Honoring its local Latino community, the UCLA-LAUSD partnership school fetes milestone with tradition and hope

In Latin American culture, the quinceañera or 15th birthday celebrates a rite of passage into adulthood. On March 27, the UCLA Community School, a partnership between the University and LAUSD, honored its local Latino community and a milestone of 15 years as an innovative teaching and learning environment for students, educators and families.

The afternoon festivities included a Biliteracy Fair showcasing the school's commitment to multilingual learning, and a reception welcoming UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk and the school's community partners, including leaders from UCLA, LAUSD, local government and philanthropic organizations. A banner to be placed prominently on the UCLA Community School campus heralded the partnerships that continue to support the school's mission and was presented to Chancellor Frenk and the school's leadership and community.

The Biliteracy Fair welcomed guests to visit classrooms and view student's multilingual projects, along with family biliteracy workshops, learning stations and other activities led by students. The Fair also featured programs from across UCLA, including the Teacher Education Program, UCLA Unicamp, Bruincorps, UCLA College Interns, Design for Sharing, the Early Education Outreach Program and the UCLA Immigrant Family Legal Clinic.

The quinceañera also provided an opportunity to unveil "UCLA Community School: Creating the Conditions for Thriving," a documentary project created by photographer Isadora Kosofsky/CatchLight for the Stuart Foundation. The project highlights three high school students that Kosofsky followed last spring as they attended classes, hung out with friends, interacted with younger students, and participated in co-curricular activities. Developed through a partnership with CatchLight, a media organization that uses visual storytelling to inform, connect, and transform communities, the photo project provides a look at the impact that student-centered practices and structures has on the everyday lives of adolescents.

UCLA Community School was honored with commendations and recognition from the Los Angeles City Council and Conrado Terrazas Cross, district representative from the Office of Senator Maria Elena Durazo; Crystal Meza from the Office of Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez; and UCLA Community School alumnus Alan Antonio, who represented the Office of Councilmember Heather Hutt.

UCLA partners also offered their remarks, including Shanti Tharayil, senior staff attorney, Immigrant Family Legal Clinic; Jamie Garner, afterschool program director, Community Youth Programs; and Justyn Patterson, director, UCLA Early Academic Outreach Program.

Chancellor Frenk noted that UCLA Community School fulfills the University's three-fold mission of education, research, and service. UCLA faculty, staff and students have contributed more than 200,000 hours over the last 15 years, including contributions by 174 student teachers, 170 teaching artists, 131 law students, and 104 BruinCorps tutors.

"I have discovered something that is very important, and that is that UCLA is not just a university in Los Angeles; it's a university of Los Angeles," he said. "We work closely to support, to uplift our communities. This benefits not just our fellow Angelenos - it strengthens UCLA itself because it allows it to fulfill its function and its duty to society as a public institution of higher learning. The UCLA Community School, born of a partnership between our University and LAUSD, and the communities of Koreatown and Pico-Union, is truly a wonderful example."

Read the full recap of the event here.