Katey writes:
"I hear music!” It was the cry of victory for Upward Bound students in River Falls, WI. Thirty-five students, nearly all of them in possession of their own cell phone or iPod (or both!) were tuning in to AM radio signals and celebrating the success of hearing fuzzy preachers or faint gospel choirs. These students were just as enamored as their instructors as they worked for three hard days creating radios and transmitters, finally tapping morse code messages to each other and decoding secret messages from the staff.
Who were the campers who liked AM radios so much? They were students from Arlington High School in St. Paul, Minnesota. They were minority students, some first generation immigrants, some still learning English. They were creative, young minds who were eager to learn math and science from Mr. "Moose”, Mr. Steve, and a band of energetic teachers. Some students had been at the camp before, some seemed to wish they never attended on the first day, but by Wednesday they were all on board playing Neutrino Casino with Scott and graphing light intensities with Liz and Kristen.
My reaction to students in the summer is just how I feel about school every year—the time flies and the kids are gone just as you're beginning to get to know them.
We didn't know much about these students before our week began. We were told that they students identified for their great promise and deserving of summer enrichment in math and science to continue their progress. They needed practice with previous skills and concepts, but some simply needed practice with English—any math or science they picked up would be a bonus. Not knowing anything about St. Paul, MN meant that I had not a clue where these students were coming from.
Before we met the students we visited St. Paul once. In a neighborhood called Frog Town known for it's Hmong population (Cambodian/Laotian/Thai refugees of the Vietnam war), we ate a delightful dinner. The signs of a worsening economy or just a poor neighborhood were abundant outside. We parked on a street busy with cars, but deserted of people with many for sale signs in long-empty window fronts. Was this representative of St. Paul? Was this our students' neighborhood? How different from the tidy, quaint community of River Falls where the camp was held.
I wonder how the students view their experience at River Falls? If Frog Town was like any other St. Paul community they must have noticed the contrast between their home town and the campus of UWRF. The quiet campus is vastly different from the dirty, bustling streets of my native Washington, DC and I felt the differences on my first day there. I wonder if their experiences living on UWRF's campus will inspire the students to look forward to a serene idyllic college life or alienate them from college because it was such a contrast to their everyday world?
Truthfully, the students didn't seemed phased by much. They took classes all day on math, science and leadership and then played games on the drill field until the sun went down. Whatever their backgrounds and futures, these students were inspiring in the ways they tackled new subjects with patience and agility. We were lucky to meet them.