Another Community Learning Day Filled with Choice Around Learning and New Friendships

We had another fantastic Community Learning Day on Nov. 8! Students enjoyed a day of flexible learning with time to explore their interests, follow their passions, and create their own meaningful learning experiences. CLDs were created in response to our community’s desire to provide more opportunities to bring students together across all our high schools: Communications, Connect High, Design, RISE, and Science.

On-Campus Workshops
Over 500 students from all five of Da Vinci’s high schools registered for on-campus workshops, including: 

• Interviewing & Networking Skills: Students learned networking and interviewing strategies. Volunteers from Children’s Law Center and Da Vinci’s own real world learning team led students through group interviews, mock partner interviews, and one-on-one interviews. 

• Adidas footwear design: The Adidas School for Experiential Education in Design (S.E.E.D.) brought its footwear design creator camp to Da Vinci for a workshop on creative thinking, communicating ideas, problem solving, and the design process. S.E.E.D. was launched in 2020 to foster the next generation of young footwear designers, specifically BIPOC female creators. 

• Financial Literacy: Workshops focused on the power of investing, opening a brokerage account, how banks and loans work, buying a home, and more. 
• Intro to Music Performance Careers: Students learned how to play a simple quarter note, the difference between beats and measures, and more.
• Career Exploration: Students took quizzes to identify their strengths and how to choose a career path. Three working professionals (a doctor, public defense attorney, and animator) shared their career journeys and the importance of networking to open doors to new opportunities. 
• Fabrication: Students who participated in the first CLD fabrication workshop continued to develop their welding skills, creating mobile phone holders out of wood and steel. 
• Origami: Origami was combined with gratitude and volunteer service in this popular workshop. Students learned about the Japanese art, history and origin, then they created their own works of art that would be donated to cancer patients through Kits to Heart. 
• Community Service: Some students took the opportunity to join workshops off-campus doing beach cleanup (and dolphin sightings) at Dockweiler Beach, park cleanup at Del Aire Park, and engaging with younger kids at Da Vinci Connect TK-8. 
• College Applications: DV college counselors supported seniors as they worked on their college applications. Sophomores and juniors explored colleges and majors. 
• Athletics: Students had opportunities to participate in soccer on the new WDV Soccer Field and self-defense workshops.
• Open Lab: Students enjoyed quiet study time on campus while also getting help with math, if needed.
• Other workshops included purpose finding, youth-driven sessions to support LGBTQ+ youth, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery to assess students’ strengths for various military jobs, and more. 

Miles, a junior at Da Vinci Science shared, “I enjoy CLD days because I get to meet other kids from the other schools. This is an opportunity to meet new people that I don’t typically talk to. I chose financial literacy because I wanted to learn more about finance and economics and to try to get ahead before I actually make the decision to buy a house. I think CLDs are a fun way to learn more about something that you’re interested in that you never had the time to research.”

Sophia, a 10th grade student at Da Vinci Design who signed up for open lab shared, “I like CLDs. There are so many different options – that’s what I like about it. You can choose what interests you or what you need. I really needed this day. I was a little stressed about the assignments I needed to get done, so I really appreciated the day to dedicate to doing my work. I also want to try some of the creative workshops.” 

Leaving to Learn
Other students chose off-campus learning to get caught up on schoolwork, work on college applications, learn more about a career path, or work on something that ignites their passion. DVC students Sean and Sophia visited the Western Museum of Flight in Torrance. They saw unique aircraft, prototypes, target drones, piston and jet aircraft engines, aircraft components, World War II instruments, aircrew accessories, and an extensive model aircraft collection. They shared it was truly an inspiring, motivating, and educational field trip seeing how the museum honors the aerospace industry heritage. It’s been incredible to see all of the rich learning our students engaged in!

Staff Planning, Collaboration and Wellness
While CLDs provide students with voice and choice around what they will learn, they also provide valuable time for our hardworking educators to collaborate, plan, learn, and recharge. Supporting social and emotional wellness of both students and staff is essential to our collective mental health and well-being. 

“I’m collaborating with Ms. Chantal,” said Nieema Peyrefitte, a resource teacher at Da Vinci Design, who has never done origami herself. “Together, we’re collaborating to find a way to make the experience meaningful without the kids just coming and doing origami. We’re merging volunteer service, which we already do at Design, while also integrating thankfulness and gratitude. I like CLDs. It’s a great opportunity for the kids to come together and collaborate across all the schools.”

There are two more CLDs scheduled this school year (Feb. 10 and Apr. 21). For each CLD, students can sign up to work independently at home, go to the Douglas campus for exciting workshops with peers from across our schools, or create their own learning experience. When students are in the driver’s seat, they cultivate important skills that serve them long after they leave high school – leadership, time and project management, self-awareness, resiliency, and an authentic passion for lifelong learning, to name a few.

Student Feedback
Curious how students felt about CLDs? In a recent feedback survey, 88% rated their second CLD as excellent or good (compared to 85% for the first CLD). Here are some thoughts they shared with us:

“I enjoyed the flexibility of the CLD. I really liked the activity that I participated in as it helped me forge new relationships and get out of my comfort zone.”

“I liked meeting and making friends with students from other schools.”

“I like how I was able to work at my own pace and get the important things I felt I needed to get done. I felt accomplished at the end of the day, and I also felt very well rested.”

“I liked the whole experience of being able to get some community service done with friends for a couple hours because it was very accessible and easy.”

“I like how there were diverse options for students to choose from.”

“It helped me a lot on what to expect for interviews and how important networking is. That workshop was really helpful.”

“I liked how I got to work without any distractions.”

“I like how I can learn what I want for a whole day.”

“I enjoyed the calm environment and the relaxing experience.”

“I love how a lot of people came together to clean the beach.”

“I liked how I was able to catch up on homework. It’s hard to manage a lot of school work so having a day to be able to do extra homework helps me feel less stressed about not getting work done.”

“I enjoyed the fact that this CLD was more structured than the last one as far as the schedule. An hour or a couple of hours of workshop time, a break, another hour of workshop, lunch, and then we come back to relax or work on the survey until dismissal.”