Schools
Going Out on a Ledge to Build Trust and Confidence
Students enjoyed a day of camaraderie and self-esteem building amid the trees on San Bruno Mountain.
With friends and classmates shouting words of encouragement from 30 feet below, senior Sara Alfaro yelled back confidently “I know I can do it!” from atop a wobbly pillar in the middle of the woods.
Like many of her classmates, Alfaro tapped into newfound confidence yesterday, as a group of 17 students from Baden High journeyed to San Bruno Mountain State Park to take part in a ropes course event designed to boost students’ self-esteem while building trust.
“You have to learn to trust yourself and others,” Alfaro said, describing her experiences on the course throughout the day.
Find out what's happening in South San Franciscowith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Paid for through a grant from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the event was designed to reward some of the school’s top achievers, including top credit earners and those with the highest attendance. Students enjoyed climbing lessons, as well as a free barbecue lunch provided by school board member Liza Normandy and her husband.
Baden High principal Jim Murphy said that the ropes course provides a reward for students who came to the school after encountering problems at more traditional high schools.
Find out what's happening in South San Franciscowith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“These are students who just needed a different environment,” Murphy said. Baden’s 80 students include at-risk youth who can benefit from unconventional teaching methods. Baden’s role as a continuation school serves to reconnect kids to education in a smaller setting with unique approaches, he said.
Junior Joey DeLorenzi lauded the staff’s ability to build rapport with students.
“I love how loose the staff can be,” he said, adding, “when they come down on us, they come down as hard as any other teacher would.”
DeLorenzi was one of many students who enjoyed seeing his counselors, teachers and even the principal get up on high-flying ropes right along with them.
“It’s a cool way for us to bond as students and teachers alike,” he said.
Students spent most of yesterday morning navigating lower level at the mountain’s White Hawk Ropes Course before moving on to the more precarious, higher tasks in the afternoon. On hand to belay and assist Baden students were rope course instructors from Jefferson Union High School District’s Wilderness Program, where students learn to become instructors to their peers. Supporting supervisor Normandy is a graduate.
Wilderness Program teacher Edward Lopez explained that the ropes course has provided a forum for his students to empower themselves by teaching others in their age group, helping them to see their own worth and potential.
“It gives them a chance to show the world and themselves that they are capable people,” he said.
Like Baden, Jefferson Wilderness is an alternative high school program that utilizes students’ potential to become leaders. Lopez explained that giving students the opportunity to teach their own peers not only helps empower them, but can also serve both sides of the exchange, as students often respect and understand their peers better than someone from a different age group.
“It’s based on the idea of kids teaching kids,” he said, adding that, because they are the same age as the students, they are often able to get their messages across more effectively than adults. “They speak the language of the teenager.”
Jefferson students stayed on the ground to belay while their Baden counterparts headed up into the trees, tackling courses that included a tightrope strung 20 feet in the air between two trees and a high-dive plank situated 40 feet up against a tree trunk. While participants were able to opt out of any activity they were not comfortable with, many took the difficulty of some of the obstacles in stride, viewing the course as a learning experience rather than a terror.
“It’s more challenging than scary,” said Baden's Ana Carballo, who is seven credits away from graduation.
Baden sophomore Taylor Evans enjoyed the course not only for the trust and confidence it inspired among her and her classmates, but also for the bonding experience it provided.
“We get to learn more about each other and get to know each other better,” she said. “It shows us how much courage we have.”
Many Baden students expressed a new sense of unity with their classmates after taking part in the various exercises, all of which required the student to put full trust in his or her peers, with all belayers and spotters being fellow students.
Senior Jenna Beverly was one of few participants able to complete a course where the goal was to climb and stand on a narrow 30 foot high pole and then jump off to grab a ring overhead.
"You have to live outside your box," she said.
After having spent all year on Baden’s top credit earners list, Beverly reflected on the changes she has seen in herself throughout her time at the school.
“In the beginning, I never used to come to school,” she said. “Now I go every day. I used to be a shy person, but seeing the change from me being a troublemaker, now I want to help other people.”
She developed a post-high school plan too: completing the City College of San Francisco culinary program.
Like Alfaro on the wobbly pole, Beverly said that she gained more confidence during her time at Baden, helping her overcome shaky beginnings and look toward the future.
