EXPLORING THE SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS WITH AN UPWARD BOUND COHORT FROM SOUTH CENTRAL LOS ANGELES: ANATOMY OF AN UN-NATURAL DISASTER

The elements of planning, communication, and execution are often in such a flux during the inception and implementation of a novel educational approach that chaos must ultimately ensue without faith in the anticipated outcome guided by strong leadership. During the summer of 2015 I participated in an Upward Bound managed educational program at USC in collaboration with East Los Angeles College, my home campus. As a condition of my participation, I insisted that the upper class Math/Science cohort of students take a hiking course in addition to the Earth Science lecture/lab courses requested by the program. The Kinesiology instructor of our hiking course led our cohort on four day hikes into the San Gabriel Mountains above the San Gabriel Valley during late June and early July, 2015. The results of this collaborative effort, in my opinion, were equal parts success, failure, and confusion.

Despite outcomes that did not measure up to expectations, I believe that the exposure received by students (32), faculty (3), staff (6), and program management (3) provided sufficient educational opportunity to merit consideration for revision and reimplementation. Our successes (31 of 32 passed with an extraordinary course average of 81%) can be attributed to the efforts and support of all participants despite logistical constraints that left all wanting for time. Our confusion and failings, on the other hand, are largely a function of my ignorance of the intricacies and demands of managing a program with under-age participants. In other words, I had unrealistic expectations and failed to lead our collaboration toward realistic alternatives.

The introduction of inner city youth to the natural environment can be achieved with sufficient lead-time for planning, with allocation of additional time for such enriching field excursions, and with regular and structured communication and feedback between all participants. In my estimation these three elements were sorely lacking and dramatically reduced the efficacy/impact of the novel elements of our collaboration. But, in the final analysis, I would try it again. This presentation details the challenges encountered and strategies proposed to ensure success of a renewed attempt.