Community Based Learning Experience Paper

From my community-based learning placement at Estrella Family Services, I found it difficult to find meaningful stories of resilience from the children and the teachers. I do not believe in making speculations on the background of the students and teachers. What I will do instead is document my perceptions of the Greater Washington Community instead and how it has changed. When I first came to the Greater Washington Community, I felt shocked at what I had seen. Such a poor and harsh community only a 10 minute drive from Santa Clara University. It seemed like a sharp contrast from Santa Clara’s safe and happy environment. Three things stood out in my mind from my first visit to the Greater Washington Community. The first problem is the gang violence. The second is prostitution. To
this day I am still appalled that Silicon Valley, with its billions of dollars in assets is unable to solve issues such as these. My perception of the community has only been made even clearer. Before the visit to the community, I did not know anyone who lived in communities such as those. When the three mothers, Juanita, Socorro, and Liz, came to class and shared with us their stories. I began to get a better picture of the people closest to the community. I began to understand the struggles that they had to go through to enter the United States. I also learned about the concerns that they have for their community in San Jose. One of the mothers said that there was this one time when gang members entered a building and vandalized everything. What is also shocking is that one of the three mothers had been assaulted at one point. On a lighter note, Liz, said that gang violence has calmed down recently. Despite that, the mothers mention that gang violence is still a major issue. Prostitution is a big deal in the Greater Washington Community. I remember one of the mothers stating that human trafficking is prevalent in their community, Monterey Road in particular. Prostitution is also unsightly, especially for children. Parents are concerned and I understand that. Children who are exposed to prostitution might view prostitution and human trafficking as an easy way to make money and become involved in it. During my first visit, it did not occur to me any significant downsides to prostitution in the community. It was only later that I realized the repercussions it could present. I also began to notice some the prominent Latinx figures in tech. Prior to the class, I knew that there were not as many well-known Latinx workers in the tech industry compared to White and Asians workers. The problem was that I could not name any of them from the top of my head. Several lectures later, I have a better idea of some successful Latinxs who work in tech. For instance, there is Laura Gómez. Prior to becoming the Head of Localization on Twitter, Gómez worked at Google, Youtube, and AKQA. She is now CEO of Atipica, which helps others companies in their recruitment process. It is the resiliency found in people such as Laura Gómez that should be modeled and supported by the rest of Silicon Valley. Several days ago I had a conversation with the other students in my class who also did their community-based learning in Estrella Family Services.
One thing that stood out in our discussion is that the preschool program offered by Estrella Family Services needs more teachers. It was later on that I realized why I could not explicitly find stories of struggle from the people in my placement. As previously mentioned, I wrote on how difficult it was to find time to exchange meaningful conversations with the teachers. The reason is that there are not enough teachers. If there are more teachers, I’m sure there would be more time for me to engage in conversations with the teachers. That way, I will be able to get to know them even better and better identify the problems that the community is facing. From this discussion, I began to question the funding supporting Estrella Family Services. “Could it be that Estrella is low on funding?”, I asked myself. There is a possibility considering the teacher to student ratio. This is something that is worth investigating. If Estrella is indeed lacking financial support, then it is up to the students and faculty members of SCU to figure out a way to
help. This class has been a very thought-provoking experience. Each day of class provided knowledge which would have been difficult to attain elsewhere. My knowledge of the underprivileged community in Silicon Valley has grown significantly because of this class. The class gave me a hands-on look into the lives of Silicon Valley’s Latinx community. I discovered the role that faith plays in resiliency and how it was able to give people the strength to push against all odds. I also learned that there are many members of the Latinx community that have flourished in Silicon Valley as a result of their resiliency. The community-based learning was also a nice touch to the class. It brought students closer to the community and reminded us that there are those who are in desperate need for help.