This is the fourth year that Chapman student mentors from Dr. Noah Asher Golden’s IES (Integrated Educational Studies) 412 class are working alongside students from Yorba Academy of the Arts Middle School as part of the Yorba-Chapman Writing Project. For the past couple of months, Chapman student mentors have been visiting Yorba to help students write articles ranging from news articles to features and editorials. Last week was the Yorba journalists’ chance to visit Chapman University.

Yorba-Chapman Writing Partnership small group work in a conference room

Yorba journalists working with Chapman mentor Jane Gore on their articles

On Thursday, April 11, the Chapman mentors and Yorba journalists began their as usual on the Yoba campus, working together on their articles. At the beginning of second period, the Yorba journalists boarded the bus to Chapman University, which is only a few minutes away from the middle school. Emmery Llewelyn ’19, a Chapman student co-coordinator of the project, met the bus near the Musco Center for the Arts and led the middle school students to Memorial Lawn to begin their campus visit.

To start off, the Yorba journalists joined their IES 412 Chapman mentors in class. Via Skype, students had a conversation with Steve Goodman, founding director of the Educational Video Center in New York, who gave advice on how to deliver constructively critical feedback. Afterward, Chapman student mentors joined small groups of Yorba students, allowing them to give each other their own feedback on the articles they have been working on. To wrap up the class, they spoke with Raelene Holmes-Andrews, also via Skype, about presenting work in front of an audience. Holmes-Andrews is a teaching assistant at the Educational Video Center and a college student at Lehman College, a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY).

The next part of the field trip involved a brief tour of The Panther, the Chapman student newspaper, as well as a Q&A session with Panther Managing Editor Jasmin Sani and Photo Editor Cassidy Keola. The middle school students asked questions such as, “How long does it usually take to publish an article?” and “What is the role of a photo editor and a managing editor?” They were also given a chance to read a copy of The Panther newspaper.

Yorba-Chapman Writing Partnership tour group of the Chapman Orange campus

Yorba journalists on a tour of campus led by Isa Basche

Lastly, our very own IES 412 student Isa Basche led the Yorba journalists on a tour of the Chapman campus. The tour started at the steps of Chapman’s Argyros Forum, stopped at Memorial Hall and the Fish Interfaith Center, and ended at Randall Dining Commons, where the students had lunch. Many of the Yorba journalists said their favorite part of the day was eating at the cafeteria.

Despite the few challenges that come with planning such an event, the field trip was a success. Upon asking what his favorite part of the day was, Chapman student mentor Paul Callahan said, “Seeing their reaction to the school. I just think it is really cool for them to appreciate everything because it makes them strive for something.”

One of the Yorba journalists mentioned, “It is not every day that a 6th grader is on a college campus.”

For many of middle school students, this was not only their first time at Chapman University but on any college campus.

 

The Yorba-Chapman Writing Partnership is made possible by the generous support of the Lloyd and Elisabeth Klein Legacy Foundation and Christine and Lon Cross.

Also special thanks to all who have made this field trip possible, including Dr. Golden, Yorba Principal Sandra Preciado-Martin and teachers Kori Shelton and Andrea Lopez, and the Chapman student co-coordinators, Emmery Llewelyn ’19 and Katelyn Carbajal ’20.