by Barbie Levasseur, Executive Vice President, South San Francisco Education Foundation
As Baden Continuation High School students walked on the field to participate in the ropes course at San Bruno Mountain Park, most of them seemed cautious, but excited. For many of them this was their first field trip since elementary school. Not all of them had their curiosity piqued though. I noticed two students standing off to the side nonchalantly. When I introduced myself to Leo*, he jokingly gave me a fake name as his friend, Ella*, was getting a replacement name tag. “Did you lose the first one?” asked Jo, one of the Thornton Wilderness School Students who runs the ropes course. “No,” replied Ella, “I just… threw it…” Unfazed, Jo wrote Ella’s name on a new nametag and passed it to her with a smile. She’d probably seen this scene enough times before to foresee the transformation about to occur.