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Underperforming High School Turns Around With Digital Media Programs

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This article is presented in partnership with CA Lottery.

Nestled on the border of San Francisco's bustling Mission Street, Balboa High School serves a working class neighborhood. Largely comprised of kids from whose families came from working class backgrounds, Balboa High School's status as a historical landmark was deceiving for years.

Part of the problem instead of the solution, the crumbling school was notorious for its more-than-intermittent bouts of violence including a case of hazing which left a victim partially deaf in 1994. Dilapidated classrooms, a dearth of schoolbooks and a poorly strung together curriculum led to understandably low student test scores and one of the most lowest collective performances ever turned in by an educational staff.

The school needed to shape up or close its doors. Believing the school could be turned around, the San Francisco United School District gave the old-guard staff the heave ho, ushering in a new era and new educators. That was 19 years and many students ago.

The Solution

Jeff Larson was a young idealist when he joined the new wave of Balboa High School educators in 1998. Tasked with bringing art to a somewhat-cynical student body, he was given a budget of $150 and told to go to it. A pioneer, Larson was up to the challenge and so were his colleagues, committed to changing the school within their own departments. Slowly, change embraced Balboa.

It became the first northern California high school to seize upon the small learning community concept, enhancing its education level and deepening the connection between teachers and students. Maintaining a willingness to change with the times, the school's administrators were light on their feet when the AIDS epidemic hit and made no-questions-asked condoms available to its student body.

"My job is to connect lots of dots," says Larson, who started exploring digital media with his students in 2000, when he initiated an animation program. "I've watched Balboa turn around since I've been here, thanks to Prop H money, benefactors and grants. Balboa has gone from being an under-resourced school to one of the most requested schools in the district. Our program has great tools and equipment. We are now able to provide students opportunities like the kids in well-to-do communities have and take for granted," he adds.

Working Overtime

The school remains understaffed, without enough teachers to fill the needs of the student body. Larson, whose typical work day starts at 7:15 a.m., teaches animation, media arts, graphic design and studio art during class hours. The educator fills in the gaps with his own time after school and is particularly focused on the types of extra-curricular projects able to help kids acquire the skills needed to procure meaningful employment within California's vast array of entertainment companies.

"There's been a great movement in the last few years to train kids for college, but not for real-time careers. Through a variety of extra-curricular subjects, like Adobe Youth Voices and CAST Academy, we try to help the kids get as much real world, workplace learning as possible while they're in school, so that when they move forward they'll have some solid experience under their belts," he says.

Adobe Youth Voices

A lead teacher for Adobe Youth Voices (AYV), Larson is a powerful advocate for this free academy program, which provides second-year kids an opportunity to work on media animation and video production. "Balboa's AYV kids get to meet with professionals at the Adobe offices and pitch their ideas. It's a heady experience, culminating in an annual exhibition at the Adobe office, where the media they have created is broadcast and shown," explains Larsen. "Some of the kids get to attend international summits and meet kids from around the world. The program's focus is on getting students to develop creative potential and see themselves as participants in society with a strong voice, able to create with purpose. It helps them define their audience as well as their interests and passions," he adds.

CAST Academy

An art and design program increasing student awareness of the visual impact of mediums like video, audio, digital animation and motion graphics, CAST Academy has flourished under Larson's execution of its animation component, which has filled much of his after-school life for the past six years. Funded mostly by the state, Larsen, along with his colleagues, have helped model the Academy on the California state framework for career technical education, helping the students with things like resume writing, creating business plans and acquiring marketing skills. "This is work-based learning which relies heavily on internships with outside partners, like the Walt Disney Museum and the Youth Arts Exchange," says Larsen.

New Students and New Horizons

Balboa High School has achieved placement on Newsweek's "America's Top Public High Schools" list multiple times. Now a model for other schools, Larson spends some of his time working with up-and-coming educators as well as keeping an eye on student progress. "Each year we keep trying to add new layers to our work," he says. "We're experiencing great success and feel happy about what we do."

As an example of one award-winning piece, watch "Look," an animation piece created by Jeff's students, which won the silver award for its category at the Adobe Youth Voices Aspire Awards in 2012.

Corey Whelan is a freelance writer in New York. Her work can be found at Examiner.com.

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