“A spa for the brain.”
That’s how one 15-year-old girl described her experience in SASS (Summer of Art, Science and Service), a unique new summer program created by the Julia Morgan School for Girls in conjunction with Mills College.
Twenty-two high school girls spent two weeks this summer living in the Mills College dorms and taking part in creative academic projects that combined art, science, and service learning.
This was the first year of the program, which was designed to promote a young woman’s passion, purpose, and sense of potential at a crucial time in her life. Participants learned about nature and their place in the web of life through such activities as a scavenger hunt in San Francisco, a Yosemite exhibit at the Oakland Museum, cleanups at Save the Bay and Mills College creek, and an observation walk through the UC Berkeley botanical gardens.
The hands-on, project-based curriculum culminated in an exhibit housed at the Julia Morgan School for Girls, an all-girl middle school on the Mills College campus. The exhibit showcased visual art projects made from recycled materials. One piece by student Geneva Dixon, 16, showed the planet Earth sinking into a landfill. Another by Alyssa Strickling, 14, showed a “Recyclin’ Rasta Man” sitting on a blue bicycle and reminding viewers what to do with their trash.
Two other students, Nora Meuler and Keara O’Doherty, both 14, constructed a giant hamburger to warn against overconsumption.
“I love my project,” said student Rachel Whittom, 15. “It took a ton of work but was totally worth it in the end.”
Students, who came both from nearby Oakland and from as far away as Los Angeles for SASS, said the program’s first year was a smashing success.
“It was a life-changing retreat,” said Reyna Haussermann, 15. “An art and science extravaganza,” said Paige Kupperburg, 14.
And of course, the verdict from Alida Jekobsen, who lives in Oakland: A spa for the brain.
|
