Chaperone Insights
Over the last few years, College Track Watts has partnered with OLASTEO to provide students with the opportunity to learn about historical injustices and paths forward. I started working at College Track Watts three years ago and immediately learned of the OLASTEO Poland Trip from a few of my students. They spoke about how the experience opened their eyes to past atrocities, helped them understand forgiveness, and made them reflect on their role in the world.
Last summer I had the opportunity to experience OLASTEO as a chaperone on a trip to Washington, DC. The OLASTEO 2019 experience started well before the flight to DC. A few weeks prior to the trip, they had the honor of listening to Dydine Umunyana and learning about her experience as a survivor of the Rwandan genocide. As Dydine spoke of the violence and atrocities she had to go through, my students began to truly comprehend what OLASTEO was about - empathy, understanding, and building a better world - which set the tone for the rest of the experience.
The aspect of OLASTEO to which students are often most attracted is the trip. The trip began on a Wednesday evening as we met at Jordan High School, located in Watts, to catch a shuttle bus to LAX, where we’d take a redeye to Washington, DC. Leading up to this, students asked questions like, “How much stuff can we carry in our bag?” and spoke to me about how nervous they were. For many of them, this was their first flight. After we got to LAX, I reminded them of where to go and what procedures to follow as we moved through security. Getting 14 high school students through an airport and situated on a flight is no joke, but we made it. Once we were settled on the plane, I could see both the excitement in their eyes and their apprehension about flying. As we took off, I saw many of them sitting back with teeth clenched and hands clutching the armrests. After we took off, most of the students were able to get more comfortable and fall asleep. Those that didn’t ended up taking pictures of everyone who was asleep, including me.
We landed in DC the next morning and hit the ground running. The students were tired, but excited for the packed itinerary that included visits to Howard University, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Mexican Cultural Institute, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, among other monuments. Throughout the day and the rest of the weekend, I could see their eyes widen and minds expand as they not only learned about historical injustices, but also reflected upon how they could impact the world moving forward. It was powerful to see that firsthand and helped me understand how the experience could empower young people to build a more just and equitable world by filling the gaps that the superficial history curricula in the US so often leave open.
Over the course of the trip, we were able to experience DC in its fullest, going to the US Capitol, the Newseum, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Georgetown University, and an escape room. We were also able to take the students out to eat at eclectic restaurants. Through these experiences, OLASTEO helps students learn about empathy, social justice, and history, while also exposing students to new ways of thinking and living. Most of my students had never been to a city like DC or to restaurants like those we ate at before. They hadn’t been to museums or colleges like the ones we visited. The importance of this type of exposure to a student’s development cannot be overstated.
Each day, we concluded with a discussion and reflection. Students meditated on what was impactful for them that day and how they would use that experience moving forward. One student reflection that stood out to me was from Stephanie. She stated that being in DC “not only expanded [their] minds, but gave them more realization of the outside world.” So often, many of us have little awareness of the world beyond our immediate community. We dissociate our lives and our actions from the larger world because we don’t know what is out there. And without this recognition, it becomes harder to empathize and grasp the interconnectedness of humanity. It is only when we come to the realization that we are all connected that we can begin to create a better world.