American Service-Learning 2005

*most times and dates are subject to change.

July 31 Students Arrive! Campus Tour 1:30pm: Bicycle Pickup 5pm: Welcome Dinner 8pm: Computer connections	August 1 9am:Placement Tests 1-4pm:1st ASL workshop class	2 10am-12pm: Cisco Systems and VIDE visit 1-4pm: ASL class 7:15pm:San Francisco Giants Game	3 9:30am: Alison Laing and Cassie Meresman: Giving Global 1-4pm: ASL class 6:30-8:30pm: Service and Higher Education panel	4 9-11am: Camp Costanoan Orientation 1-4pm: ASL class 4 pm: Group Photo 8pm: STOMP	5 9:30am: Japanese Immigration to the U.S. 1-4pm: ASL class	6 9am: St. Anthony Foundation 9am: Friends of the Urban Forest
7 10am-5pm: Great America Theme Park 7:30pm Free Shakespeare in the Park	8 10am: Green Citizen Recycling center 1-4pm: ASL class	9 10am: Life Flight 10am: VA Hospital Art Activity 1-4pm: ASL class 6:30pm: BBQ w/ MIIS students of Japanese	10 8am: Japanese lesson at MIIS 9:30am: Homeless Panel 1-4pm: ASL class 8pm: Crossing the Line	11 10am: Health and body image 1-4pm: ASL class	12 1-4pm: Last ASL class 4:30pm: Graduation Picnic	13 Service Project Week
14 Service Project Week	15 Service Project Week	16 Service Project Week	17 Service Project Week	18 Service Project Week	19 Service Project Week	20 11am: Depart for Yosemite 5pm: Arrive in Yosemite
21 Project Presentation Work Day PM: Hiking, etc.	22 Free Day in Yosemite [hiking, relaxing, etc.]	23 Project Presentations "Dress Rehearsals"	24 5:30-8:30pm: Final Event at World Affairs Council of San Francisco 8:45pm: Final Dinner at E&O Trading Co.	25 Final farewell!

July 31, Sunday

9:15am: Kansai Students Arrive (UA 886S 9:15)
9:55am: Kanto Students arrive (NW28)

1:30 pm: Bike Pickup & Program Fee payment

3:00 pm: Stanford Scavenger Hunt

5:00 pm: Welcome picnic on the Oval

8:00 pm: Project Group Meetings

August 1, Monday

10am: Placement Examinations
Your first morning at Stanford, you will be introduced to the English for Foreign Students Faculty and curriculum and then take brief written and oral examinations to determine your appropriate class level.

1-4pm: First ASL Workshop Class
You will have two classes every day of 90 minutes each. Your first class will focus on language development, grammer, etc. and you will be divided by English ability level. Your second class is focused on your specific service project topic. During the first day of classes, you will meet your instructors, be introduced to the class goals and expectations, and learn about how the class will be conducted. To learn more about EFS and your classes, click here.

6pm: "Kitchen debate" number 1
ASL Coordinators will speak during dinner about various contemporary issues.

8pm: Laptop computer connections

9pm: Project Group Reflections

August 2, Tuesday

10-11:45am: Cisco Systems and VIDE visit
Number of Students: 15 (Signup sheet)
Our group will take a tour of the Cisco Systems world headquarters in San Jose. In addition, we'll talk with Cisco employees who have founded their own non-profit organization, Volunteers for Inda Development and Empowerment, or VIDE. All members of VIDE are full-time Cisco employees.

Alternate AM activity to be announced

4:15pm: Bruce Sievers
Professor Bruce Sievers will speak with us about how philanthropy works and its relation to civil society.

7:15 pm: San Francisco Giants Game
Cost: Free/ Mandatory Event
The San Francisco Giants are one of the Bay Area's two professional baseball teams (the other team is the Oakland Athletics). SBC Park, the Giants' home stadium, was designed five years ago and is a wonderful place to watch baseball. The stadium is on the waterfront, and some home runs are hit into "McCovey Cove" in the bay.

The Giants star player, Barry Bonds, is one of the greatest professional players of all time. He is currently third in history for number of career home runs. Giants Home Page

To get to the Giants game, we'll be taking the CalTrain commuter train for the first time. CalTrain is a convenient way to reach downtown San Francisco.

August 3, Wednesday

9:30-11am: Alison Laing & Cassie Meresman: Giving Global
"GivingGlobal is a nonprofit social entrepreneurship organization whose purpose is to increase international community involvement. Through Giving Global, we feature a select group of NGOs who are serving our communities with impact, and they would love you to join them in their efforts! Their programs range from building schools in Vietnam to developing microfinance programs in Northern India to creating sustainable farming communities in Guatemala." - from the Giving Global Website

Alison Laing and Cassie Meresman of Giving Global will talk with us about service and volunteerism and how their organization seeks to connect volunteers and donations with the organizations that need them most.

6:30 - 8:30pm: Service and Higher Education panel discussion
Haas Center for Public Service lawn

9pm: Project Group reflection

August 4, Thursday

9-11am: Camp Costanoan Orientation: Haas Center for Public Service
Health & Disabilities group members only
Camp Costanoan is a place for children and adults with mental and physical disabilities to relax and meet up with old friends. The Health & Disabilities group will be spending the first three days of the service project week at the camp, so camp director Tamisha Jackson will be giving us a brief introduction.

4pm: Group Photo
After your classes, we will all gather by Stanford's main quadrangle to take a group photo. You will receive a copy of the photo the last night of the program.

8pm: STOMP
Cost: $35/ Number of Students: To be determined
"STOMP is a movement, of bodies, objects, sounds - even abstract ideas. But what makes it so appealing is that the cast uses everyday objects, but in non-traditional ways.

There's no speech, no dialogue, not even a plot.

So why go see STOMP? Well, have you ever composed a symphony using only matchbooks as instruments? Or created a dance routine based around sweeping? You may have done this a little, but get a group of rhythmically gifted, extremely coordinated bodies with definitive personalities, and you have the makings for STOMP."

August 5, Friday

9:30 - 11 am: Japanese Immigration to the US with Gary Mukai of S.P.I.C.E.
Gary Mukai is the director of the the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education. SPICE is renowned for their innovative curricula which provide an engaging and multifaceted approach to international issues. Dr. Mukai will be introducing us to the SPICE curricula with a lesson on Japanese immigration to the US.

9pm: Project Group Reflections

August 6, Saturday

9 am - 2 pm: St Anthony Foundation
Number of Students: 10 (Signup Sheet--preference given to non-Urban Issues participants)

St. Anthony Foundation is an organization in San Francisco that provides food and other services to the city's poor and homeless population. St. Anthony's kitchen provides meals to thousands of people every day. The organization also delivers meals to the homes and apartments of people who are too sick to leave.

Our group will be learning about homelessness in San Francisco, helping serve food to the poor, working in the foundation's used clothing shop, and talking with St. Anthony's patrons.

9 am - 2 pm: Friends of the Urban Forest
Number of Students: 15 (Preference given to Environment Group)

"Friends of the Urban Forest is a nonprofit committed to the belief that trees are a critical element of a livable urban environment.

Since 1981, FUF has offered financial, technical, and practical assistance to individuals and neighborhood groups who want to plant and care for trees." - from the Friends of the Urban Forest web site.

3pm: SF Group Activities
Participants will have a chance to explore San Francisco in all its fascinating diversity.

August 7, Sunday

10 am: Great America Theme Park
Cost: ~$30 (not including lunch)

Great America is one of the Bay Area's most popular summer attractions. The park is well known for its roller coasters, games, and rides.

7:30 pm: William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing"
Cost: Free/ Number of students: 12 (Sign-up sheet)

William Shakespeare is the most influencial writer in the history of the English language. His plays are constantly performed almost 400 years after his death. "Much Ado About Nothing" is one of his famous comedy plays. Although his language is difficult to understand even for native English speakers, his plays involve simple and universal themes that are easily understood. Interested ASL students will be attending San Francisco Shakespeare Festival's Free Shakespeare in the Park in the city of San Mateo. We will bring a picnic dinner and enjoy the play outdoors.

August 8, Monday

10 am: Green Citizen
This is a for-profit recycling company that specializes in electronic materials. We will visit their collection facility and talk with their founder James Kao, a Taiwanese-born entrepreneur. (limit: 13 people. Preference given to Environment members)

9pm: Project Group Reflection

August 9, Tuesday

10 am: Life Flight
This is the emergency helicopter service of Stanford University Hospital. We will talk with staff and get a cockpit view of one of the Life Flight helicopters. (limit: 17 people)

10am: Veterans Affairs Hospital Art Activity
Number of students: 12 (Signup Sheet: Preference given to non-Health & Disabilities students)
The U.S. Government operates hundreds of hospitals for injured and disabled veterans of the various armed services. We will be visiting the VA Hospital in Redwood City to talk with patients in the dementia ward. Most of these veterans have fought in either World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, the Gulf War, or the Iraq War. We will also be helping the patients participate in an art project.

An interesting side note: this hospital and its patients were the inspiration for the famous novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by American author (and former Stanford student) Ken Kesey. This novel is highly critical of the government's mental health care system.

6:30am: BBQ with Monterey Institute of International Studies students of Japanese
Number of students: 5-8 (Signup by email: Preference given to students interested in teaching Japanese)
The Monterey Institute for International Studies is primarily a graduate institution. In addition to having renowned programs in policy studies, nuclear non-proliferation, translation and interpretation, MIIS has excellent intensive language programs. We will meet with a group of four students of intermediate Japanese, all of whom have lived in Japan at some point. This BBQ will allow us to practice our English and the MIIS studens to practice their Japanese in a true linguistic exchange. We'll also get to see the wonderful coastal city of Monterey.

August 10, Wednesday

8 - 10:30am: MIIS Japanese Lesson
Number of students: (see above)
After breakfast and receiving a short tour from our new MIIS friends in Japanese, we will conduct a one hour lesson. ASL participants will design and implement this lesson.

9:30 - 11am: Homelessness Panel Discussion
Medical Doctor and Professor Donald Barr will talk to our group about homelessness issues in the Palo Alto area. Professor Barr is involved in founding the Homeless Opportunity Center in Palo Alto.

August 11, Thursday

10 am: Health & Body Image
Staff from Stanford's Vaden Health Center will speak about how we create unattainable ideals of body image through the media. Disorders such as depression, anorexia, bulimia, and low self-esteem are often direct results of this phenomenon.

8-10pm: Crossing the Line: Alondra Dorm Lounge
Crossing the Line is an activity popular in Stanford dormitories which allows people to learn things about their friends and fellow participants that they otherwise would never know. The ASL Coordinators will run this program which asks a series of thought-proking Yes-No questions to all group members. To learn more about this activity, click here.

9:00pm: Group Reflection

August 12, Friday

4:30pm: Graduation Picnic on the Oval
Your homework is done. Your classes are finished. The excitement of your service project lies ahead. Time to celebrate! Join your English instructors and fellow ASL members and coordinators for food and games on Stanford's beautiful main lawn.

August 20, Saturday

11am: Depart for Yosemite National Park
We will all be taking a bus together to one of the United States' oldest and most beautiful parks. The bus ride will take about 5-5 1/2 hrs.

8pm: Yosemite Briefing
We are visiting Yosemite to enjoy each others company, to appreciate the natural beauty, and to reflect on our experiences. You will be working with your group members to develop a short (10 - 15 minute) presentation on your project which will be delivered the final evening of the program at the World Affairs Council in San Francisco.

August 21, Sunday

9am-12pm: Project Presentation Brainstorming
With the other members of your project group, you will work to decide what to present to your audience during the final event on the 24th. What was most significant about your group experience? How does your experience here compare to what you know of similar issues in Japan? What differences and similarities have you noticed about the way Japanese and Americans try to solve these problems?

August 22, Monday

Free Day in Yosemite
Relax, write in your journal, reflect on your experiences. It's up to you. This is your day to take a deep breath and appreciate your surroundings.

August 23, Tuesday

Project Presentation Day
You and your group will have the entire day to prepare and refine your final presentation for the Final Event on Wednesday.

8pm: "Dress Rehearsals"
All groups will have an opportunity to practice their presentations in their entirety in front of the other ASL members. This is a chance to see what elements of your presentation work well and what can be improved.

August 24, Wednesday

9am: Bus to San Francisco

5:30-8:30pm: Final Event at World Affairs Council of San Francisco
American Service-Learning's Final Event gives each service project group the opportunity to share their experiences and reflections with non-profit leaders, former VIA volunteers, and interested members of the public. Each group will give a short presentation and several keynote speaches will emphasize the main themes of the program. This formal event brings ASL to a close with style and significance.

8:45pm: Final light dinner at E & O Trading Company

August 25, Thursday

Last minute packing, then off to the airport for goodbyes!
Kanto students: NW 28 departs at 1:40
Kansai Students: UA 8855 departs at 12:50