I missed my first day of school for this year. Gillian Hart, the APN kids, and I went down to the Port of Los Angeles for the day on a field trip. We got a boat tour of the port, took a quick side trip to the Japanese Fishing Village Memorial, and finished off with a tour of the Port’s command center. Despite the rumor that APN is just like any other class at North High, we didn’t bump into any of our fellow teachers or students today. Maybe they’re going at a later date.
The tour of the port is the tour of the port–I’ve done it for enough years that it’s no big deal. Plus, of all the commerce and economics and history that the tour involves, kids are most interested by the . . . sea lions. That’s when the cameras really come out. Still, many liked seeing the outline of Catalina, some asked me what was in the shipping containers, while others just sat back and enjoyed.
The Japanese Fishing Village Memorial is so quick you would just drive right by it. There are signs,it’s right down in the port area, and it represents a horrible part of our country’s history where we took a Japanese fishing village, shipped the people off to camps, then stole their land and property. Sound familiar. Of extra importance was one of our students finding her grandparent’s name on the Memorial’s wall.
The Port’s command center is a big deal, too. The person who showed us around is the mother of a student at our school and has been a great host for the last two years. Because of an actual incident today, we weren’t allowed in some rooms, as our country’s safety outweighs our trip. But, we did get to see many things, and listen to many people, all of them very professional, and all of them who spoke to our students as if they were people. No lectures, no talking down to them. Our students were apprised of the situation at the port, that they would have to behave a certain way, and that was that.
Everything went smoothly.
Okay, everything didn’t really go smoothly. Despite the South Bay being pretty easy to navigate, our bus drivers had to have us tell them where to go. Wrong turns, going back over bridges, then back over the same bridges, heading east instead of west . . . maybe I should be a bus driver in my august years. Our driver was nice, but I felt like I was doing two jobs when navigating our bus.
What did our kids do while we saw more of the city than we needed to? They sang. They did karaoke. They laughed and smiled a lot. They hung out. Things did not go smoothly because of outside circumstances, but no one would have ever known. As they have done every place off campus, our students represented APN, North High, and our North community in a positive manner with no complaints.
For the win? A former APN student subbed for my 6th period class today. We were happy to see one another, she tamed my students for nearly two hours, and they are now “angels.” Winning.