Narrator: Coming up on Inside California Education... Alejandra: So, this space, we really wanted it to be very intentionally relaxing.

Um, we did not want it to feel like a classroom.

Narrator: Go inside this brand-new Wellness Center at a high school in San Jose, where students can speak with a counselor, do an activity, or simply take a mental health break.

Discover how a speech and debate program in Santa Ana helps students of color find their voice, including these students who made history as the first all-Latina team to win a national award.

Anna: There had never been an all-women team who had won the national championship.

So, that was something that was entirely new too.

Narrator: Spend a "“day in the life"” of a paraeducator who works alongside students with disabilities at a high school in Palo Alto.

Meb: I always like to think about what the kids can do, rather than what they can't.

Narrator: And see how a small town in the Central Valley is hoping to inspire a new generation of aerospace workers and pilots by placing flight simulators in schools through a partnership with Boeing.

Renee: We know we'’re giving them an opportunity to expose them to careers that could really help change their lives.

Narrator: It'’s all next - on Inside California Education!

Annc: Funding for Inside California Education is made possible by: >>: At the California Lottery, we'’re focused on our mission to provide supplemental, essential funds to public schools- kinder through college.

Helping to keep teachers on staff.

Or pay for new school computers, band equipment, and other instructional materials and services.

Since 1985, we'’ve raised more than 37 billion dollars.

And more than 95% of our sales go back to the community.

Music to all of our ears.

California Lottery - helping schools and communities across California.

The Stuart Foundation: Improving life outcomes for young people through education.

ScholarShare 529: California'’s state-sponsored, tax-advantaged 529 college savings plan designed to help pay for the cost of higher education.

Additional funding for Inside California Education is made possible by these organizations supporting public education.

♪♪ Tiffany: I feel like just coming back on campus after two years of seeing everybody on Zoom has just been really weird, but it's been really awesome just seeing people again.

But at the same time, it brings a lot of anxiety for me, as a student.

Narrator: Whenever high school senior, Tiffany, is feeling anxious, she stops by the new wellness center at Andrew Hill High School in San Jose.

The center offers students a place to relax, take a break, or chat with a wellness specialist.

Tiffany: There are a lot of different activities.

Like, over there, there's puzzles and, like, really hands-on activities, which some students prefer.

But personally, for me, I just like talking to somebody.

Chaunise: We've been hearing from young people just about the challenges of navigating life outside of schools and how that impacts their academic and social performance within schools, and really wanting schools to be a safe place that met all of their needs, not just their academic needs, but their social, emotional needs and their mental health needs.

Narrator: The Santa Clara County Office of Education has partnered with schools to open 12 new wellness centers on middle and high school campuses.

The centers vary from campus to campus, but they'’re all designed to be a welcoming place where students can take a short mental health break or seek further help if they need it.

They'’re open all day, including before and after school, and during lunch.

Alejandra: So, this space, we really wanted it to be very intentionally relaxing.

Um, we did not want it to feel like a classroom.

They'’re in classrooms, you know, five times a week, every single day, and so, we wanted this to feel a little bit different.

So, very intentionally, we created a space where students could hopefully feel welcomed and feel calm and relaxed and kind of take a break from whatever is going on in the classroom or on campus.

We brought in rugs, we brought in, um, plants and things on the wall, just so it feels cozy and welcoming.

Maryann: We know that children are 21 times more likely to access services, and get them earlier, when they're available on school campuses.

So, we know that if... if we want to make a difference, that the school campus is the place to be.

Narrator: Andrew Hill'’s wellness center is located right off the main quad.

Students don'’t have to worry about transportation, and they have access to a specialist who welcomes them as soon as they walk in the door.

Chaunise: We want to know, are you feeling anxious?

Are you feeling stressed?

And each one of our centers has what we call a "wellness center menu" that really outlines different types of regulation activities that students can engage with in the space.

And so, those stations include art stations where students can draw.

We have journaling.

We have mindfulness stations where students can engage in deep breathing.

Narrator: On this day, students who are visiting the center also have access to a nonprofit organization called The Art of Yoga Project.

The organization will soon be offering regular yoga and art classes at the wellness center.

Tiffany: The yoga experience was something really different, and it was just, like, simple movements, but the important part was to remember to breathe.

Usually, at home, like, I'm not able to have, like, a quiet spot to journal, so journaling in the wellness room today and yoga were really nice, and just gave a really good start to my day.

Narrator: Individual counseling and small group discussions are also part of the center'’s planned activities, led by mental health and wellness specialists, like Alejandra Cruz.

Alejandra: How was your experience coming back to campus here at Andrew Hill?

What was that like for you all?

Student: Um, I feel like coming back to campus was kind of weird... Narrator: One wellness center received 700 visits during its opening week.

Organizers say that'’s a sign that this model is working.

Their goal is to have a wellness center on every middle and high school campus in Santa Clara County.

Chaunise: And that's a really important goal, because what we know is that by the age of fourteen, 50% of young people have had some type of impact or experience around mental health and wellness.

Alejandra: I think we've seen a huge increase of anxiety after the COVID pandemic and being back on campus, but definitely an increase of wanting to seek support because it has been really difficult, I think, for students to be back on campus and to readjust after such a long time of distanced learning.

Nathan: Because we were at home, there weren't many ways we could, um, talk to teachers or administrators for comfort, um, or talk about safety, because there was a lot of anxiety.

Narrator: When designing the wellness centers, organizers sought input from students like Nathan, who has since graduated.

Nathan was part of a youth advisory council.

They offered suggestions on everything from wall colors to best ways to ensure equity for all students.

Nathan: I think what students want most, um, especially when it comes to mental health reform, is to be heard.

We wanted counselors who look like us, who understood us, who had the life experiences that we had.

Chaunise: In our young people, what we have heard them say is this is the first time that they feel like the school has cared about something outside of academic success.

We have heard them say, this is the first time that I feel I can come to a space and talk about who I am, as opposed to what I can do, uh, with adults on their campus, and to feel supported within that.

Tiffany: Having the wellness center here, it just allows me to know that I have the support system to come and get help if I ever need it.

♪♪ >>: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...

I said a-broom sweepa-broom...

I said a-broom sweepa-broom... Toy Boat... Toy Boat!

Toy Boat!

Narrator: Vocal exercises and warmups are not the usual start to most high school classes, but they'’ve played a significant role in helping this program at Santa Ana High School win national awards in Speech and Debate.

Elizabeth: The speech and debate program has really empowered our students to be able to articulate their narrative, exposing our kids to the world and real-world skills that will help them articulate their story to the world and be professionally ready.

Corin: Your live slots for this tournament that'’s coming up, for the elementary school tournament, you need to be on time and present for that.

Narrator: Corin Serrano is the speech and debate instructor at Santa Ana high school.

Corin: You don't need any initial training.

You just have to have courage.

And you know, we work with you.

We train you.

We coach you.

So, if you want to be an all-star and, you know, have as much coaching as you want, then we're going to give you that.

We're going to be supportive in that.

Narrator: Ms. Serrano guides students and competitive Speech and Debate Team members through exercises to improve their presentations- both in class, and in regional, statewide, and national speech competitions.

Sal: So, what happens is... is you go too fast, we lose our tracking, and that hurts us in the long run.

Narrator: Sal Tinajero created the Speech and Debate program for the entire Santa Ana school district.

Some 1100 students are involved from 4th grade through high school.

Part of his time is spent in class, coaching students one-on-one.

Sal: I'll listen to every line, and I'll look at their eye, contact their hand gestures, and if I see something that we need to adjust, we'll make that quick adjustment.

Did you see that?

It'’s the power of the eyes.

Do it again so we don'’t forget [claps] I like it!

Anna: Police reform has been one of the biggest topics of this year, and we've seen a lot of change, but we need a lot more change, which leads me to the question that I received today.

What should president elect Joe Biden's top priority be for police reform?

The answer is simple, and it is one that every single American wants... Narrator: Anna is a junior at Santa Ana High School and began with speech and debate in 8th grade.

Twin sisters, Alondra and Kassandra, are juniors who began speech classes in middle school, and senior student, Destiny, started her speech work in a district summer school program.

All of them are members of the Santa Ana team that won the national high school championship in speech and debate.

The competition was done with online presentations this time.

It was the first ever national win for an all-women'’s team.

Anna: The six girls that went to nationals were all women, and so, we brought, I think, a lot of new topics to the table.

We were the first all-Latina team to win nationals.

There had never been an all-woman team who had won the national championship.

So, that was something that was entirely new, too.

All of our topics were surrounding being women, and being Latina.

Narrator: The cultural significance of the Latina women'’s team is often reflected in their presentations.

Destiny'’s focused on immigration.

Destiny: Every day, thousands of undocumented immigrant families who depend on medical services in the U.S. to help their disabled loved ones, confront our nation'’s shameful truth...

I really, really like that it'’s an opportunity for me to be able to showcase the struggles and the situations that people of color are really, really going through and being able to be a representative for those voices and stories that aren't really heard.

Corin: Abuse, some will talk about, you know, violence or, you know, mental health and it's things that they find important- that they really want to speak out of.

Things that, in our community, might not be as vocalized.

Kassandra: When I was 12 years old, the only thing I was thinking about was surviving... My topic was about immigrants.

This lady, this woman, um, were crossing the border with her child.

Well, I'm Mexican American and I wanted to talk about that because not only I know what I feel and what my family has felt, but what other people also felt.

♪♪ Narrator: The Speech and Debate Program is totally funded by the district.

Students travel and compete without cost.

The opportunity also opens the door to scholarships- important in a community where college might not be possible for some- and the presentations give voice to perspectives that students see as important.

Alondra: We often face, like, racism and discrimination, stuff like that, which other people may not know or may not experience, and so, we want... we want to deliver it and we want to show our... our... our stories.

[clapping] Corin: The biggest reward for me is to see how much they grow.

I've seen them grow up into these wonderful people that are not just smart, but well-voiced and contented for themselves and care about things that are much larger than just themselves.

Narrator: Studies show there are many benefits to students who participate in speech and debate programs.

Debate teaches students to see both sides of an issue.

They sharpen their analytical skills by finding weak points in their opponent'’s arguments.

They learn how to explain their own ideas and support it with research and evidence.

These skills offer a lifetime of benefits, with Forbes suggesting that former speech and debate students will be the leaders and CEOs of the future.

Still ahead on Inside California Education... a pre-pandemic look at a unique collaboration between Boeing and the small Central Valley town of Reedley.

They'’re hoping to spark an interest in young people to consider careers in aviation by teaching students how to use flight simulators.

Renee Delport: When a student sits in a flight simulator seat, they'’re actually sitting in what feels like a pilot'’s chair.

Narrator: But first, see what a "“day in the life"” is like for a longtime paraeducator at a high school in Palo Alto.

♪♪ Meb Steiner: So, one more, can you turn one page?

You do it.

Turn the page.

Perfect.

Good job!

My name is Meb Steiner.

I am an Instructional Aide in Special Education.

I am currently working at Palo Alto High School, and I have been doing, uh, this job for about 20 years.

Paraeducators are such important partners in our education system.

Our teachers rely on them.

Our students rely on them.

I always say we are the biggest bang for your buck.

Yes, turn.

Good job!

To have someone willing and able and wanting to... to support our vulnerable students, to be able to come to school is incredibly important.

It's different than being a teacher.

You are a teacher, you are an educator, you are there for the kids in every aspect of their life.

The job is completely devoted to supporting students.

The whole day, that's what I do.

I get to be with the kids, and that is the main focus of my... of my work.

Ready?

Put a circle.

Circle New York City.

Yes!

Good job!

Nice job, Alexa!

Thank you!

We have a really wide range of ages.

We've got ninth grade through 12th grade.

They have varying learning disabilities.

The goal is really to be there, to provide support when they need it, to allow them to do as much as they can independently and to just keep them, kind of, moving together, as a group.

People can see model trains at the holiday train show.

And so, we have this whole team of wonderful paraeducators working with the teacher, um, to support the kids.

There's no one-size-fits-all, so I think it's really, really important for every paraeducator to be who they are, who they genuinely are and allow your personality and your uniqueness to come through, because that will resonate with the kids.

It's really important to focus on the positives.

I always like to think about what the kids can do, rather than what they can't.

Yeah!

Teacher: Great job circling.

Meb Steiner: Nice job!

Teacher: Great job!

They have their gifts and all of them move forward over time, and recognizing their strengths and focusing on their strengths is really important.

I think the thing that makes me excited to come to work every day is truly the kids and my coworkers.

You have a team of people around you, and you're part of that team, and you're all working towards helping the kids be the best that they can be.

It's an incredible feeling to be a part of something that's more than you.

That's the part that is so gratifying, is to be a part of something that goes beyond you.

That's really a wonderful thing to have in your life.

Narrator: Paraeducators play an important role in schools, making up nearly 35% of the nation'’s school support staff.

Those who provide instructional support in the classroom must have two years of college, or an associate'’s degree or higher.

As part of their role, they may provide one-on-one tutoring for students, help with classroom management and materials, or provide assistance in the library, at lunch, or in a computer lab.

♪♪ Narrator: Anthony is a 5th grade student at Jefferson Elementary in Reedley, a town of around 25,000 people about 30 minutes outside of Fresno.

He'’s made a name for himself as the school'’s top pilot on a new flight simulator located in the school library.

Anthony: I actually never been on a plane.

I would like to go visit Spain '‘cause it'’s really big and I think it'’s really cool.

Like, I'’ve seen pictures and videos of, like, YouTubers go there and I just really think it would be a really nice place to visit.

Narrator: Most of Anthony'’s classmates have never been on an airplane either.

Many haven'’t traveled outside of the Central Valley.

Renee: Reedley is actually known as the World'’s Fruit Basket.

By virtue of that, a lot of our students'’ parents work in the agricultural industry.

So, everything from, um, laboring in the fields all the way through, um, owning packing sheds and anywhere in between.

Nicole: So, when you think Reedley, when you think Central Valley, you often do think fruit and agriculture.

We'’re the World'’s Fruit Basket.

What people don'’t really know about is we have a rich aviation history in the Central Valley that dates all the way back to World War II.

Narrator: When Nicole Zieba became Reedley'’s City Manager in 2011, the city had a 33% unemployment rate.

By 2018 that number dropped to 12%, but it was still three times the national average.

In an effort to lessen the reliance on agriculture, Reedley looked towards the past and decided to invest in aviation.

Through grant funding, they purchased four all-electric airplanes.

The goal: to offer low-cost pilot training.

Boeing, the World'’s largest aerospace company, took notice.

Douglas: Boeing became aware of the city of Reedley and their interest in aviation through their electric aircraft program, and as a result of the discussions in that project, this idea of bringing the gamification of simulators to the elementary and middle school, you know, was born.

Narrator: Jefferson is the first school in the nation to be part of Boeing'’s effort to encourage more young people to choose careers in aviation.

Douglas: Boeing publishes what we call the pilot and technician outlook, and that forecast of labor needs over the next 20 years expects that we need 804,000 new pilots and close to 800,000 new aircraft maintainers, globally, over the next 20 years.

The studies, the research, the surveys we'’ve done shows that the majority of people that are active and excited in training, or in their careers, first had their exposure to aviation in their formative years, you know, ages eight to eleven.

Renee: When a student sits in the flight simulator seat, they'’re actually sitting in what feels like a pilot'’s chair.

They'’re actually holding onto a yoke that feels like that of what a pilot would hold onto.

They see dials, they see all sorts of different measurements, um, that you would see in a cockpit.

Deisi: The simulator not only allows students to change the type of aircraft they'’re flying, it also allows to change what type of weather they'’re flying in.

So, once they are able to master flight, they can start working on, um, how do you fly if it'’s foggy?

How do you fly in the rain?

Anthony: I really like it 'cause I like using the controller a lot.

That'’s one of my favorite parts of it, and I really like doing other modes on it, like, there'’s military jets and, like, there'’s other courses.

Renee: We know we'’re giving them an opportunity to expose them to careers that could really help change their lives, and, uh, they could be pilots, they could be flight crew, they could be aviation mechanics, and we know that these are good paying jobs that, eventually, someday, they may have the opportunity to go into.

Deisi: I'’ve never seen such awesome teamwork where they'’re not fighting, they'’re not pushing.

They wait and they'’re encouraging each other, cheering each other on.

They'’re coaching one another.

If you do this, this is what it does.

If you do that, this is what will happen.

Kaileigh: I want to be a pilot because I like the view.

Narrator: Kaileigh first got interested in aviation when she learned about Amelia Earhart in school.

The fourth grader says she wants to become a pilot.

Kaileigh: This is actually really fun, and I want to, like, do it every single day.

Narrator: By peaking the interest early in elementary school, once students get to Reedley High School, they can take dual enrollment classes at Reedley College, earning high school and college credit, simultaneously.

Reedley College, established in 1926, is best known for its agriculture programs, but students can also earn an associate'’s degree in flight science or aviation maintenance technology.

If the current students using the flight simulator at Jefferson see the aviation pathway through, in just ten years, they could be certified commercial pilots.

♪♪ I can see how this is going to bring a new perspective to our town.

It'’s aviation.

We'’re a farming community.

This is a new look.

Narrator: That'’s it for this edition of Inside California Education.

If you'’d like more information about the program, log on to our website: insidecaled.org.

We have videos from all of our shows, and you can connect with us on social media.

Thanks for joining us.

We'’ll see you next time on Inside California Education.

Annc: Funding for Inside California Education is made possible by: >>: At the California Lottery, we'’re focused on our mission to provide supplemental, essential funds to public schools- kinder through college.

Helping to keep teachers on staff.

Or pay for new school computers, band equipment, and other instructional materials and services.

Since 1985, we'’ve raised more than 37 billion dollars.

And more than 95% of our sales go back to the community.

Music to all of our ears.

California Lottery - helping schools and communities across California.

The Stuart Foundation: Improving life outcomes for young people through education.

ScholarShare 529: California'’s state-sponsored, tax-advantaged 529 college savings plan designed to help pay for the cost of higher education.

Additional funding for Inside California Education is made possible by these organizations supporting public education.