Student Stories

Corey Corey Evans of Albany High started After School Rock Class, a program which teaches fifth and sixth graders the basics of rock and roll. After School Rock Class has impacted many people, and Corey’s achievements were honored when she was named the FLI Legacy Award Winner for 2008.
Aviva Aviva Prager of Albany High organized a booth at one of her bike races in order to inform people on queer issues with a focus on women in sports. She personally spoke to about 100 people and she hopes to make this an annual event.
Chris S Chris Sakauye started a Speech and Debate Club at Albany High. Chris started the club with over 20 members and is still recruiting for future teams.
Laurel Laurel O'Connor of Alameda Community Center used her passion for earthquake safety to host "Shake the Quake," an earthquake preparedness day for the residents of Alameda. She hopes to hold more of these events throughout the Bay Area.
Sparkle Sparkle Allen of Oakland High School used her passion for dance and organized a performance event titled "From Nothin' to Somethin'"to benefit homeless youth. The event raised hundreds of dollars for Dreamcatcher Homeless Shelter for Teens Sparkle was the recipient of the Resilience Award for 2008.
Jasmine Jasmine Ramezanzadeh of Albany High organized a community showing of the movie "Born into Brothels" followed by group discussion to raise money for the associated nonprofit, "Kids With Cameras."
Akane Akane Berman held a clothing drive at Albany High focused on collecting women's business attire. From the clothing drive Akane designed 14 outfits that she displayed at a fashion show. The clothes and the money she collected are being donated to "Wardrobe for Opportunity" for women who need working attire.
Amanda Amanda Cruz of Alameda Community Learning Center created the Kids with Single Parents (KSP) group. She organized a series of innovative events for single parent families where they could spend real quality time together at no cost.
Sandy Sandy Wan of Lincoln High School formed a foster youth peer mentorship program for elementary and middle school children. She is also volunteering with the ExCEL After School Program to support foster youth involvement in extracurricular activities.
Reza Reza Rezvani of Albany High School organized a spring cleaning drive and benefit concert. He raised almost a thousand dollars at the concert which he gave to several different poverty-focused organizations. Reza’s work was honored when he was named the Collaboration Award Winner for 2008.
Nina Nina Nim of Oakland High organized and hosted a nutritional Iron Chef competition. She raised student awareness of healthy eating and farmers markets and helped youth improve their cooking skills.
Nicholas Nicholas Williams of Alameda Community Learning Center partnered with Jennifer Lundeen to coordinated and execute a juried youth photography competition. They enable 14 participants to show their work in a highly public venue and gain valuable, professional experience.
Jennifer Jennifer Lundeen of Alameda Community Learning Center partnered with Nicholas Williams to coordinated and execute a juried youth photography competition. They enable 14 participants to show their work in a highly public venue and gain valuable, professional experience.
Zoe Zoe Atlas of Albany High School worked with Youth Movement Records, an organization which uses the model of a recording company to involve youth in leadership and positive social change. She created a short video that profiles the power of youth in music.
Enny
Enny Tran of Oakland High headed up "There's No Excuse for Abuse", an event where 30 teachers and peers wore 30 t-shirts with different domestic violence statistics on each one. Enny also collaborated with Youth Advisory Council (YAC). Her message reached the entire population of Oakland High School.
Ilya Ilya Pinsky of Alameda Community Learning Center worked diligently to pass a parcel tax that would offset $4.5 million of state budget cuts to education in Alameda. He mobilized hundreds of volunteers to contact more than 10,000 voters, distributed hundreds of lawn signs, and formed a special committee to write articles for the local newspaper. Ilya was honored by being named the Community Impact Award winner for 2008.
Angie Angie Pandher of Albany High created a healthy foods recipe book to spread awareness and show people that being healthy is both easy and important. Angie plans on donating proceeds from the sales of her cookbook to the American Diabetics Association.
Karen Karen Ko used her passion for the environment to work to get Styrofoam banned from the student and staff cafeterias at Oakland High. Karen has collected over 500 signatures and presented in various classrooms and faculty meetings to raise awareness of this issue.
Evan Evan Schwartz of Albany High organized an environmental restoration project and did a photo-documentary of the event. He recruited over a dozen volunteers to removed invasive weeds from Crissy Field in San Francisco in order to provide a stable ecosystem for the native plants.
Christopher Christopher Gioia of Albany High taught a web design class to a group of students at his former elementary school, Washington in Point Richmond. He sparked young students' motivation and gave them the core concepts of the web.
Carmel Carmel Dunlap of Berkeley High partnered with Ayeen Telopa to organize TRASH to TREASURES, a recycled fashion show featuring clothes they created. The girls raised hundreds of dollars for Rock Paper Scissors Collective in Oakland. For their creativity and effectiveness, Carmel & Ayeen received the Innovation Award for 2008.
Ayeen Ayeen Telopa of Berkeley High partnered with Carmel Dunlap to organize TRASH to TREASURES, a recycled fashion show featuring clothes they created. The girls raised hundreds of dollars for Rock Paper Scissors Collective in Oakland. For their creativity and effectiveness, Carmel & Ayeen received the Innovation Award for 2008.
Richard Richard Chen of Oakland High used his passion for anatomy to organize fetal pig dissection lessons with more than twenty students at Edna Brewer Middle School in Oakland. He led an online virtual tour of the pig's body and organ systems and the hands-on fetal pig dissection. Richard received the Innocation Award for 2008.
Francesco Francesco Ferreira of Albany High designed Peruvian-influenced children's clothing and hosted a fashion show. Over 80 people attended the event and raised funds to benefit Global Exchange, supporting social and environmental programs in Peru.
Frelina Frelina Guard of Oakland High made earrings using organic and recycled materials and sold them to people throughout the community. All the profits from jewelry sales went towards buying acres of rainforest in Bolivia.
Kyle Kyle Kubler of Albany High wrote songs without lyrics and then posted them on his website, www.songsfortheshower.com, so that anyone can write their own lyrics to his songs. Along with the website and music, Kyle created a video to show how he recorded the songs for his project.
Sasha Sasha Ginzberg of Berkeley High organized a teen run dinner that benefited Vital Life Services (VLS), a non-profit organization in Oakland that provides daily services to people living with HIV/AIDS. Over one hundred people attended her dinner, and Sasha raised over $7,000 for Vital Life Services. Sasha was given the Philanthropy Award for 2008.
Chloe Chloe Drulis of Albany High renovated a room in a homeless shelter in downtown Richmond that serves as the main place of congregation for 30 children that inhabit the shelter full-time. The renovation entailed new paint, new carpet, books, play sets, toys, tables, and beanbags.
Laura Laura of Alameda Community Learning Center created a music competition that included both Solo Performances and a Battle of the Bands for young performers. The event raised thousands of dollars that she donated to a grass roots organization called Save the Music in Alameda.
Precious Precious Herrera of Alameda Community Learning Center (ACLC) partnered with Loren Diesi to organize the Alameda Jog-A-Thon benefiting Encinal High School (EHS) sports. The event raised thousands of dollars for future athletes at Encinal/ACLC.
Loren Loren Diesi of Alameda Community Learning Center (ACLC) partnered with Precious Herrera to organize the Alameda Jog-A-Thon benefiting Encinal High School (EHS) sports. The event raised thousands of dollars for future athletes at Encinal/ACLC.
Lyla Lyla Foley of Albany High. She utilized her passion for acceptance to make her school's culture safer for LGBTQ students and teachers. She taught hundreds of students in every Albany High freshman health class about the issue and is working towards making her lessons a permanent part of school's health curriculum. Lyla was given the School Contribution Award for 2008.
Jannat Jannat Zahoor of Albany High started a program called Teens2Tots in which teens volunteer after school with elementary school children. She educated volunteers about childhood development, and volunteers put the information that they learned into a brochure to educate parents about childhood development.
Darwin Darwin Pham started the first mock trial team at Oakland High. Mock trial gives students a chance to learn about the American legal system and gain firsthand experience of what it is like to be an attorney. Students will be able to compete in the mock trial competition set up by the Constitutional Rights Foundation, go to law seminars, and visit prestigious law firms.
Bori Bori Ha of Albany High created a literacy program for fifth-graders at Franklin Elementary School in Oakland. In addition, she started a pen pal program between the students in the Don Vosco Center in Mongolia and students in the Bay Area to expose students of both countries to new cultures.
Chris Chris Cheasty of Albany High is putting together a book of short stories by the students of Albany High titled My Teenage Life. All contributors will become published authors, and other high school students will read stories that may shed light on their own experiences. Proceeds from the sale of My Teenage Life will benefit The Bay Area Writing Project.