Freddy Zepeda met the sea for the first time during a school trip in high school. He recounted that as the son of Salvadoran immigrants who worked long hours, he had very little free time.
He with his efforts managed to graduate from high school and get his higher education. Now as an educator and executive administrator of the Monseñor Oscar Romero Charter School (MORCS) he is in charge of offering his students teaching opportunities and unforgettable occasions with extracurricular activities like the ones he received as a child.
MORCS is located in the Pico-Union area of Los Angeles and serves grades 6, 7, and 8. It currently has approximately 280 students of which the 99% are Latino and the 44% are English learners.
Zepeda said that the school has a practical model to work in the student achievement that is based on service learning, standards-based learning and extracurricular activities.
Service learning has three stages that help students become agents of change when they graduate .
The first stage is in the sixth grade where students become agents of change through learning and research to get to know their communities and people who have made a difference in the neighborhood.
“In previous years, students went out and created documentaries about store owners, people in the community who have been here for a while and that they started their own businesses,” Zepeda explained.
Later, in seventh grade the focus is on polite democracy where students learn more about the political aspect, what it means to be an active citizen in their community.
In the past students have been involved in voter registration and have informed the community when there are concerns about immigration (ICE) coming into neighborhoods.
“On that occasion our students partnered with community organizations to provide information to our families and parents in case they were ever in a dangerous situation” , said the administrator.
And finally in the eighth grade, the students concentrate on the theme entitled “My Legacy” where they are responsible for learning and carrying out what it is to be an active citizen to become an agent of change in your neighborhood.
“Here we really inspire them to try to start thinking about what they are going to do to make a change in the community,” he explained.
Standards-based learning means that teachers teach a standard and give the student multiple opportunities to demonstrate mastery of that standard.
“It can be a project, a quiz, a writing assignment, or a presentation. They have multiple opportunities to show the teacher that they have mastered something and therefore teaching is not reduced to just one test,” Zepeda said. “I think that’s where students really excel.”
She indicated that this is favorable mainly because all students learn differently. There are some who are very good at visuals and are comfortable doing presentations or videos while others are comfortable with writing. That’s where standards-based grading becomes really important for everyone, Zepeda said.
Teaching and non-stop fun after school
The most fun part and expected by many of the students are the extracurricular activities. Zepeda said that they promote clubs and sports so that students participate in extended education, something that the state of California supports, especially now that we are coming out of the covid pandemic-19.
Zepeda said that the clubs include , art, music and even an anime that is very popular. In sports there is volleyball, basketball, soccer, football and track.
“For our students who have never played organized sports, this is a wonderful opportunity for them to learn sports and really find out if they want to participate in a sport or a club,” Zepeda said. “Here you can find something attractive, which will keep you busy and then I will keep you productive in a good way.”
The most popular club is the anime club where there is a waiting list since anime is very popular with the younger generation. The lucky ones who manage to get in have the opportunity to participate in tours including the anime convention.
“I remember when I was in high school I liked comics a lot but I didn’t have people to share with and that’s really the purpose of this club, to give them the opportunity to make friends and build a community”, said the administrator.
Other outings that have become Unforgettable are from museums such as the Museum of Tolerance to the Knotts Berry Farm amusement park and incredibly places as close as Little Tokyo, which many students had not visited prior to the field trips with the school.
“ Just seeing the smiles on their faces and how grateful they and their parents were at the end of the day makes it all really worthwhile,” said Zepeda.
He added that all teachers are committed to success of the students and they are in charge of supporting them in what they can. For them, the priority is to promote equity in all areas.
To learn more about MORCS call (213) 413-9600 or visit: http://morcs.ypics.org/