High School and College Students Go Through the Pipeline
High School and College Students Go Through the Pipeline
Written by River Garza
The Cal Poly Pomona Native Summer Pipeline Program had another successful program this past July. The weeklong endeavor is now over and another group of enthusiastic and bright college bound Native American students had the opportunity to be fully immersed in a week’s worth of cultural and educational activities in and out of the university setting.
This year’s program marked the expansion of the Pipeline’s programing of including a community college aspect to give current community college students an opportunity to attend. Now, Native high school and community college students have the opportunity to cohabitate and embark on this educational journey together.
The students stay on campus through the week and are expected to learn how to navigate the campus as they tour Cal Poly, attend lectures, and use the university’s facilities. They are constantly challenged academically as they attend lectures and engage with university staff. In addition to becoming familiar with the public university setting, the Pipeline students are also able to spend a full day and one night at the University of Redlands – a private university.
Beyond being in a scholastic environment, the students had the opportunity to head up into the San Bernardino mountains and explore a cultural center and eat lunch at a lodge near Mt. Baldy. The Pipeline students attended a cultural class where they made art using traditional forms of paint with Lori Sisquoc, a local Cahuilla/Apache elder and cultural teacher. The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians was also gracious enough to allow the program to tour their cultural facilities and visit the Great Oak that is under their protection.
On the last full day of the program, the students traveled to the Autry Museum of the American West and were given the opportunity share songs, dance, poetry, and skits that they composed throughout the week. While at The Autry, the Pipeline brought in this year’s special guest, artist Steven Paul Judd. Steven and each of the pipeline students were able to collaborate and paint an image that was comprised of 36 small pieces of canvas. After collaborating on the piece, Steven gave each of the students a print of his work as a parting gift. Once things wrapped up at The Autry, the Pipeline custom is to treat the students to In & Out Burger on the last night.
The program has grown substantially and continues to change since its inception more than 5 years ago. Yet the core goal of giving current high school and community college students an opportunity to become acquainted and build relationships within the university remain the same.
