Severely handicapped class arrives - The Lowell

lfMESA offers varied opportunities
, -, MBSA. a pnjgrun lor minority
hirli xtool nwfentt. b bctligHit
" ?Jt» tvtorlal and coUcga and career
^'preparatory Krttces lor tb« iM4-
' aSKhodrur.
- "MESA which it.ndj lor
* U.tbviiatlcs. Soglntcrlng.
t Sckooi AcUmmrat U • Male-
' T f vttf. ort«flhslifHi which spcratn
, 1 cm ot lilih «heol> am 1 , tolktn
tad otfen opporttttiltles to
,. '»itBdcstl&tcrtltrdlanuUutaiatlrs
t«d dw Ubootorj Kkacei.
It «u brew) lo btlp -...the
udtmprcunted ralnoriUo —
BlacLi. Hlipanlcs. N«H»e
>. Anurtrass — In the ruth.
caglnMrlAC. aaj Kieacr flcl«Xt. H
aplaiud Rrbecu Finman.
dlnctor ol Ibc Saa FrancUco
MESJ program.
M Th«y bat. tutoclag and loctatlT*
programi...to encourate
black and HbpaDlc ttudenu to
tstar tbeaa Iteldl, 1'x beta nrjr
Impressed by the ptogram." staled
Gwendolyn Fuller, the sponsor o(
the MESA Club at Lowell.
O.iTucsdayi. Wedn-Mdayi, .iiid
ThnrMuyi from 3:30 to 630. M
"study lab" it nvjlUolc to MESA
students at San Francisco Slate
University, the college that hotu
the Sin Francisco area. The study
lib often a group study and tutor*
lag by college and other high
school student) u those sludrnls
who oecd help la telenet, math,
and English course*.
Bat MESA b more than a tutoring
service. It brings speakers
from private Industries such as
Hewlett Packard and Pacific Bell
to ghe students Information on
careen in math-science related
fields. MESA aha oilers a summer
enrichment program) with classes
In math, se'eocc. computer
icience. snd composition, and
field trips ami 'ours of college
campuses and businesses to In*
tercstcd students.
MESA esbts became "...a lot of
pecpto don't jet the Information
they need." said senior Chln)cre
Madawakl. the president or the
club at Lowell.
Pmsnlly Lowell has approi*
Imatcry 60 studenu in MESA who
take advantage of tbr services. At
this time, the program U getting
started for the Tear rnd Interested
students can Join.
Fullcrrncouraged. "1 expect the
loitrctt to be tilth this year. We do
not turn anybod) «way. A student
is a student, and If be needs tutoring,
be ought to be tutored- Do not
hestlutetojoin."
MESA was started 15 jears ago
at Oakland Technical Miyb
School, ard presently there are 16
centers throughout the state of
California. Each center h located
at a college or umvrnlty and serves
an area around the school.
The San Frandico'South S*n
Francisco cen*er began ftrr yean
ago and at thb time Involves ISO to
200 students In «ight high school
chapters at Balbot. Lincoln.
Lord). McAteer. South San Fiancko.
Wtllcnlvrg. Washington,
and Westmoorhlgh schools.
According to Freeman, tha fro*
gram Is quite successful.
"Studenu rtally enjoj It and 95
percent o*. all MESA ittt£cals go
on to collete and mak* in math
bued fields," she enthused.
In order to be a MESA student,
one must be a minority In high
school and be enrolled In a coUcea
preparatory math class and a
taborair - science class.
Mad.«akt revealed. "It's
helped me a lot. You get the support
that minority itudcnU need. I
have a clearer view o! my chokes
and my goals."
Another part of MESA services
b college preparation. In addition
tu providing information on col*
kges and cwrknU-itw. appt;*cU ftudesu who hav> Job*
nrfato6. r d«cstiofu cw now r ceek
bdp'.fCDsk JohA'Riaudon. Uw new '
Reardaa wrm the student body
m a nrWy of wi/t by findiaj job*
for'tbmc ittidentt who wuit to
went.
Job optnlnp aH supplied by
employers who call Reardon about
work opportunities.
Job ovcnines are urjatly potted
ouuidc of Reardon's olficc. room
101-E. He ported out that many
employed pmter that he screen
iiudcn*.i before they contact the
employers. For thb reason. Rear*
don encourage* studenu to see
him.
. **I haw students nil out a fot n
vbiti> tctt« me their schtdute. what
kind of job they want, and what
Mod of Jobs they hire done. Thb
way I'd able to match the par-
Ocular student with a Job I have,"
bcexpUinod.
Preaeatly. Reardon U*s approx*
\ bMUlj 30 -tpenkis. "The trouble
'-bthat I hfcve a lot of youngsters
/who fcroot of school at 3:20 p.u.
Maej of Qit Jobs wantntudenu to
?«art at"l p.m. or 2 p.m. H the
'latest,** he explained.
SovntyfWc percent o( tb* openinj-t
are olRc* *mk. OiWr jobsare
found In last food restaumnU.
reuil stores, service stations, and
warehouses.
Salaries are often minimum
which b S3JS. but Reardon uld
that the average is **. Waitei can
drpend on bo*, efficient the
ttuoVnttarr.
Another ol Reardon't \enrlce* U
to we that currently working
students can quality for whool
credit.
These working Lowcllim mutt
work for at least ten hours per
week. Weekends are not included.
Student employees, who can
receive credit, range from dVntal
auUtanu to fast food workers to
retail cashiers. Join that don't
uiually qualify are babysitting or
tutoring.
"A (qualified) student should
tell me where be works, what be
does, and how many hours he
works.** Reardon stated.
Reaidoo b available In room
101*E on Thursdays and Fridays
fron.8a.td. to 12^0 p.m.
New classrooms arrive
By Stew park
A buugflow housing two new
classrooms arrived at Lowell on
September 26.
It was pnwIdeJ by the school
district to help creute ipac« for
slodenu (Sec October 5. 19S4
Htue).
The rooms have become
ctatiroomi for the general student
body, frevlni* up roomt *iih easier
access for the handicapped
cUttei.
Dr. Alan t-'ihKh. principal.
Atawd. "My initial opposition U
Ihe ipciW rdutttion clats «u inadequate
»pacc at Lowell, to the
rooms were brought in to provide
' tpjee."
At present one of the bungalow
room b occupied by Anna
Nicora's foreign language clasi.
The dcCiloa on wtut to do -with
the other one b beinif studied by
Flbbh and other school administrators.
There were mlied feelings about
the new bungalow. "I like it."
stated sophomore Hector Alcala.
"It's out In the open."
SctJor David McFlcId retorted.
"It's cither too hot or too cold In*
side. The air-conditioning doesn't
do anything.** Nicora's previous
foreign language clauroorn. room
41, b now being used by the
special education students.
NIconTs new room number Is
161 and the other unuicd one is
163. numbers which are continuous
with the rooms on the lint
floor.
TSe rooms an each 20 feet by 30
feet, slightly 'arger lhan, a regular
classroom. They are not yet completely
furnished, but when com*
pitied, they will have a heater, air*
conditioning, a telephone, and *
lew! speaker.
Nicora doesn't have an opinion
*bout the new room yet. slim she
has only been there tor a short
'Jme. She.did tide, though, that
when It rains, the area in front of
the stairs floods and the uudmu
have to **... leap for their live*.**
Assistant Principal Glorir
' Bogdaaoff noted that Lowell U*\.
. really cramped 'or classroom
space** and mentioned that at a
later date another bungalow might
be pu i up behind the Ts.
An In&idc view of cae of tite rooms in the school's new bungalow. ;
New math course begins
ByC*dlla Win
A clan of over 25 studenu b
studying high'Tcul math with
Rudolpho Perez, a Ph.D stutlent
from the University of California
al Berkeley.
foe special math course coven
mathematical logic, protective
geometry, hyperbolic geometry,
vector spaces, and general
topoloflr.
Studenu from various public
high schools In the city meet in
room 130 after school for one and
one-half houn every Monday and
Wednesday.
From among the 60 students
-bo applied for the course, about
25 of those students wcri selected
after passing a preliminary lest on
geometry and logic composed by
Pern.
"1 •anted to tcacb the course
for the benefit of the students. 1
Hie to ire people team to appreciate
the beauty of
mathematics. ** Pcre* stressed.
Peru uses "self-contained series
of presentations, hand-oats, and
other relevant materlab** for the
class.
Thanh Van Tran from McAteer
feeb. The clan b not like the for*
ma) math class.** He explained.
"We learn from discussion, and
much morr thinking b involved as
compared to a regular math
clan."
Shirley Tal. another McAteer
student stated. "I might learn
something that I can't learn from
my regular math cUts."
"Thb class Is more abstract
than a regular math class, com*
menied Lowell junior Peter Lee.
Lowell senior Nadlne de Coteau
added, "It (the class) b tike,
nothing I've ever dona before.**
The clas* will continue until late
November. Pern plans to conduct
similar classes In Hayward,
Sacramento. New York, ard SanU
Barbara.
Petes'* past experience Includes
having taught geometry, pre*
calculus and calculus. He has also
taught at the Unbvnlry of California
at Berkeley's Profession^
Development Program.