Category: Blog

The ESCAPE Club at DeJean is really rocking this year!  We’re on Instagram (follow us @escape.club ), we’ve got a YouTube channel, we’re in the newspaper, REI sees us, there’s snow in the Sierras already, our website is almost ready for official release, and most importantly, kids are getting to do some great things outside!

November’s trip was to Slide Ranch near Muir Beach.  8:30am at DeJean and the drive to the ocean was cold, wet, and blustery.  36 kids and 9 drivers ignored the weather, and showed up anyway, hopeful for a fun, worthwhile day.  Driving through the rain, I have to admit I was wondering what I was leading these kids into.  But once we parked the cars and got out, the sun broke through.  We shed our rain gear, and felt once again like we were being favored.

The staff at Slide Ranch divides us up into small groups, and then spends the day giving the kids an intimate look at life on a farm.  In particular, we spent time learning about and discussing sustainable living and where our food comes from.  The groups rotate through several activities, including milking a goat, visiting the chicken and duck coops, making bread and butter, touring and tasting in the organic garden, digging in the compost pile, and seeing how a bee hive works.  Each activity is completely hands on, and a new experience for almost everyone.  The land at Slide Ranch ( slideranch.org ) is open to the public if you ever want to visit.  We’ve just had a great time every time we’ve visited.

After our time was done at Slide Ranch, we walked down the hill to the beach.  The tide was out, but there wasn’t a whole ton of wildlife that captured the students’ attention.  A few starfish, a few crabs, a few anemones.  But that didn’t matter.  It was just fun to climb over the rocks, dodge the waves, and enjoy the sand and the view, and whatever oddity they saw.  Back home by dark, the kids were tired and could look back on a great experience.

Jason’s slideshow video can be viewed by clicking on the following:

December’s trip to Monterey is coming up next week, so we’ll be back in touch soon!

We got the year off to a great start with our trip to Mt. Diablo and Rock City.  About 35 kids got to get out of town, and go up ‘On Top of the World’.  The students were wide-eyed as we drove up the narrow roads, looking down the steep slopes, gawking at the cyclists daring to ride UP to the top, and counting the 1000s of feet above sea level.  We arrived at the summit around 10am, and enjoyed a clear view.  The museum there is well done, and interactive.  And after a couple years of construction, the observation deck on the roof is again open for business.  We spent about 30 minutes there, and then headed back down the mountain to Rock City.

After a brief meeting together, the kids went their separate ways to find a good spot to eat lunch.  Some opted for caves, while others opted for the views.  One group mapped out all the peaks they wanted to climb, found their way to each of them, and made it up each one.  Jason and I were both encouraged by the enthusiasm of the kids.  They explored all the trails, and got up to as many cool hangout spots as they could.  It was warm and sunny on the mountain, but it was easy to find respite in the shade, and we drank plenty of water.  The blue sky and scattered clouds made for some nice photos.

The only disappointment was that we didn’t get to see any tarantulas.  (I guess not everyone was disappointed, but I was.)

November’s trip is a return to Slide Ranch–the teaching farm near Muir Beach–on the 22nd.  Space for this trip is limited, but let us know if you’re interested in coming along, and we’ll see if we can make it work.

Thanks again for all of your encouraging words, and support.

Welcome to another year of the ESCAPE Club at DeJean!  So exciting to finally get our website back online.  Thanks so much to Neal Pierce for making it happen!  

 

Our first meetings have been crowded, but manageable–somewhere between 70-80 kids in our humble classroom.  So far, Jason and I have a nice impression of the kids.  They’ve been well behaved, cooperative, and anxious for the trips.  We’re looking forward to our first excursion of the year to Rock City on Mt. Diablo.

 

For those who are able, we would be grateful to accept any financial support that you can offer.  Normally, the EdFund grant provides a substantial percentage of our budget, but this year they are doing things a little differently, which may leave us out in the cold.  (We are also still waiting on a couple corporate matching donations, which I’ve learned are either a scam, or at best, unreliable.)  Again, the simplest way is to send checks directly to me, made out to ‘John Iwawaki’.  If you’d like the tax deduction, they can go through the EdFund, and I can provide more info if you prefer to go in that direction.  It’s also possible that I can work with a check made out to the school, but let me confirm that first.

 

We’re excited to see what this year has in store.  Though we don’t know the kids very well yet, each cohort has its own personality, its own characters, and its own dynamic.  And we’re looking forward to reaching kids in new and deeper ways, both through our experiences away from school, and academically at the meetings.

 

Talk to you again soon!