LD Pathways to DUC

The fourth graders from Laurel Dell Elementary School were presented with a challenge question:

What are the bridges, pathways, and gateways that will lead you from your home and school to college and beyond–and how can people at Dominican University of California help?

The challenge and accompanying projects emerged from a collaboration between: Y-PLAN (Youth — Plan, Learn, Act Now) an award-winning, K-12 civic youth engagement strategy developed by UC Berkeley Center for Cities + Schools (CC+S), San Rafael’s Youth In Arts, which builds visual and performing arts skills through innovative and in-depth programs that foster confidence, compassion and resilience in students of all abilities and Dominican University of California Service-Learning program & La Vida Dominican program. Dr. Shirl Buss, the creative director of CC+s and also a teaching artist with San Rafael’s Youth in Art, designed and led the project with the fourth grade class. Service-Learners from Dominican University accompanied the fourth graders weekly as the kids brainstormed and designed poems, drawings, models, and games that showed the kids’ own visions of paths from elementary school to college.

Besides imagining bridges and pathways to Dominican, the fourth graders also had a site visit to Dominican’s campus to concretize their visions.

Finally, at the end of the semester, the Laurel Dell students formally presented their art and construction projects representing potential gateways, bridges and paths to their future academic success at their school. Dominican University President Dr. Nicola Pitchford, VPAA Dr. Mojgan Behmand, other Dominican faculty and staff, as well as some of the Laurel Dell parents, listened to the student’s recommendations for how Dominican can better support their aspirations to attend college and engaging with the work that they had created that demonstrates their lived experience and hopes for their future.

The Laurel Dell students were each awarded a certificate and a $200 scholarship that could be applied to their tuition when they do arrive at Dominican. As these students continue to participate in Dominican-collaborated projects when they get to Middle School and High School, they will receive additional certificates and scholarships toward their college education in Dominican. This is an important part of Dominican’s commitment as a Hispanic and minority-serving institution, and a strategic introduction of the La Vida Dominican program to the Latino students and parents in Marin County’s public K-12 school system.

Dr. Shirl Buss (Creative Director, UC Berkeley Center for Cities + Schools)

Shirl Buss is a designer, educator and urban planner. For more than 25 years, Shirl has worked with children and adults on architectural, interpretive design and community development projects, with a specialty in consensus-based participation in the design process. She is an award-winning researcher and educator who has lectured in design and architecture at San Francisco State University, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and California College of the Arts. Shirl has directed programs, facilitated professional development workshops and taught K-college students in schools, museums and informal settings including SFMOMA, Headlands Center for the Arts, Zeum, Asian Art Museum, Museum of Children’s Art and Headlands Center for the Arts. Shirl feels that projects focused on the built environment create a framework for powerful learning about self, about the physical and natural world, and about community. The processes encouraged in the best design and architectural studios – critical thinking, creative problem solving, teamwork and integrative learning – are those which are central to a high-quality educational experience.

Shirl holds BA and MArch degrees from University of California, Los Angeles, an MA from Pacific Oaks College, and a PhD in Urban Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles.