 "Photo: Kirby Yau")
San Diego State's Center for Community-Based Service Learning is taking various steps to help students and the local community work together to enrich each other's lives.
On April 14, the center brought about 50 sixth-graders from the ethnically diverse local Mann Middle School for a day of exploration at SDSU. Each student was chosen on a reward basis and took part in various programs with faculty, staff and SDSU students.
Leah Allen, a teacher at Mann Middle School and one of the planners of the event, said the school wanted the sixth-graders to get a feel as to what college life was like.
"We are hoping to work with the center and follow these students through sixth, seventh and eighth grade," Allen said.
Stephanie Leuer, a graduate intern at the center and one of the event planners, said the sixth-graders were split into groups to visit at least two professors and their students.
Geography professor Eric Frost gave a slideshow presentation in the SDSU visualization laboratory titled "Exploring the World," in which students were shown pictures of the area surrounding SDSU and Mann Middle School. They were also shown pictures of Earth and Mars.
Another group of students met with biology professor Robert Pozos and his undergraduate research assistant Jon Lopez in the bioengineering/motor control laboratory. Students participated in experiments measuring oxygen levels in their muscles as they performed simple exercises such as typing.
Middle-schoolers also met with art professor Hollis Litrownik during her class time with students from an art for teachers class.
She volunteered her classroom for these students and planned a project for them called "Don't Bug Me," which included drawing their names on pieces of paper and making mirror images of them.
Litrownik said she chose this project because it was quick, and the students were able to take it home with them.
"The students use a lot of creativity and imagination that came from their name being on both sides of the paper," Litrownik said. "It can turn into a bug, person, alien, creature or anything they can see, and then they work with color and make a pattern, trying to make it symmetrical on both sides.
"They don't realize this, but they are learning a little bit about some of the elements and principles of design by using line, color, pattern, shape, space and repetition."
Each of Litrownik's students worked with a sixth-grader. It gave the students an opportunity to work with the children, considering most of them plan on teaching.
"My students were looking forward to it because it gave them an opportunity to work one-on-one with the children and experience what that is like and to communicate what they have learned in this class and share some ideas with them," Litrownik said.
Essence, a 12-year-old student from Mann Middle School, said she enjoyed participating in the art project.
"I like the variety of people here and the teachers are really nice," she said. "I like this art project because I haven't done one like this before."
Liberal studies senior Tanya Alsaigh enjoyed working with the kids because the project brought out a lot of their creativity.
In the afternoon, SDSU ambassadors took the students on a campus tour, and for lunch, the greek organizations Theta Chi and Sigma Kappa purchased food from Aztec Shops and ate and mingled with the students.
Groups in the afternoon met with biology professor Estralita Martin to discuss the college experience and took a tour of SDSU's library with associate librarian Gloria Rhodes, in which they participated in book talks in one of the high-tech library classrooms.
Before leaving, students received goodie bags from Associated Students, Aztec Shops and the International Student Center.
"Our goal at CCBSL is to create meaningful relationships, not just on-time things," Leuer said. "These relationships will help our students learn about different things they can't learn in a classroom."
This activity was also planned by Philip Thornton, Center for Student Involvement undergraduate intern, and CCBSL Director Stephanie Brown.
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