The ESCAPE Club is back for more! More fun, more adventure, more new experiences

You know it!  The ESCAPE Club is back for year #17.  Who’s coming with us?  We’ve begun recruiting students and new chaperones at DeJean, and our first meeting is coming up this week.  We’re already making plans for our first trip, next month to Rock City on Mt. Diablo. We’ve added a few email addresses to our distribution list, so if these messages are new to you, welcome!  (Feel free to unsubscribe anytime at the bottom of the page–no hard feelings). If you’re one of our regular driver/chaperones, you should have already received your first request.   If you’re interested in sponsoring us financially, the avenues are the same: write a check directly to us donate through the EdFund (tax deductible, they take a small percent for processing) deposit direct to our account using PayPal (to info@escapeclub.org) donate via DeJean (be sure to let us know you’re doing this so we can follow up) More details for supporting us financially are on our website: http://escapeclub.org/index.php/donate We appreciate every dollar that is sent, and be assured that every dollar goes directly to the students and the trips.  We have virtually no overhead costs, and every chaperone and teacher leader is a volunteer.

If you’re not following us on Instagram, you really should be. We are @escape.club

And if you didn’t catch our year end slideshow video, I’ve posted it here again.  It’s a good one.  Go ahead.  Click on it.

Finally, we’ve got plans for some new ESCAPE Club swag this year. So along with our usual shirts and sweatshirts (with a sweet new design), we’ll also have a few other fun promotional items.  We’ll let you know about those soon. Thanks for reading, and for all your support and encouragement. Drop us a note sometime, if you haven’t recently.  Jason is back working at DeJean for the time being, so that will help our connection to the students.  We’re looking forward to another great year!

Hi All,

It’s time to wrap up our 15th year of ESCAPE, put a bow on it, and take a break for the summer.  It was a year of new surprises, new exposure, and new resources.  We dodged the weather on some trips, and got pelted by rain and snow on others.  We saw a bobcat for the first time, watched the fog roll through the Golden Gate, returned to Año Nuevo, Alamere Falls and Yosemite for the 15th time, and drove our usual 1000+ miles.

I’ll remember this year as a smaller group, but with a very regular core of kids.  There were about 15 kids that went on at least 8 of the 9 trips. We averaged about 25 kids on the 9 trips.  We had much lower teacher participation than in the past, so we relied more on other sources for chaperones.  And there was an unusually high ratio of 7th to 8th graders.  I’ll attribute that to our irregular presence at DeJean, and the lack of personal contact with students there on a regular basis.  This remains a challenge as Jason and I roam the district in our new positions.

My favorite quote of the year was “You owe me battery percent”.

Some final updates:

• The year-end slideshow video that summarizes all of our trips is on our YouTube channel here:
  
• Our website is back up, after several years in the dark.
• Hit us up on Instagram if you haven’t already.  Online it’s here:  ESCAPE Club on Instagram  or on your mobile app, our handle is “escape.club”.
• We have a few smaller t-shirts left over (smalls and mediums), and water bottles as well.

It would be a tall task to try to thank everyone who contributed this year.  We have so many who donate faithfully every year, and several more who began giving this year, or made a special contribution.  We are so grateful for your sharing in our mission.  Special thanks goes to my dad, Stan Iwawaki, who hit the pavement and recruited several new donors this year.  And along with those who give financially, we equally appreciate the chaperones who donated their time–eight hours or more–on Saturdays.  This doesn’t happen without them.  Also to our wives, Nicole and Mel, who hold down the fort at home while we romp the countryside with the kids every month.

I do want to say a final thank you to Dr. Sylvia Greenwood, who will be leaving as principal from DeJean.  Her unwavering support over the past five years has made it as easy as it can be, despite all the district hassle and paperwork.  We will miss her.

I am grateful again to be able to serve alongside Jason, without whom my head would spin and explode from all the planning, decisions, hurdles, and challenges.  It is a special person to do all that he does, yet crave none of the credit or attention for it.

We remain humbled to be able to serve and have some small influence in this community.  We are grateful to God for the opportunity, for the capacity, and for the resources.  We’re energized from this year, and are looking forward to getting going again in September.

Thanks for all your kind words of support and encouragement, and we’ll talk to you in the fall!  Go watch the video!

john

Hi again. I know. You just heard from us. It was a quick turnaround for us too! The original endeavor years ago was to have one field trip every month. We’re getting out earlier and earlier in June, so our final trip was technically still in May, and just a week after Yosemite.

After school on Wednesday, we took a quick trip down the road to the Oakland Ice Center. The kids got one last new experience for the year. Most of the kids had not been ice skating before, and really didn’t know what to expect. But I can assure you, it was a great time. Kids were so excited as we laced up our skates, and felt the cool ice for the first time. Lots of wall-hugging of course, and shuffling along. Others embraced their propensity to fall, and just went for it, consequences be damned. Interesting to me to see the progress of that kind of kid compared to the wall-huggers.

It was notable to me, the attitude of some kids who were brand new at skating. They watched the 8-year-olds in the center ice with their coaches, leaping and spinning away, and proclaimed “I’m not good at this!” But it was a good opportunity to explain that anything that we’re good at takes time, and practice, and lots of repetition. No need to feel bad struggling the first time.

One of my favorite moments was watching one student, who really wanted to learn to skate backwards. I watched him take lap after lap, barely moving, maybe 7-8 minutes or more to go once around the rink, but set on learning to do it. You can give a kid tips, but I loved watching his determination in figuring it out, and sticking with it, just by doing it over and over.

After a couple hours skating, we headed back through traffic to Cerrito Vista Park in El Cerrito. We ate pizza, ran in the grass, threw the frisbee, and climbed on the play structure. A casual, fun way to end the final trip of the year.

A special shout-out goes to Jason for putting both the Yosemite video and this one out so quickly:

You’ll be getting one last email with the link to our year-end summary video, and a few final thoughts on the year, next week.

Talk to you soon.

john

Our year of excursions came to a climax a week ago as 24 kids from Richmond got to experience three days in California’s environmental crown jewel that is Yosemite. Despite the weather, we made it through the weekend. We headed east into the Sierras, undaunted by forecasts of 70% chance of rain and 30 degree nights.

Arriving in Mariposa Grove Friday afternoon, home to 2000-year old Giant Sequoias, there was a cool drizzle, and a few small patches of snow on the ground. But it was pleasant enough for us to make our usual two-mile loop around the forest. We got to walk through a tree, count tree growth rings by the hundred, and see the rare red snow plant. From there, we headed to Wawona to set up camp.

The rain became more steady by that time, so we got started on getting tarps and canopies up for shelter first. The kids checked out the area until the rain subsided, and we could get tents and the kitchen set up. We got our usual spot at the end of the campground, right next to the river, and lots of free space to explore. The rain continued into the night, but we stayed in decent shape with a big campfire, rain flys and lots of tarps.

Thankfully, Saturday was dry. The kids woke early with the birds and the light, and we got the eggs and bacon going. So nice to have a hot breakfast out in the woods. We packed lunches, loaded into cars, and headed down into Yosemite Valley. It’s always difficult to describe the feeling driving in the valley, flanked by huge granite walls, and water cascading over. Fun to hear the kids talk about what they see as we drive along the valley floor. Our mission for the day was to get up the Mist Trail to the top of Vernal Falls. And so proud of all the kids–each one made it to the top, and gained an unforgettable lifetime experience. If you’ve done the hike, you know it isn’t long, but incredibly steep and demanding. And of course, worth every moment.

Back at camp, we got dinner going, and another big campfire. Some braved the frigid water, even in overcast cool weather, and took a quick dip in the river. Lots of shrieking. We played games, passed out glow-bracelets, and taught kids (and some adults!) how to roast a marshmallow, and make great s’mores. Everyone was pretty worn out after a long hike, and a long day, and it wasn’t too hard getting kids to bed in their tents on time.

Sunday morning, we packed up camp, and headed back down into the valley for a lighter day. Out of our cars, we were shocked to see a bobcat cross the street into a meadow, and it was a special treat to be able to watch it chase birds and walk through the trees. We took the shuttle to Yosemite Falls, and took a little walk to the base of the falls. Lots more to see and do even on this little stroll, like crossing a river on a log, and watching a family of deer. Again, there was a little drizzle, but not enough to force us inside.

We’re so grateful to so many who contributed to making this another special trip. Teachers, parents, and community members who took the weekend off to chaperone, ladies who made us homemade cookies, sponsors who donated firewood and tarps, and a huge contribution from the Berkeley JACL to cover most of the rest of our costs.

As usual, you can watch the slideshow video from our trip on our YouTube channel here:

Our final trip for the year will be to Oakland Ice Center to go skating, and then a picnic in the park. We’ll be back in touch again soon as the year draws to a close.

Thanks for reading!

john