Forming Foundations

Opportunity Center High School

Forming Foundations is a three tiered Experiential Education program which provides O.C. youth with a mandatory orientation class, a voluntary leadership class and adventure education enrichment alternatives. Experiential Education, learning through doing, is a process through which participants are given a designed environment to build relationships, as well as improve communication, leadership and problem solving skills while having fun.

Each new student must attend an orientation class which runs for six weeks. In this class the new youth get to know each other, get oriented to the school rules and develop relationships with peers and teachers through games and problem solving initiatives. In addition to this class, returning students can choose a leadership class where they may design a class for that week and choose the games/initiatives they want to facilitate. Leadership youth practice their public speaking and receive feedback on their performance from the week prior. They are also given more challenging problem solving initiatives to strengthen their relationships with each other. The new students then are guided into expected behaviors by their peers, not teachers. Lighter, easier relationships develop between teachers and new youth from examples provided by the leaders.

Lastly, O.C. offers an Outdoor Program where youth can sign up for rock climbing, hiking, camping, or rafting. This program, like Leadership, is for any youth who chooses to attend.

Why this project is important:

Goals for these programs are layered. First and foremost, we connect kids into the school community through peer mentorship and direction. This keeps all youth, new and old, in school and interested in making change in their lives. Through the leadership program, youth learn public speaking, how to analyze group dynamics, give and receive constructive feedback and what it means to be a valued, contributing member of the community. The Outdoor Program also aims to keep disenfranchised youth connected while showing them the beauty of outdoor recreation. These programs are the only ones of their kind which offer highly at-risk youth leadership and outdoor options.

Who, and how many, will be served:

O.C. serves youth who have dropped out of high school and have chosen to enter this alternative setting. One third of our youth are on I.E.P.'s, and many are the poorest in the district. Orientation class serves every youth coming through our program, approximately three hundred students yearly. Leadership, the volunteer program, serves 25, while the Adventure Based program serves 50-75 yearly.

How will you evaluate the success of this program?

Our evaluation process compares students who fall in a particular category: leadership role, an outdoor adventure role or general youth at O.C. Leadership students are those who choose the leadership program for at least one six week unit; outdoor/adventure youth are those who participate in any outdoor/adventure classes; general youth are those who do not participate in either of those two activities voluntarily.

After delineating these groups, we calculate the percentages of students who fall into the following categories: student of the week, student of the month, graduating students, those suspended for attendance or behavior, student expelled and students who have dropped out. These percentages show how engaged students are and how they engage within the community- positively by getting rewarded or negatively by getting suspended.

Does this program build on existing programs?

This program does build on existing successful programs. It ran solely on grants for the past three years.

How will this money be spent?

Rock climbing at the Crux; rafting; camping; Ropes Course.