Programming a Way Out of Poverty
SAN FRANCISCO -- When Mark Alvarado was hired at Mission High School five years ago to help build its activities program, he noticed the students were struggling with bigger problems than getting a date for the prom.
Situated in a tough urban neighborhood of San Francisco, Mission High School was rife with truancy problems, drugs and gang violence. Alvarado believed these kids needed to be taught practical skills to capture their interest and to keep them out of trouble.
Most Mission High kids were not on the fast track to college, Alvarado said, and needed a realistic approach to entering the job market immediately following graduation.
Thus the Multicultural Foundation for Technology and Science was born. Its purpose was to teach students from all backgrounds computer programming and multimedia skills in order to give them skills to earn a livable salary, offer a strong network to help place them in jobs, as well as adding a healthy dose of self-esteem.
"The kids graduating from Mission High are Web
masters," Alvarado said, weaving his way through the
computer lab rooms, each filled with a sea of
technical equipment. "Not only are they learning
advanced programming and multimedia skills, they are
also managing the infrastructure of the foundation."
This self-supporting framework sets the foundation
apart from other career-track curricula. The
computers, software and servers are maintained by the
students, and the foundation is funded by night
computer classes taught to members of the community,
who pay for classes on a sliding scale.
Mission High School was one of the first high schools
in California to receive Digital High funding from the
government -- a grant which stipulates that by 2015 all
high schools in California will have up-to-date computer equipment.
Although the night classes help support the organization financially, the funds are not covering all of the costs. And despite a $20,000 grant from the Gap Foundation, the money is running out.
"Failure is not an option," Alvarado said. "The kids
here aren't falling through the cracks. They're
falling down. The foundation helps some of them get
back up."
Because Mission High School is a career high school,
students can choose from one of four tracks: health,
law, business or technology. The students on the
technology track decide whether they want to take the
programming or multimedia route, and, for four years,
learn such programs as Java, Visual Basic and Dreamweaver.
Along with the programming classes, students are also
taught "soft skills" such as how to conduct themselves
during a job interview, proper work attire and
manners.
Alvarado said the school board and the administration
have been unanimously supportive of the foundation's
presence in the high school, but some of its biggest
critics come from the teachers themselves.
