Upward Bound, University of San Francisco

Since May, I have worked for the Upward Bound program at the University of San Francisco. My work is enjoyable and important. But the students have been doing the most important work this summer. And today, we tell them good-bye for the summer. Some students will return to high school; some will move onto college, all will be more prepared for their future.

Earlier this week, I heard one of my favorite songs from high school. The song is by Crosby, Stills and Nash ("Southern Cross"); I like the song for many reasons, including the line, "We never failed to fail, it was the easiest thing to do." And I started thinking about failure and its role in education. Yesterday when I said good-bye to a large group of our students, I reminded them that I was proud of them and that I respected their effort, even the students that didn't seem to do much.

I told them of another quote by the legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. "The team that makes the most mistakes wins." As educators, it is important that we teach students to embrace mistakes.

The Upward Bound students give up their summer to improve their lives. During the summer, the students make many mistakes. Sometimes mistakes happen, because they are trying something new. Sometimes, students are not prepared. Sometimes, the students just mess up. But, assuming that students learn from their mistakes,our students will be better prepared for life. When Upward Bound students become the first from their families to make it to college, they will see other young people making mistakes that the Upward Bound students are making now at age 15 or 18.

As educators, it is important that we remember the benefit of failure, and not shame our students or ourselves. Mistakes are an essential part of the learning process.

The slideshow below is a collection of a few of our Upward Bound students. In the first photo, I included one of my many mistakes. (In photography,I mess up often... much more often than people realize.) And sometimes, my happy accidents become "keepers." In the first photo,by accidentally aiming too low, I focussed on the student's expression, thereby capturing her confidence, determination and resolve. These characteristics are common for most of our students, and though I am sure our students will committ many more mistakes, our students will also succeed.

Upward Bound Summer Farewell - Images by bryan farley

Comments

[culinary Tours san francisco]

Attractive component to content. I just stumbled upon your website and in accession capital to assert that I acquire actually loved account your blog posts. Any way I will be subscribing in your feeds or even I achievement yoou get right of entry to consistently rapidly.