A Former Upward Bound Leader Tells of Learning the Value of High Expectations

ENTRY LEVEL

Magda A. Escobar

Age: 32

First job: Leader, Upward Bound summer residential program, Stanford, Calif.

Current job: Executive director, Plugged In, East Palo Alto, Calif.

When I was growing up on a dairy farm in Clint, Tex., I was exposed to several special summer programs for teenagers, largely because I was very good in math and science. But what really influenced me was a legislative program, the Lorenzo de Zavala Youth Legislative Session, for Latino high-school students that was sponsored by Southwestern University: We created a version of the Texas Legislature, with each of us acting as a legislator. That was an especially formative experience because, first of all, it got me off the farm and introduced me to people from all over the state, but also because I was being exposed to ideas, such as the importance of public service, community involvement, and public policy in formulating changes in society.

After high school, while an undergraduate at Stanford University, I got involved with Upward Bound, a tutoring program through Stanford’s Haas Center for Public Service. Through Upward Bound, which helps children of color who are hoping to be the first generation of their families to attend college, I found myself tutoring high-school students from East Palo Alto, a predominantly Hispanic, low-income neighborhood. East Palo Alto is only about a mile geographically from Stanford, but culturally it’s another world entirely. There I was, tutoring the kids in math and science.

The summer after I graduated, I was hired to run Upward Bound’s summer residential program, which brings kids to the Stanford campus for a six-week, on-campus experience. We provided teenagers with academic classes and community-building activities during the day, as well as social activities in the evening. And that was the first time I realized how important it is not to take programs like this — or the individuals who create these opportunities — for granted. It was also the first time that I really thought about the nonprofit sector as an industry that I wanted to work in.

Everything that I learned from teenagers at Upward Bound I still apply to my work at Plugged In, which teaches people in East Palo Alto and the surrounding towns to use technology. One of the things I learned that summer — and it is something that I still use today — is that teenagers really need high standards set for them and that they need to have high expectations for what they can achieve. They also need to learn to identify and take advantage of the opportunities that life has to offer, and while those opportunities may be obvious to an adult, they aren’t always so apparent to kids.

Another skill I used was humor. It’s very important, when used in the right way, and not just a matter of cracking jokes — I can’t remember a punch line to save my life. But humor really helped me connect with children and ease some of the pressures they had to deal with: Many of them had to translate legal documents, letters from landlords, and school forms for their parents. Humor made it possible to turn their burdens into something manageable.

But the most important thing I learned from those Upward Bound teenagers — and this applies to all of us — is they want to have fun and enjoy life, and, most important, they want to be able to dream. Those high-school students were dreaming about going to college, and we encouraged them to take risks, to think “outside their boxes,” and to build networks of support.

Today, I do the same thing at Plugged In, only with a wider group of people and on a larger scale. Plugged In helps people to produce, create, learn, express, and connect through a series of programs: a youth-run Web-design firm, an arts and technology program for children, and a production studio that trains community members to better use technology, helps them get jobs, and helps them find practical, on-demand solutions to everyday problems. Next month, we are launching a community network of three technology-access points — computer labs open to the public — and an online community-resources center.

With Upward Bound, I became aware of the impact people such as myself had on these children. Many of them were out of their neighborhood for the first time, and they were often very uncertain of themselves. I was amazed that, months after the summer program ended, I’d have those teenagers writing me and telling me how important the program was to their lives. It made me realize how a fairly ordinarily person can be immensely important to children. You never see yourself as influential as they see you. I suddenly recognized what a strong presence I was in their lives.

I certainly understood the importance of education, but I finally realized that not everyone had the same access to the educational opportunities or to a nurturing family, as well as other things that I’d taken for granted. From working for Upward Bound, I learned that everyone has an inherent talent or skill that has to be nurtured to make good things hatch. I found myself looking at the children’s strengths and immediately playing to those strengths.

Another skill I learned — and it’s one that I always bear in mind — is that not everyone feels heard, particularly if they are society’s poor or marginalized individuals. But, if you take the time to listen, it’s amazing what you will learn, and it’s astonishing how much those often-unheard people enjoy expressing what they think.

— As told to Mary E. Medland

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