences. Those that choose culinary as their career interest receive six weeks of cooking lessons. There have also been some additional one time situations at an off site professional or teaching kitchen.

Since many students have so many life challenges to overcome, many will be included in a flying trapeze experience. In advance, I work with students on taking control of fears and challenges. I will spend whatever time is necessary at the event to help everyone struggling with the fear of climbing 25 feet in the air and jumping off to the trapeze. The plan is that everyone will try and hopefully walk away overcoming some fears. It’s a beautiful thing to watch. So many don’t think they can do it once they see it, and then with emotional support they step up. Their pride and excitement is life-changing.

City Hall visits are for specific grade levels to make deposits of .01- dollars in student college savings accounts. The city of San Francisco opens an incentive based account for every SFUSD student. It is empowering to step up to the treasury window and verbalize that you are making a deposit into a college account.

These are just some examples of what we do. The four criteria I use for selecting all experiences are fun, educational, couldn’t do with their family and offers bragging rights. The bragging rights are very important and hold a lot of weight when planning activities.

When there is a small group of students, Muni is our free transportation. A bus is necessary to ensure we all arrive and depart together when larger groups are attending the event. There is a cost for these travels based on time and distance.

When students are invited to one of these real world experiences, the reactions are incredible. The student's smiles, enthusiasm, appreciation and positive attitudes bring me great joy. This is precisely why I continue to network to find interesting and exciting opportunities for Revere students. I am hoping to raise $1100 for field trip transportation costs. Thank you for your consideration and interest.