Stories by Sherry Posnick-Goodwin
Photos by Scott Buschman
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| Ashanti Branch, a math teacher at San Lorenzo High School, is an eternal optimist who decided to do something about the lack of motivation he saw in students. He pro-vides students a safe place to experiment with positive attitudes. |
The high rate of D’s and F’s among students at San Lorenzo High School was unsettling to math teacher Ashanti Branch. He found many students capable of the work, but unmotivated to succeed. Before he could do something about the problem personally, he needed to know why so many students were apathetic.
Branch, who is fluent in Spanish, began to listen — really listen — to conversations between students on campus. He noticed a common theme: Nearly all of the conversations were extremely negative.
“There was nothing positive; nobody talked about anything positive,” observes Branch, a member of the San Lorenzo Teachers Association and an eternal optimist. “There was a lot of ‘he said, she said’ stuff and putting people down. But nobody talked about things that mattered, like college, what students want to do with their lives, and how to make things better.”
Branch decided it was time to offer boys a safe place where they could talk about positive things without worrying if other students considered them to be uncool. He invited a few boys to have lunch with him on Thursdays. One day he asked if they cared to be the founders of a new campus club where students could focus on the future. The boys, in their newfound appreciation for positive thinking, said yes, they could do that.
Thus was founded the first of the school’s three Ever Forward clubs.
A construction project engineer in a previous life, Branch changed careers after tutoring struggling students and realizing his true passion was teaching. Suddenly, he says, he found the “fire” that was missing in his life. And he hoped to ignite a similar enthusiasm in his young students.
“We talk about lots of things,” says Branch. “What does it mean to be a man — to family, to school and to community? What does it mean to be a student? What goals are important to you? What does it take to be a leader instead of a follower?”
He found that students usually had goals in three areas — academic, personal and social — but social goals had taken precedence. That led to discussion about the need for balance in life.
The group expanded and continued to meet on a weekly basis, organizing field trips and a bowl-a-thon. Everything was going well — except that girls felt left out.
“They asked me, ‘Why don’t we have a club?’ Some of them were getting angry with me. I wasn’t neglecting them, but I didn’t know too much about girl issues.” He convinced a female colleague to take over what became the Chica Ever Forward group.
Everything was going well — except that English language learners also felt left out.
An Ever Forward Club for ELL students — titled Siempre Adelante, which means Ever Forward in Spanish — was started. “They want to know about the opportunities that are available to them if they work hard,” says Branch. “They want to know if they can go to college if they weren’t born here. We talk about the adjustment of living in a new place and how to deal with the pressures. Some have been pressured to join a gang.”
When the Chica Ever Forward Club lost its female adviser, Branch became adviser to all three clubs. Now the boys and girls are exploring the possibility of merging into a single club to avoid duplication.
“Students are building a sense of community,” says Branch. “And we are helping our students and youth connect to the community. One of the big problems is that they feel adults don’t care.”
However, students say they no longer feel that way, thanks to a man they call “Mr. B” and their membership in the Ever Forward Club.
“He has given us a place where we can come and be real,” says Luis Alvarez, a junior and the secretary of the boy’s club. “In other places, people are faking and lying all the time. If I wasn’t in this club, I’d be getting into fights with people because of all the negative energy, or else just talking about video games. But we can be real with each other here and stay positive.”
“For me, being in the club changed a lot in my life,” says Erika Apodaca, a junior and co-president of the girls’ club. “It’s a place where we can succeed. For me, it’s also like a family of people that I can trust. It has helped me with my grades.”
“Mostly, Mr. Branch has gotten us out of our comfort zone,” says Corbrae Smith, vice president of the boys club. “Because of him, we’re not afraid to try new things. We’re not afraid to grow.”
