The Silicon Classroom — Trip: Day 1
Hello! In the words of Chance the Rapper: “And we back, and we back, and we back…” It’s the first official day of our Alternative Spring Break trip, and it’d already been a blast. We convened at 11:30am headed for Chipotle for a nice brunch, then returned to campus.
After brunch, we walked to the Center for Education Research at Stanford (CERAS) to discuss what exactly service means to each of us and whether certain activities were considered service or not. Something to ponder is this ASB trip itself — is it service? We’re planning to go around the Bay Area visiting eduction technology companies and learn about the products and services they provide. At the end of the trip, we’ll be mentoring the kids of Third Street with the San Jose Tech Challenge. What have we learned so far on this trip regarding service, social justice, and education equity? What might we learn in the coming days? How can we apply what we’ve learned outside of this classroom? These questions will guide us moving forward.
Following our discussion, we let loose with a Latin dance workshop! Taught by Monica, one of our fearless leaders, we ran through the basics of merengue, bachata, and salsa dance. One important takeaway from the workshop is that it doesn’t matter if we’re professional dancers or first-timers; all that matters is that we’re having fun dancing to the music.
Later in the evening, we did what ASBs do best: cooking. The menu for tonight is spaghetti with tomato sauce, accompanied by some salad, squash, and baked bread with a garlic butter spread, all prepared by Armando, Armin, Ahmed, Kevin, and Sydney.
To close out the day, we started our first round of member spotlights, which gives each individual time and space to say anything they want about themselves to the group. This is very wonderful opportunity for the group to bond on a very personal level through sharing stories about ourselves. First up was yours truly, followed by Monica.
And finally, it was lights out on our first day of the trip. We’ll be starting bright and early at 7:20am tomorrow. See you then!
