A New School Year Begins

    September is here, and the Llano Grande Center’s office in Edcouch-Elsa High School is brimming once more with youthful vigor as a new corps of young co-learners joins the Center’s Advanced Social Studies class.

     The Center is facilitating two classes again this year, with freshmen to seniors participating together. Some of the young people, such as Samantha Herrera, are returning students; Sam, a junior, is now in her third year of Llano Grande classes. Other students were encouraged by friends or family to join the class.

     Already, Llano Grande staff and the young co-learners have jumped into the process of relationship building by spending the first week of classes sharing personal stories with each other while sitting in “circle.”

     Sitting in a circle - a social technology that allows for equality in teaching and learning amongst all participants - is a practice used by the Center as a way to emphasize the power that students have in the class to be as much of a leader as Center staff members.

     Plans for the class this school year include an exploration of personal identity, community history, education, economics, leadership and community engagement. One major expectation for the year is that students will also revive the Llano Grande Journals that were produced in the 1990’s during the Center’s early years. The Journals served as chronicles of local history as told by elders in the community and documented by students.