What We Do

Camping:

Camping trips are essential to the WALC program because we believe that the greatest place to learn is out in nature. When we are camping in magnificent areas like Joshua Tree or Lassen, we are able to not just learn but also experience the environmental science concepts that are central to our curriculum. Camping trips are also an opportunity for us to build community and experience a setting that is radically different but no less real than the urban environment we live in. Through these four to five day field study experiences, WALC students gain the conceptual and experiential edge that enables them to succeed academically and grow as individuals.

Hiking trips have essentially the same purpose as camping: nature as classroom/teacher. But hiking trips only last for a day. Hiking trips are a good way to introduce students to the way we teach in WALC. Students get to experience the value of learning from the environment but they still get to come home at the end of the day. After a few hiking trips, they are ready to go camping

Our habitat restoration project at McLaren Park and Bayview Hill, which is a partnership between WALC, the San Francisco Natural Areas Program, is an effort to restore/preserve the habitats of several endangered species that are endemic to San Francisco/Bay Area. To truly feel a connection to nature, we must learn how to care for a specific place. For us McLaren Park and Bavview Hill is that place. WALC has also participated in habitat restoration projects at Lake Tahoe and Redwood National Park

Each week, WALC students conduct the recycling program at each school. We go around from classroom to classroom and collect all the paper, plastic, bottles, and aluminum cans our schools generate, which is a lot. Our Downtown High Chapter also coordinates the composting of all food waste at Downtown High, which is one of only four schools in San Francisco that have a composting program.

Another event at Downtown High School is the project presentations at the end of each semester. During this event the WALC students get to present the amazing projects they have been working on all semester other students, parents, teachers and community members. By presenting their projects, WALC students are to articulate what they have learned throughout the year. Past projects include: a three dimensional topographic model of the Bay Area, Miniature Model Houses built entirely with alternative materials, and a coffee table book of student art and poetry.

At Balboa High School, one of the big WALC tasks is the senior Environmental Legacy Project. WALC seniors actually identify a specific environmental issue affecting the school and conduct a campaign to address the problem and implement real solutions that become part of the institution. A total of seven legacy projects are ongoing each year impacting the entire school. Through the work of successive generations of WALC seniors real changes have been made at Balboa, such as a new salad bar option in our cafeteria, recycling procedures for computer ink cartridges, the groundwork for a native garden, and cleaner restrooms. WALC students learn that they should not go through systems and institutions as passive objects, but active participants that affect these systems and institutions positively.

There is a lot more to WALC than just the items listed above. These activities are examples of the foundations and end products of our program. In between them are scores of novels and textbooks to be read, multiple science labs and monitoring projects to be conducted, numerous papers to be written, presentations to prepare, etc. Feel free to peruse samples of WALC syllabi, project descriptions, and timelines. It will give you a good idea of what WALC students accomplish.