May 2020 - Eagle Rock Blog

Eagle Rock Takes Some Professional Development Engagements Online

There is certainly little good that can be said about the COVID-19 health pandemic, but there have been some silver linings — you just have to look between the lines.

The coronavirus outbreak has forced every school in the nation to shut its doors and move the remainder of the school year online, and we here at Eagle Rock School & Professional Development Center (PDC) are among those organizations that have felt the brunt of that epidemic eviction. However, in our particular case, we have also been forced to innovate the delivery of our professional development engagements. And that has turned out to be a good thing.

We are both a residential school for high school-aged students who have shown a sincere interest in reengaging in their own education. And we also offer professional development services for educators across the United States who are similarly committed to making high school a more engaging experience for our country’s youth.

And that leads us to today’s post, which as you’ll see, highlights the work of our talented professional development team in action — something that would have been impossible for you to observe before the health pandemic forced us to deliver our engagements online.

Since the early 1990s, our professional development staffers have visited schools, education organizations, and conferences and seminars across the country, sharing what we know educational improvement. And now, in response to the pivot from face-to-face professional development engagements, our PDC team has launched an online professional learning community series, in addition to continuing supporting clients coast to coast. Open to the education community, the series is titled, “Join Our Community of Educators Grappling with, and Solving, Dilemmas,” and convenes at 10 a.m. Mountain Time each Thursday via Zoom.

Topics at these online sessions include Continue reading…

15 Tech Tools for Teaching and Learning Online

COVID-19 changed the education landscape, and here at Eagle Rock School, we’ve employed approaches to engage students remotely through the use of rightsized and easy to administer online technologies. These range from online annotation and full graphic design programs to video services and music-making platforms that truly engage students from their in-home learning environments.

To prepare our educators and staff, World Languages Instructional Specialist Josán Perales curated a class online named ER 81 Tech Tools Overview and Links to Continued Learning, which enabled our team to explore on their own and learn about the tools as if they were the students.

Below is our rundown of 15 of these tools, starting with Google Classroom: Continue reading…

Stirring Documentary Highlights Black Lives Matter Day at Eagle Rock

Here we are at the start of May, preparing for our 81st trimester at Eagle Rock, and COVID-19 has our community operating in a virtual world that’s powered by Internet-based technologies. As we look back on last trimester — seemingly a lifetime since we were on campus together — we want to highlight one day in particular. That important day was Feb. 22 during Black History Month. Coordinated by Nia Dawson and her team of Student Services Program staffers, our own Black Lives Matter (BLM) Day was truly a success.

Among the highlights of this year’s Black Lives Matter (BLM) Day, held on campus at Eagle Rock School in mid-February, was a screening of the award-winning documentary film “Agents of Change,” featuring Danny Glover.

This marks the third consecutive year that Eagle Rock has commemorated BLM Day, and this year’s theme was “Say It Loud!” The objective for the day was for students to be in action around an issue that matters to them, and to get things rolling, students and staff viewed the 66-minute documentary that was co-produced and directed by Abby Ginsberg and Frank R. Dawson.

In addition to Glover, the film features Ramona Tascoe, Harry Edwards, and Juanita Tamayo Lott. “Agents of Change” documents how students changed the curriculum of American universities in the late 1960s by being in action — through protest. The film received Best Documentary honors during Pan African Film Festival 2016.

“Agents of Change” examines racial conditions on college campuses and throughout the country that led to the protests in the 1960s. The film’s subjects find themselves caught at the crossroads of the civil rights, black power, and anti-Vietnam war movements during a pivotal time in America’s history. Co-producer / co-director Dawson is the Interim Dean of Career Education at the Santa Monica College Center for Media and Design and a former chair of that college’s Communication and Media Studies Department. He also happens to be Continue reading…

Eagle Rock Virtually Celebrates 7 Graduates

Going virtual has become commonplace in this era of COVID-19, but this — Eagle Rock School’s 80th trimester, saw our staff and administrators organize a Celebration of Graduates for seven of our students unlike any preceding event of its kind.

Normally, such ceremonies take place in our Human Performance Center on campus but, due to the health pandemic, our mountainside campus shut down in early March, with all students returning to their homes in order to prepare for remote learning and ongoing student support.

As a result, we did not have a graduation ceremony last trimester. Instead, we had a Celebration of Graduates.

That meant the 80th trimester Celebration of Graduates, was delivered online via Zoom, on April 10, and featured a prepared video of faculty speeches, shout outs, virtual journals, remembrances, and even advice from the departing grads to their friends and current Eagle Rockers.

Those graduating last trimester include Xavier Hagood-Edmeade, Alizja Serret, Dalan Farris, Burgess “Bea” Cotham, Ay’Niah Rochester, Jacob Israel, and Joyce Page. And while these students missed out on a “regular” high school graduation ceremony, all seven were invited back to “walk” the next time a graduation is held on campus.

What was important for these grads to hear was praise from family members, instructors, and fellow students — all of whom poured themselves into a full-on commitment to earn their high school diploma. For some of these students, graduation did not seem at all like a possibility just a few years ago.

Immediately below is a photo of the seven students who participated in the Celebration of Graduates, followed by a biography of each graduate, which includes information about their major learnings, campus involvement, achievements, and future plans.

Editor’s Note: At the end of today’s post is a video that was presented at the Celebration of Graduates.

Xavier Hagood-Edmeade

Xavier, who arrived at Eagle Rock in the fall of 2016, is from Ormond Beach, Fla., and was a member of Spruce House. He spent much of his time at Eagle Rock committed to leadership and service learning, as well as wilderness education.

Xavier completed his new student wilderness orientation course, a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) horse-packing course in Wyoming, as well as an Eagle Rock veteran-student wilderness course in the fall of 2019. His leadership and service roles included being an intramural captain, a Lead Student Ambassador, mentor, and member of the Mag 7 student leadership team, among many other things.

Xavier recounts the lessons learned at Eagle Rock, many relating to his personal development. He explains learning how to advocate for himself, becoming more patient, and discovering his independence all helped him grow during time with us. All the while, he has held onto a conversation he had with L’Tanya Perkins, our admission associate, during his admission interview. She asked him to “promise me something… No matter how hard this place is, you have to be true to yourself and remember your why.”

And to this day, Xavier says he has committed to discovering and refining what his “why” is in all he does and maintaining his resilience.

Looking ahead, Xavier hopes to spend more time in the wilderness by volunteering for a national conservation organization and completing trail work and maintenance. Following several years of conservation work, Xavier plans to enroll and serve in the military. After all his time at Eagle Rock, he advises new students to “avoid all the drama” and to focus on themselves.

Alizja Serret

Alizja, who arrived here in the fall of 2017, is from Lynn, Mass., and was a member of Spruce House. She says a defining point for her at Eagle Rock was getting involved and taking full advantage of the opportunities presented to her.

Among her major goals and learnings was developing confidence and leadership skills. In line with this, she jumped into numerous leadership roles and classes. She has served as the Continue reading…