- Video shows how 2892 Miles To Go, a place-based education program supported by National Geographic Society, is inspiring students at Arvin High School to create change in their community.
- Through the project, students are identifying issues related to farm work and environmental injustices and are coming up with ways to address them.
- During the four to five month program, students will be working with teachers, local experts, and National Geographic explorers as they write their stories.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Through 2892 Miles To Go, a place-based education program supported by National Geographic Society, students at Arvin High School are creating stories about their community and this year, the theme of the program is "2892 Miles to Go."
Over Zoom, CSUB Professor and National Geographic Explorer Brittney Beck told me the stories are being told through software that allows students to compare geographical data from the past and present.
"Our students are currently going through five different modules that build their capacity to create and tell their stories through ArcGIS story maps," explained Beck. "Through this geospatial storytelling, it'll better help them connect the past and present and then their future vision for the cities of Arvin and Lamont."
Through the program, Beck says students will identify issues related to farm work and environmental injustices and offer a solution.
An issue being highlighted by Arvin High Sophomore Jilhary Cuellar is increasing access to adult schools in the area. As the daughter of farmworkers, Cuellar says her parents' always longed for an education, but have yet to obtain it.
"My mother wanted to be a police officer, but she had me when she was a bit young, so she wasn't able to go to the academy," said Cuellar. "After that, it was super hard to get back into education—especially here because there isn't anywhere to really look for when it comes to adult schools."
And it's not just family inspiring their stories, according to Juan Rafael Villegas, the selected group of students participating in the fellowship program endeavored on a walk through their community to spot the issues affecting it.
"We went around, we took photos of many issues many of them being pollution. We talked about how pesticides have been an issue in fieldwork and how they're affecting fieldworkers," stated Villegas.
In addition to exploring their community, students had the opportunity to visit the Cesar Chavez Monument, where local experts taught them more about the civil rights leader and the influence he had on the community.
"We got to see a lot about his family, his story, and the impact that he left not only on the Mexicans but the domino effect that it had on everyone else," said AHS Student Noemi Nuñez.
Just like Chavez, students in the fellowship program hope to leave their footprint in their community with their stories.
"We can't solve an issue if we don't know what it is, so I'm hoping that my project will be able to bring light to the issue," said Cuellar.
The final stories are expected to be posted online in the fall. To view them, visit www.2892Walk.org.
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