Spring is an exciting season for the MMAP house: our Seniors are finally reaping the benefits of their hard work for the past four years! Last week we highlighted Imelda Rodriguez, who was accepted to Syracuse University. This week, we would like to highlight Daniela Gomez, who was accepted to UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Santa Clara University.

When I think about Daniela, I think three words: responsible, resilient, and positive. Since 2009, Daniela has been an inspiration for the staff at MMAP. She is always in a good mood, and willing to help those around her. Additionally, Daniela truly takes responsibility for her future: she applied to more scholarships than any student I know, and through her actions she sets an incredible example for her peers.

I have had many discussions with Daniela about her future, during which she frequently talks about passion. She is excited to start college and work towards finding her own passions, and knows that a large part of her career will be dedicated to helping others achieve theirs. Daniela’s success is inevitable—she is a confident young woman who has proven to herself through her life experiences that she is tough, resilient, and mature.

MMAP is VERY proud to say that one of our outstanding seniors, Imelda Rodriguez, has been accepted to her first choice school: Syracuse University! Imelda is a Senior at Eastside and started working with MMAP after her high school freshman year in 2009.  Even as one of the youngest in the program, she quickly emerged as an extremely intelligent, outspoken, and talented researcher and artist. Imelda’s qualities of artist talent, professionalism, intellectual curiosity, maturity and compassion led to her being involved throughout the year and each summer following her inaugural program.

Imelda states, “When I received my acceptance letter, I was filled with joy! My dream had come true! I can’t wait to go to Syracuse because of the amazing study abroad program and the ability to live in a completely different environment from the one I’ve grown up in in California.”

She cares about her peers and her community, and will stop at nothing to better them. Imelda is consistent, responsible, thoughtful, confident, and is not afraid to express this to her peers. In doing so, she encourages the people around her to act to their fullest potential.  We cannot wait to see the person Imelda becomes in college and beyond–she is absolutely destined for big things. Congratulations, Imelda!

MMAP’s Director of Youth and Community Development, Aria Florant, sat down with Ashon Hunter last week to check in about life and school. Ashon is a Junior at Eastside College Prep, and was a Teen Mural Assistant in Summer 2011 for the theme “Vision”. He has a 3.6 Grade Point Average, is on the basketball team, and has one of the most positive attitudes of anyone I know. We talked all about how this is the key to success–and how when you believe in greatness, it comes to you.

He also spoke on how much working with the Director of Lyricism, Keith Cross, has helped him with his schoolwork. “In the summer, every day Keith Cross would teach us some new technique to improve our writing skills. It requires a lot of brain power to sit there and write something in a specific time limit. Writing rhymes translates into writing essays.”

Ashon also told me how much writing helps him mentally and emotionally; “Writing rhymes keeps my head on straight, and helps me maintain a positive attitutude. I sit there and think of different stories, and different scenarios. I try to view life as someone else, and I try to make a story. And that expands my creativity, and thats another thing that helps when I’m writing an essay–I’m able to pull something out of my head, articulate it, make it sound clear, and flow well. An essay is like a big poem and you have to make everything flow together to make it work.” MMAP is so proud of Ashon, and can’t wait to see what great things he accomplishes in the coming year.

(Top) Ariana, Cristina, Yolanda (Bottom) Lucia, Darryl

Meet Ariana, Cristina, Yolanda, Lucia and Darryl – HEArt’s 2012 Teen Art Instructors. Each of these incredibly talented East Palo Alto natives have carved their role in HEArt as creative, wise, patient role models for our middle schoolers at Ronald McNair and 49ers Academy. Ariana is a senior at Palo Alto High School and helps youth explore new art forms and themes in a fun, responsible and insightful manner. When she is not in HEArt, she is busy leading her own soccer league and applying for college scholarships. Cristina is a freshman at Carlmont high school. As a former HEArt participant, students look up to her for sage advice and artistic abilities.  (And if you want to buy a shoe cleaning kit, she has spearheaded a business plan through the BUILD program!) Yolanda is a sophomore at EPAA who brings her smile and spunk to every HEArt class. She is a spoken word poet, a dancer, and goes by DJ “Yoyo” in MMAP’s History through Hip Hop program. Lucia is a sophomore at EPAA whose dream is to study sociology to prepare her for a career working with and inspiring youth.  Students gravitate to Lucia because she always listens and supports them with an encouraging smile and sense of understanding, no matter what they are going through.   Darryl is a junior at EPAA who goes above and beyond in everything he does. He leads the dance cohort at McNair with a unique style and calm presence that helps motivate students to find their own individuality.

Thank you Ariana, Cristina, Yolanda, Lucia and Darryl for inspiring us every day with your leadership and vision.

On Saturday, MMAP representatives attended a meeting for the Young Adult Cadre of leaders in East Palo Alto. Their charge: to bring change to East Palo Alto and take the city in a new direction. On Saturday, MMAP and its partners came together to discuss a vision of collaboration for the future. They brainstormed what an ideal East Palo Alto would look like and started to draft their vision and mission statement. In the words of Bob Hoover, “We have to take control of our destiny, right now.”

6th Grader Nathan Jovel

Flash, Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Thor all strike the memory chord that enables us to dream beyond our own powers. The students at HEArt 49ers Academy created their own characters with graffiti artist Scape Martinez.

The students have been developing their own skills and style of graffiti to ultimately come up with a portable mural that will be featured during a History through Hip-Hop showcase. In addition to a fresh graffiti artist, Scape is also an educator whom is about sharing his passion and skills with the youth as they in turn inspire him.

Scape Martinez & Monique Rivera adding highlights to the piece

MC Beronica Zelaya sings at ISA's third Open Mic Event, hosted by MMAP

When asked one thing he loves most in life, one of our ISA youth said, “Music because when I want to give up on doing the right thing…it makes me think twice.” At HEArt, students are making music, dancing to their favorite beats, and building their own instruments to express what they can’t always say out loud. Keep up the amazing work, ISA!

Adrian teaches new moves against a backdrop of HEArt students' original ink prints

Students watched the Freedom Riders documentary, and were then able to ask Mr. Patton about his experience. He spoke about the triumphs as well as hardships the freedom riders faced, and called our students to action. He reminded them that there is still much work to be done to fight for rights for people in this country, and that young people play an important role in that work.

MMAP alumni Carla Hernandez was in attendance, and asked Mr. Patton if he had any thoughts the current struggle for ethnic studies in schools, an issue that she is passionate about. Mr. Patton responded by commending Carla for her work, calling her a “modern day freedom rider”. MMAP is proud to be able to showcase the incredible passion and drive our students have to better their communities, and would like to thank Mr. Patton for sharing his wisdom with our young

Ernest "Rip" Patton Jr and MMAP Alumni Carla Hernandez, sophomore at Wheelock College in Boston, MA.

"Lights On" Open Mic was a collaboration between MMAP and the ISA After School Program

Students recruited participants, posted fliers and prepared performances for the celebration. They also unveiled a fresh new t-shirt design, the capstone project of the environmental justice unit. Drawing from a 3 hour design workshop with over 20 middle and high school students, ISA teens John Blanco and Josh Consul finalized a design rooted in sustainability, respect for each other, the earth and the great city of San Francisco.  The peace sign forms the branches of the tree, and when students look down they see the constant reminder of inner peace.  Under the guidance of guest artist Rick Kitagawa, a professional artist from the local gallery Big Umbrella Studios, students participated in a screen printing workshop and printed their own t-shirts to wear during the Open Mic.

Guidance from Teen Art Instructors Josh Consul and John Blanco spurred the Starr King 5th grade class to create their own fashionable items out of recycled objects

John and Josh share their t-shirt design with a class of Starr King 5th graders studying sustainable fashion.

Open Mic participant Beronica prints her t-shirt.

Last Thursday, the result of all the hard work paid off.  Over 30 students danced, created a live graffiti piece, performed original poetry, rocked out on guitar, and sang to a packed auditorium with over 95 students and 20 staff members to cheer them on.  The event was a reminder that when we empower students with the tools for positive expression, they will not only exceed but they will excel beyond our greatest expectations.

Congratulations to the HEArt of the City for putting on a great show!

Two winners of the Open Mic raffle received a sweatshirt with the new design!