Blog Post One

MONDAY

On the first day of the REAL experience everyone was nervous. They didn’t know what the week would entail and barely knew each other’s names. We introduced ourselves and got to choose pins and go around the room asking why we chose what we chose. Mine was a blue dinosaur because it looked very determined to me. We got to know one another and the program instructors as they told us about what we would be doing everyday. Then came the first presenters of the week.

I’d say Monday was a great day for many of the girls (including myself) in terms of future-thinking because it opened the girls’ eyes to careers they hadn’t heard of or considered before. For example Aita, an original R.E.D.S girl, realized she wanted to be a product manager after Elena Horner, a product manager in Oakland, spoke about her career as one. Through a medical doctor, a professor at UC Berkeley/engineer, a product manager, and an activist and teacher, every R.E.D.S girl left with a new way of thinking about what their future could look like.

After lunch all the girls went to play basketball. Originally former Warrior basketball player Shaun Livingston was supposed to join the girls but due to unfortunate circumstances could not. We warmed up and ran shooting drills with Dr. Alexis Gray-Lawson, Athletic Director at Oakland Tech and former WNBA player, alongside Erin Sellers, 18 year old captain of the Oakland Tech Lady Bulldogs and 3 time state champion. We heard about how growing up they had to prove themselves as being as good as the boys and their basketball journeys and how Erin would go to play in Taiwan the next week. Basketball as a career seemed to resonate especially in a few of the girls as they would spend the rest of the week talking about becoming professional athletes. The day ended off working on vision boards that showed the “REAL” us, journaling about the presenters, and lastly a community circle before pick-up. By then practically everyone knew another’s name and no one was nervous anymore.

TUESDAY

Tuesday was hosted at the Jion Academy space in DeFremery. We started the day by assessing our interests versus what we’re good at then taking career tests to see what careers would best fit what we thought of our qualities. We explored our results and looked at the skills needed for said job, education required, the average pay, and job overview. Afterwards, we split into two groups. One group would work on their vision boards and the other would look for three jobs that they especially liked, were interested in and good at, then study more about them. After everyone had chosen their careers we came back together as a group to learn about West Oakland history. We learned how the director’s family had moved to Oakland during the gold rush and started one of the first black newspapers. We then looked at photos over a hundred years old of her family. She then told us that her Aunt also happened to be in the West Oakland library so we went there to look for it.

In the lobby at the West Oakland library were dozens of pictures of black families in Oakland over a hundred years ago. Everywhere you turned was a story to tell. We spent some time trying to figure out if we could spot our director’s Aunt amidst the history. Then after the history lesson we got to spend some time inside the library itself. It was really funny the way none of the girls wanted to leave the library. They were all entranced by different sections, features of the library, the computers, the workspaces–I even heard a few talking about coming back. After the trip to the library came lunchtime. We had gourmet sandwiches, cookies, and chips. We ate at park benches awaiting our physical activity of the day to start.

Following lunch we met Coach P, a golf instructor at Ace Kids Golf and one of his students who had played since she was 7 years old. Coach told us about the problem with inclusivity in golf and how as black women it was important to expose us to the game. Then we started learning about the different clubs, the different club sides, and when to use them. We split into two groups then started playing rounds with hula hoops on the grass. After practicing then having an actual game we used the golf simulator truck that Coach had brought with him. Inside it was a strich of fake grass in front of a screen that displayed a fake golf turf with a sensor in the back to read how fast you went and your trajectory. Golfing was probably one of my favorite activities of the week. And playing made me actually want to start doing it at school.

WEDNESDAY

On Wednesday we spent the whole day at the Oakland Museum of California. First we listened to a panel of people who worked at the museum with roles such as Senior Director of Marketing, Communication, and Visitor Experience, and Chief Financial Officer. We asked them questions pertaining to the REAL values. REAL Learning, REAL Expression, REAL Work, REAL Me, REAL Motion, and REAL Engagement. This was personally my favorite part of the entire week. Listening to the three panelists speak was like a breath of fresh air as they pertained to what it meant to be a woman and a woman of color in their industries. I even found myself idolizing them in their commitment to their roles.

We also had a “job hunt” at the museum where we went around in teams asking different workers at the museum prompted questions and our own original questions. Doing so we learned all about the different roles in a museum that helped to keep it running. The jobs I found most interesting were the people who worked in the woodshop that built different exhibits, made palm trees, and interactives for the museum, etc. We got to explore the California and Oakland exhibits as well. We then had a discussion on the Black Panther Party which proved to be very insightful for most of the girls.

Later on we would learn a step dance in the museum garden taught by business owner, Letisha Wright. We also got to learn about her history with step. She grew up in Oakland and attended predominantly black schools then went to UC Berkeley for college. There she wanted to see people who looked like her so she joined a black sorority. In her sorority they put on step dance performances and it stayed with her. After we all got down the step moves we performed on the stage in the garden. Even half a week later we were still doing the dance during regular Saturday sessions at R.E.D.S.

THURSDAY

Back at DeFremery, we started the day off with a community circle to check up on each other. We went around the room asking “If you had to eliminate one breakfast food forever, would it be pancakes, waffles, eggs, or bacon?” Fortunately most people got it right (to my beliefs) and said they’d get rid of waffles. After a few more questions we played a budgeting game. We took the average salary of the career we chose for our presentations and from that found what we would make monthly then made a few decisions to decide what we would spend that money on to see if we could budget properly. Some things you couldn’t decide not to get such as health insurance, car insurance if you bought a car, renter’s insurance, etc. But others you had options. You could get differently priced apartments that all varied in size, you could choose either a used car or a new one or even public transport. Then we calculated how much we had left. This was one of my favorite exercises that week. We got a chance to see if we had enough in our monthly salary for all of our expenses and got to see where we went wrong or right. Then we began to outline our presentations. We made our slides then wrote about them on papers to which we practiced public speaking in front of each other.

That day at Jion we got to practice track and field with someone who’d played D1 in college. We did dynamic and static exercises and learned what dynamic and static exercises are(walking and still exercises). Then we learned about team track and field events. We started practicing how to hand off and grab batons in a race and learned how detrimental it is not to drop it. We broke off into teams of three for an actual race that would decide who got the medals in the end.

Although less complex than other sports we did that week track and field was a sure favorite among all the girls. I think we all really appreciated how we got to work together in teams to win and the rush you get when running. Our instructor also made it extremely enjoyable, encouraging us every step of the way to give it our all and most importantly to not drop the baton. It definitely got everyone’s energy up as after we worked on our presentations some more.

FRIDAY

The final day of the REAL Experience we spent the morning finishing our vision boards, presentations, and writing letters to everyone who helped make the week happen. After we gathered into the main room to find out who we would be presenting in a room with. We separated into our rooms and started practicing our presentations and giving each other feedback with a rubric.

A lot of Friday was just spent getting to say goodbye to everything. Lunch was provided by Square Pie Guys and we cracked jokes about the week over chicken wings and pepperoni. Next we perfected our presentations as we waited for the special guests who’d give us feedback on them. My group had a lot of technical troubles. The screen projecting the slides kept turning off and we had to practice without them. They even turned off halfway through one of the girl’s presentations but she kept going and didn’t let it stop her from giving it her best. We received praises from the guests and got to hear a little about their own careers and why they were there that day.

At the end of all presentations we gathered into a big circle with all the guests where we were given our flowers and told about how great we did. After the circle I got to speak with one of the observers about what he does and his advice in my career journey which was extremely insightful to me. It seemed like throughout the week I kept making contacts with people and was able to network different industries in Oakland. When all the guests left we finished signing letters and started a rewards ceremony for getting through the week. The REAL Experience was something I enjoyed a lot. There was never an activity we did that didn’t have some form of value to us. Whether we use it now or not it was all extremely rewarding. Not only did we learn about a plethora of new careers but we all got to get to know each other and form bonds that we couldn’t before. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the R.E.D.S girls do with the knowledge they gathered from the week.