Intro to Myself and New Leaf

Intro to Myself and New Leaf

My name is Cristobal Castaneda, I’m a junior in high school and this is my first blog that
I’ve written. I’m a student at an alternative high school named Briones School of Independent Study. In Briones, I am in a program called the Environmental Studies Academy (ESA). I joined the ESA this school year, after having a lot of issues performing well at other high schools. With the school year nearly being over, I can say that this school year had been the best so far. Being part of this class has given me more than just another chance to get a diploma; I’ve actually received more experience to get me ready for life after school which I could never have received studying in a desk only. The ESA has a sister program at Vicente High School, called the GreenHouse Academy. Both academies are supported by a large network of community partners. This network is called New Leaf: A Sustainable Living Collaborative. The collaborative of partners help our teachers organize service-learning opportunities for students as part of our regular curriculum. New Leaf has also offered the same result to many other teens who struggled with regular high school, so I hope that by writing about what our school does on this website I can give any student that’s considering attending another high school more options to consider.

The New Leaf Collaborative was founded by my teacher, and mentor, Rona Zollinger
and Corinne Christiansen (teacher of the GreenHouse Academy). Together they helped
connect over 50 organizations in our community to students that needed help to succeed. It all started when a few of those organizations worked to restore a portion of Alhambra creek along our school campus. Together, we all focus on the care and stewardship of our local environment, and help the community through service-learning experience. One way the ESA does this is by having team projects that students chose to participate on. Some teams students are on this year is the restoration team, which helps to restore habitats on campus and within the city; Eco-Literacy which allows students to mentor younger kids at John Swett Elementary; and Wild life where students work with Jerry Roe, a professional wildlife biologist, from Nomad Ecology to study the surrounding wildlife. We also have a team that is working to design and plant a botanical trail from the Amtrak Station to the John Muir House. Some of our students run a booth at the Thursday Farmers Market. I am on a team called the Green Media team. On this team, we are responsible the yearbook, our website, newsletter and program outreach.

The ESA started in 2003, but in 2009, Contra Costa County Services awarded our
school a grant to expand the ESA. This grant helped us to fund the creation of the GreenHouse Academy, which focuses on careers in health and human services. The ESA focuses on careers in environmental land management, restoration and environmental education. Both Academies have had major success and remarkable events that benefits students, parents and community. Both classes ensure that any students that enrolls receives the help and resources they need to be successful. So unlike a big high school campus where it’s hard to keep track of every student, we enjoy a small number of students in our class, which makes it less stressful. This helps us be able to connect with our classmates and teachers better. I love this aspect of the program, because I struggled through other high schools to develop friendships and trust with my peers. I often felt teachers weren’t able to focus on what I needed to graduate, causing me to severely fall behind. ESA and Greenhouse also help build relationships with each other by having students participate in team building games. This helps us step out of our comfort zone and trust our classmates to accomplish our goals.

The different learning styles used and the exposure to real life situations make the ESA
and GreenHouse successful for most teens who join the program. It motivates them to learn, explore, and take charge of their own lives. The New Leaf Collaborative, as a whole, has definitely found a method that works for teens. Support from teachers and students, exposure to careers that lead to well financed lifestyles, and building trust and friendships among each other can contribute to the school success. All these reasons are why I am definitely looking forward to my graduation here. I am proud of the fact that New Leaf receives many grants and that the ESA is the only high school program in the country to receive a Silver Award distinction from the National Wildlife Federation.

Before joining the ESA, I attended other public high schools and experienced decreasing
grades. I also enrolled in an online high school and had little success. Now, I’ve joined a group that not only helps me get my grades in order and helps me to focus on my life; but also helped me gain professional career experience. For example, because of my work on the Green Media team, I have been asked to be an intern at the Martinez News Gazette, and publish my work on websites like this blog on Martinez Patch and Earth Team News. More importantly, I have developed trust and friendships in my life, which I lacked throughout most school years.

So you can look forward to hearing more from me, since I will be writing regular blogs on
the Martinez Patch that describe what New Leaf is up to each week. I hope I can bring attention to these events, because they are all made possible with all the wonderful New Leaf people, and I’m proud to inform anyone in our community about our school.

Bibliography

www.martinez.k12.ca.us. Martinez Unified School District, 2005. Web. 6 May 2011.
<http://www.martinez.k12.ca.us/schools/briones/esa/index.html>.

Kusic, Galen. "New Leaf Schools Continue to Flourish." Newsgroup. Martinez
News Gazette. Martinez News Gazette, 21 Apr. 2011. Web. 8 May 2011. <http://
www.martinezgazette.com/news/story/i2512/2011/04/21/new-leaf-schools-con...
flourish>.