Group Shot: Cilau, Carlos, Yours Truly, Hannah, Xotchi, Arrianna, Rick Ayers, and Emma (from left to right)
Credit: Sophie Simon-Ortiz, Youth Radio
This photo is our “before” shot, in the airport (with a few excited parents), about to board our flight en route to the 5th Annual World Social Forum (WSF) in Caracas, Venezuela. I officially went as a semi-chaperone of six high school students from my former high school, Berkeley High School, along with a former teacher of mine, Rick Ayers. Rick is the director of the Communication Arts and Sciences (CAS) school at Berkeley High, designed around the principles of social justice, small community and media literacy. I only knew a couple of the students, and not very well. But over the course of the week, some of the best moments came in the “in-between” and down periods-- talking on the metro rides about our lives back home or when we made our way back to the hotel after a long day exploring the city. Once we all realized how chaotic and unreliable the formal events of the Forum would be--workshops and speakers got cancelled and changes left and right-- we all made the best networking and friendship connections casually in restaurant conversations and concerts. Networking by word of mouth was definitely the activity of choice. This is why traveling in high school can be so transforming, especially for U.S. youth because we grow up particularly with very little exposure to the rest of the world. But one of the requirements for coming along with the group was at least some ease with speaking Spanish; about half of the group was native Spanish speakers and the rest of us fell in range of skill less than fluent. We were a really mixed group, which I think was a true reflection of where we live and of the U.S. in general. We were all really aware of what it meant to be representing the U.S. when our home country has an international reputation that seems to get worse by the day. For the last few years, I’d been dying to get out of the country, and I’d been closely watching the huge social changes in Venezuela.