ot in contact with one of our Cordova grads. He took our juniors to his 11am Sociology class. They found the class pretty interesting and amazing enough, it wasn't too overwhleming for them. We split the sophomores into 2 groups and gave them a list of things to ask students on campus about (see below).They had to find out the following:
1. The best places to eat, both on campus and off
2. clubs and organizations on campus
3. what the dorms were like
4. traditional campus activities and events
5. the Stanford/Cal rivalry
6. where students go to get extra help
7. the best places on campus to study
8. upcoming events
We split the freshmen into 2 groups and gave each group a list of sights on campus to get information about. Go to Stanford's website and click on the Campus Sights link for a list of these places. All groups will present reports to the class when we return from the break.
We ate lunch on the Stanford campus and then headed for Santa Clara University. We split the students into 4 groups, gave each group a disposable camera and a list of things to take pictures of. I usually do these things on the fly so I'll try to recreate the list below.
1. a professer
2. a student studying
3. a college textbook
4. the music hall
5. a Santa Clara University athlete
6. the admissions office
7. someone wearing a Santa Clara University sweatshirt
8. the college mascot
9. any library
10. the student union
11. associated student services
12. the school newspaper
13. a coffee house
14. a cafeteria
15. a dormitory
16. a sign advertising an upcoming campus event
17. someone in a frat or sorority
18. a monument
19. the bookstore
20. the math, science, psychology, or history department
My group took a picture in front of the career center for bonus points since our career center coordinator was also a chaperone.
Our final stop on the trip was at the Grand Chapiteau in San Jose to see a matinee performance of Cirque du Soleil's Kooza. This was undoubtedly the highlight of the d
ay. If you don't already know this, Cirque du Soleil shows consist of acrobats, jugglers, and clowns combined with a storyline. Cirque comes to Northern California every 2 years. This show was more than worth the $49.50/student that we paid. I'm hoping that my students will see that when a human being can do the things that they saw in the show, getting good grades and getting into college should be a piece of cake.Ok, now for some tips.
Tip #2: Start raising money early. As I stated before, the cheapest tickets will run about $50/student and $55/adult. There is also a $50 service charge for services. Don't forget to purchase a ticket for your bus driver. I plan to start raising money next year for the following year's trip. With any luck we'll have 6 sections of AVID students and that's a lot of tickets.
Tip 3: Try to order your tickets at least 30 days in advance. If you do, you'll have 30 days to pay and you can pay by registered check. If not, someone will have to pay for the tickets on their credit card and then get reimbursed.
Tip #4: If you have students sit in on a lecture, leave enough time for them to see the campus too. I didn't really think that part through since I had already planned for the students to see 2 campuses.
Tip #5: Be ready to see your students in action. My squirrely little freshmen were amazing. The leaders really came out. I got to see relationships that I didn't know existed and I had conversations with students who barely speak at all in class.
This is my favorite field trip! Of course, I have yet to plan the trip to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.
