The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: YES house

  • César Chavez Day with YES

    César Chavez Day with YES

    by Eddie Carpenter

    In honor of César Chavez Day, the YES program hosted a volunteer event at the Potawot Community Food Garden in Arcata. It had an amazing turnout with a whopping 40 volunteers in attendance, caressed by the sunny blue skies and the refreshing Humboldt breeze.

    We were assigned tasks by being divided into five groups. I was grateful to be a part of a group that planted beds of squash. We did everything from scratch, laying out layers of black cover material across the four rows to keep the weeds from robbing the plants of their nutrients. We also covered the tops of the rows with white cloth.

    Gardening skills have practical value in my daily life. Prior to this experience, I had been a volunteer at Potawot through a program called the Intertribal Agriculture Council. Potawat’s head gardener Ed Mata gave me a handbook about gardening and I was mentored by a professional development specialist named Elaini Vargas.

    Maybe I was a little rusty on the terminology, but basic knowledge about soil health has since been ingrained into the recesses of my brain. I learned in a soils class that if you live in a mild climate, it’s estimated that it took 200 to 400 years for 1 centimeter of the soil to form. Vargas’ and Mata’s teachings directly impacted the mindset I had going into the YES serve-a-thon on César Chavez Day.

    Youth Educational Services (YES) is a collective on campus that provides students with opportunities to volunteer at local school and community sites. One of their goals is to connect hands-on service and in-class learning with awareness of the injustices and oppressions experienced by those they serve. Actions sometimes speak louder than words. Making donations and saying nice things about a cause is totally different from donating your time and bodily energy to a cause.

    According to mentalhealth.org, helping others can possibly help make you happier as a person. Through volunteering, I was able to make temporary connections through teamwork and group communication. This gave me a sense of community and made me feel like I belonged to a noble cause.

    If you want to see change in your self-esteem, you might want to consider doing good deeds, so we can manifest the world into a better place. Indeed, an outward reflection of finding happiness can in turn make you a happy person.

  • Student spotlight

    Student spotlight

    Sociology peer mentors shine with Youth Educational Services and help students

    News editor, T. William Wallin sat down with Ashleigh DeFraga and Belen Gutierrez during separate interviews for a Q&A.

    DeFraga and Gutierrez are seniors in the criminology and justice studies program at HSU. They are peer mentors for the sociology department and can usually be seen helping out a student in the business of social sciences building. They volunteer with YES and are very involved with the community. They both are pursuing law degrees and want to become lawyers after graduation.

    WHAT ARE YOU STUDYING AT HSU?

    DeFraga: I am studying Criminology and Justice studies major, with a double minor in psychology and Philosophy

    Gutierrez: Criminology and Justice studies with the minor in comparative ethnic studies

    WHY DID YOU PICK THE MAJOR AND DOUBLE MINORS?

    DeFraga: I love all aspects of the criminal justice system. Our school has a unique program and since day one I knew I wanted to be a lawyer. I chose psychology because I am interested in how the brain works. I am minoring in the philosophy of ethics, which we talk a lot about ethical dilemmas that get brought up in criminal justice such as rape, or voluntary suicide. Taking philosophy will help me with questions that will be on the bar exam and the LSAT.

    Gutierrez: I interned at a law firm in high school and I knew I wanted to do law when I graduated but I didn’t want to do the traditional political science. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but I was more interested in the criminal justice aspect of it. I started learning about intersexuality in high school and that drew me in having a minor in comparative ethnic studies.

    WHERE DID YOU MOVE FROM?

    DeFraga: I came from Sacramento. I came straight from high school and enrolled at HSU in August of 2016. I have been taking 20-22 units each semester to graduate sooner because I don’t get financial aid. I did get some scholarships but I wanted to get done as fast as possible.

    Gutierrez: Orange County, Santa Ana, in particular, Southern California. I came straight from high school. I graduated in 2015.

    HOW DO YOU JUGGLE THE WORKLOAD AND VOLUNTEER WORK YOU DO?

    DeFraga: I go day by day. You can’t go each day and think past that because then it’ll be overwhelming. I have a google calendar, a wall calendar and a million sticky notes everywhere. I’m really organized.

    Gutierrez: My mom is really good with time-management and I really just inherited her skills a little bit. I really try to think about what I’m taking on and how that is going to fit in with my schedule. I know my limits and I try to stick to them. But google calendar and a planner is your friend.

    WHAT’S THE PLAN AFTER YOU GRADUATE?

    DeFraga: Straight to Law School. I’m going to go to Pepperdine in LA. It’s a private school with lots of scholarships and I love the area its in. It’s smaller than Harvard and I think it’s best for me to thrive.

    Gutierrez: I’m taking a year off and then going to law school. My top schools right now are Berkeley and I got a full-time offer for Chapman Law. I’m debating that because I want to go to the bay so I’m not sure if I’m willing to relocate to So-Cal but we’ll see. Berkeley is number 1. They have a Ph.D. program on social well-being so you can do a program to get your Ph.D. in social justice and also your law degree which is what I’m really interested in doing.

    WHAT ARE YOU MOST PASSIONATE ABOUT?

    DeFraga: I am most passionate about juvenile kids. They need help, it’s not their fault when they get in trouble. I want to make a difference in the juvenile justice system. Kids are important and not enough people are making an effort with them.

    Gutierrez: I think definitely collaborating with communities that are oppressed and striving for social justice.

    WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE EXPERIENCE IN HUMBOLDT?

    DeFraga: My favorite experience is all in all the environment. I think the environment has shaped every aspect of my experience. Everyone is super genuine. The JRVP program has been one of my favorite experience up here.

    Gutierrez: Definitely volunteering with YES. I started volunteering as a freshman through the step-up program which is HSU’s alternative spring break. That’s where we went to San Francisco to volunteer for spring break, and then when I was a sophomore I directed the program myself and planned the Sacramento trip. My junior trip I applied to be one of the five paid staff positions and I got it. This year I applied to be the lead program consultant and I love it. I love YES and I think if it weren’t for YES I would have transferred out of HSU because it’s so isolated. I think finding a community is really important and I found it at YES. That has definitely been my favorite part so far at HSU.

    WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR INCOMING STUDENTS?

    DeFraga: Be brave. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be scared to not know something, just ask and be comfortable in your own skin.

    Gutierrez: Definitely, get involved. Maybe not your first semester if you want to get a taste of college and what classes are like as a full-time student and how you fit in because that’s the time to dip in your toes and see what you want to be involved with.

    WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE PROFESSOR AT HSU?

    DeFraga: Michihiro Clark Sugata.

    Gutierrez: Wow, I’ve had so many. I think so far it’s been Nancy Perez. She just got hired through the CRGS department and I took Chicana/Latinx with her last semester. I really like the structure of the class and how she gave us assignments I never had before and so she was really relaxed with what we could do. One of the assignments was to write a children’s book and what stood out for me was to write a children’s book that you wish you had when growing up. I really liked it and I wrote a book about my experiences growing with a message I would have liked to see growing up. That really stood out for me and that has made her one of my favorite professors. She really thinks outside the box and giving us assignments that were challenging because you think you can write a children’s book no problem but really it’s a lot more than that. It’s a lot deeper than that and there’s a lot of thinking that goes into it like ‘how can I put a message into it in a way that a 5-year-old or whoever is reading it will understand it.’ That’s why she’s my favorite professor.

    HOW LONG HAVE YOU WORKED WITH THE JUVENILE CENTER AND WHAT IS IT LIKE? WHAT HAVE YOU GAINED MOST WITH WORKING THERE?

    DeFraga: It’s pretty awesome getting to go into the Juvenile hall and work with the kids there. They are honestly just normal kids we have just labeled them as bad or delinquent! I think that the best part is being able to see that they are just kids, not criminals! To be able to just hang out with them and show them a positive example is a small way in which each and every one of us can help them. I’ve been working with them since my freshman year! It also makes you feel like your life isn’t so bad in retrospective to theirs. Putting yourself in their shoes and looking at the intersectionality that goes along with it!

    WHAT IS WORKING AT YES LIKE?

    Gutierrez: It’s really rewarding in several aspects. It’s not just going out into the community that’s rewarding, it’s also all the skills I have learned that I didn’t even know I had, such as facilitating meetings and learning people’s first language and how there’s a savior complex when volunteering and how YES is striving more towards collaborating with communities instead of really just going in and serving them. It’s more like we’re here if you need us and what is it you would like from us instead of going in and being like we’re here to do this for you. So I think that’s what I really fell in love with YES, there really striving to make those changes.

  • Volunteer efforts in Jefferson Community Park

    Volunteer efforts in Jefferson Community Park

    The Youth Educational Services (YES) held a volunteer event for Humboldt State students on Feb 10. The event was held at Jefferson Community Park where volunteers were tasked with planting a garden for the community.

    Dean Shearer operates the volunteer opportunity programs for YES.

    “Jefferson Center is a community run center,” Shearer said. “If five or 30 people show up, it doesn’t matter. Any help is much appreciated.”

    Not only did the members of YES show up, HSU fraternity Chi Phi showed up to assist Jefferson Community Park with the planting of the garden.

    “I‘m here because I love to hang out with my friends and this place is perfect for that,” Chi Phi member Eddie Castillo said.

    Another member of the fraternity, Sergio Maciel, said he was involved for the community service aspect.

    “I think that it’s great for the fraternity to go out and do something good for the community,” Maciel said.

    Members of Chi Phi doing their part for the community. Photo by Luis Lopez.

    Richard Evans, vice president of the park, lives near the former school building turned community park.

    “It used to be a school that was closed down in 2012,” Evans said. “The community was tired with the city not doing anything with the building so we bought it and now it’s a park for the community to enjoy.”

    The Jefferson Community building contains many resources for people to utilize. There is a certified kitchen for the public to use, space to hold public forums and a playground for children.

    “The community wanted change for the closed down school,” Mark Weller, the deputy director of the Jefferson Community Park, said. “Events like this are open to any student from HSU who are outside of YES house.”

    Heidi Benzonelli (far left) and Mark Weller (center) helping volunteers put soil on the truck bed. Photo by Luis Lopez.

    Heidi Benzonelli is the president of the Jefferson Community Park.

    “[It was] another awesome day, way beyond what we expected,” Benzonelli said. “The park is coming into shape with the outpouring of volunteers.”

    For people who were not able to attend this event, the community park is always looking for volunteers to help with the park.

    To volunteer or learn more, you can visit jefferson-project.org or follow facebook.com/Jefferson.Project on Facebook.

    All the volunteers who came in to help the Jefferson Community Park on Feb. 10. Photo by Luis Lopez.