Why Join the ESA?
Coday Skinner

Someone would enroll in ESA because it's in my opinion a much better learning experience than a normal high school. We get to work with people outside of school, work outside, and the smaller class makes it an easier, more enjoyable learning opportunity.

Alhambra Creek Restoration Project
Stephanie Harvin

In 2002, community members of Martinez, California created the Alhambra Creek Restoration and Environmental Education Collaborative (ACREEC) which would work together to benefit the Alhambra Creek by restoring riparian areas and impacting the people around it. In 2003, the ESA was created and the Students decided to work with the Urban Creeks Council to engineer the project of restoring the damaged eroding slope. By collaborating with ACREEC, sufficient funds were raised and the work began. A 200 foot segment of the creek was reconstructed to create a wider slope and a wider capacity to hold flood water. Willows and other native plants were established to help stop erosion on the creek and to enhance wildlife habitats. In 2007 the project is still going on every Thursday of the month. What was once avoided by students and community members is now a place everyone can come and (enjoy) the work done by the students of the ESA in this restoration project.

Ishi Wilderness Backpacking Trip
Travis Crowell

Ishi wilderness! I translate that into not one of the greatest trips I've ever been on, but one of the most life changing journey's I will ever experience! Rough riding through deep ravines and the backyards of the past Yahi tribes, in out tour vans repping the bay! Where they high point in the trip was for me, was getting to share living and eating corridors with people I would otherwise not do so with. These people are very different in all ways of life from sex to ethnicity, and we were all able to share these qualities and ways of life with each other. From there cooking our meals, or getting down and deep in conversation talking with each other at night in our tents, to spiritually connecting with each other! The trip itself was the favorite part of my life, but getting to share it with my classmates and getting to know them a little more was even better!

Community Planting Day
Josh Stephenson

Community planting day was an excellent example of corporate civil social responsibility being satisfied. We gathered high school students, local elementary school children, and all the volunteers were willing to volunteer, and appreciated the phenomena of plant birth. We had a great presence from Shell Refinery and they removed invasive species and inspired everyone in attendance with their enthusiasm. We ESA students led several activities. I personally led the creation of the mural. We led a plant identification lesson, and some planting activities. The elementary schools students and volunteers were rotated through our activities. We had a great communal lunch, and it was all in all a successful day.

Every Thursday
Cole Sherry

For ESA, the creek is an everyday thing, but every Thursday is creek day. Every Thursday we work to further improve the economic state of the Alhambra creek. Not only do we clean the creak, we also plant native plants to help the integrity of the soil. It's a long process, but in the long run it will help our community, our environment, and our world.

How ESA Has Evolved Over the Past 5 Years
Juleia Manuto

My family has been part of the ESA for 5 years. Two of my cousins and my two brothers have graduated from Briones or ESA. I have watched them change a lot. Before my brothers, Johnny and Vito came to ESA, they were shy around other people and they weren't very motivated toward school. They also used to pick on me a lot. But as the years went by, they stopped picking on me and appreciated life more, had better attitudes, and started eating organic foods. They are now hippies and I'm proud to say they're my brothers. While they were in ESA, I think my brothers learned interesting facts about the wilderness, that certain foods can harm your body, and leadership skills. I have planned on joining the program since my brothers started. Now I'm in ESA, following my family's footsteps.

Being a New student
Natasha Kinstler

Being a a new student is always hard. But being a new student at a school where you have to prove that you want to be there is whole different story. At first it's pretty intimidating when they are asking you a whole bunch of questions that are hard to answer on the spot. All they are trying to do is make sure that you really want to be in ESA. Don't get me wrong, once you understand where they are coming from everyone is incredibly nice. Everyone is there for everyone. It's like having a family away from family. When you come to school you expect to sit and do work. At ESA the first week we played ice breaker games and how to solve problems as a group. Whenever we are all together as a group in circle time, we are always laughing. On Wednesdays in the morning we do yoga. But it is not all fun and games. For everyday we are not at school we have to do 5 extra hours of independent work. It's very hard and confusing on Wednesdays, When you correct your work and turn everything in. But everyone is pretty open to helping you as long as you ask. So being a new student in the ESA has its obstacles but I don't regret it. I love it here.

Creating Class Agreements
Alan Rhew

Creating the ESA classroom agreements was a great experience. It took lots of hard thinking and talking to create agreements that everyone agreed with. One of the agreements that I like is the one that if someone says something offensive or swears, then they have to do ten push-ups; and it's always funny to watch them do it.

Parking Lot What?
Jacob Schmidt

The Sky Ranch/Parking Lot team is a combination of tending to and caring for the Sky Ranch Restoration Project located off of Franklin Canyon Road, and the retrofitting of a parking lot downtown by working with the city of Martinez. We will be meeting with Tim Tucker, the city engineer, a few times a month to discuss, plan, and compare our ideas on the site. The location of the project will be on the corner of Ward and Las Juntas which is the parking lot behind the Copper Skillet restaurant. For the project we'll be using permeable asphalt... a special type of asphalt that allows water to trickle through the different layers and help prevent flooding in parking lots. It also helps the environment by watering the soil underneath the asphalt that would normally be deprived of such things. It is a great opportunity to learn new math skills, teamwork, and environmental friendliness. That is why the Sky Ranch/ Parking lot Team is the greatest team in the ESA!

Eco-literacy peer mentoring project
Kim McDaniel

Eco-literacy is a mentoring project where students from the ESA create lesson plans and teach them to the John Swett Elementary students. In our first year working with John Swett, we had very few classes that wanted to work with us, but over the years and seeing what we do, more and more classes wanted to join in. When we first started, we had a total of 8 classes to teach and now after 3 years we are teaching different classes on the elementary school campus. We work with the teachers at John Swett to create lesson plans and tie it into what they're teaching to meet the California standards for grades K-5. The Eco-literacy project is all about teaching the kids to be environmentally aware and to show them they can make a difference in the world. Eco-literacy is a great opportunity for us as (high school student) teachers as well as the John Swett Elementary school students.

Favorite Experience at Eco-Lit
Aldon Cook

The Ecological Literacy Peer mentoring program teaches elementary students about many things in the environment. This is my second year in this program. I have had many great experiences in Eco-Lit. My favorite was right after we taught the recycling lesson. We did a fashion show made of recycled materials. It was nice to see that they learned about recycling from us, and it stuck. The creativity that I saw out of the little minds was amazing to me. It was nice to see what we taught will stay with them forever.