The second installation in our new monthly feature, April’s Partner Spotlight features a short Q&A between PE’s Director of Programs Syda Segovia Taylor and Maria Trejo, Elev8 Director at the Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA). Maria manages programs at Funston Elementary and McAuliffe Elementary, and tells PE that she started out as a parent volunteer in 1997.
Maria and LSNA have been an important part of PE’s new programs in Logan Square. This partnership has been particularly fruitful at Frederick Funston Elementary School, which hosts an incredibly engaged Sisters4Science group, and served as the home base for the recent Spring Science Camp. Project Exploration looks forward to working with them on other initiatives in the bustling Logan Square neighborhood. Please visit their website, www.lsna.net, to learn more about their work.
Syda Segovia-Taylor: What can you tell us about the community you work in?
MT: We are located in Logan Square, but on the edge of another community called Hermosa. So we share two communities. Some of the students do come from Hermosa. The students that attend these school we work in are about 97% Latino. Of that group, the majority of students are undocumented and parents are non-English speaking.
SST: How would you describe your organization’s work with youth?
MT: For us, youth are the fabric of our organization. In our education programs, everything revolves around youth. Working with them first hand, and building relationships with youth, we usually find out what their family looks like.
LSNA’s vision is really for neighborhood schools to be a community hub in their area. Programs that are offered in the school are catered to the families, and we think about schools as family-centered learning centers. So, not only do we have programming and resources for youth, but we also offer those resources to the family members as well. We’re looking at the child holistically, in terms of education, family support, and other resources like immigration services, health services. There are a bunch of services that we offer, not only to the youth, but to the whole family.
SST: How does partnering with Project Exploration help your organization advance your mission and/or goals?
MT: Recently, in the last two or three years, we have been trying to use STEM to focus on high school readiness, college readiness, and careers. We are trying to connect these things with subject areas that students were really not fond of, and science was one of them. We are trying to work with partners that have the same interests, and really connecting all our programs to STEM. Project Exploration really helps us do that.
I think Project Exploration and LSNA share that same vision of STEM education – incorporating mentoring and positive role models, working with young people to create awareness, and having hands-on activities that actually make science fun. Especially when students often say that science is boring. Exposing them to those activities, and then connecting that to the college readiness stuff that we’re already doing in the school is a great combination.
SST:What role do you see science playing in the development of your community?
MT: We as adults, hopefully, know that science is in our everyday lives. I think that many students and parents are not aware of that. I think science plays a huge role in the development of our community, especially when people are able to connect science with real-world experience. It’s funny to see how, when we talk about science, we mention meteorologists, or we mention different careers. And people in the community don’t see that connection, they think “Why would we need science? Why would we need math?” These programs promote that awareness. That we need science in everyday lives, whether it’s going to school, or speaking to politicians.
There are other organizations that we partner with, like the YMCA, which has a curriculum on environment and green space. We know that that’s important in our communities. We want a space where students can learn to garden. We often don’t think of that as inner-city stuff, we think of it as farm life. Kids don’t understand growing your own vegetables, how important it is to their health. Learning the good and the bad about pesticides, about environmental issues. All that does affect our community.
SST:Can you tell us an interesting, funny, and/or touching story about a young person (or group of young people) who is involved in our program?
MT: I think that being exposed to different careers during Sister4Science really helped the girls understand that there are things way beyond their middle school setting. They seem to be more focused on becoming leaders, on being like the mentors that they’ve met, that are actually working with them.
I think it’s difficult for middle school students to even grasp what’s going to happen two or three years from now. A lot of them didn’t want to do this stuff, because they didn’t know what it was. Once they were in it, and they were enjoying the activities, that changed. They also really enjoy the scientists they meet. The fact that many of the scientists are young looking really helps the kids relate better to them, too. These are the positive role models that we want kids to have. Sure, we’re amazing and good role models, but these young scientists are more amazing to the girls. Hearing them talk about their experiences, how they started – that helps the girls put a lot of things into perspective. To get into the mindset of setting goals for their future endeavors, once they leave Funston.
I can see the different with the girls. Now they are talking about high school years, about what they need to do in high school to be that successful person, to make it to college. I’ve just seen them grow. They want more, they want to become more involved. They want to learn more about the different careers in science. They want to learn about schools that are offering these types of programs for ladies. And they’re working harder to try to get into the “better schools” as they call them.
The change is reflected not only in their personal lives, but in their academic lives, too. We’re really excited that these programs are connecting all the dots for them. We’re very grateful that Project Exploration took a chance on us with our girls at Funston, and we’re hoping that it’s not the last school. We want the girls in all of our schools to have that experience.
SST: Well, LSNA has been really wonderful to work with, so whenever opportunities or resources arrive, we definitely want to bring it to the community.