Tag: students

Students create murals inspired by Chicano Park!

Yesterday, at the Chicano Park Day event in Barrio Logan, I stepped into the Turning Wheel Mobile Classroom, which was parked next to the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center. What, I wondered, was this University of San Diego community outreach program up to?

I was greeted by Drawing/Painting teacher and Chicano Park Fellow Miss Jessi Rogawski, plus two of her exceptional Lincoln High School students!

I learned that about 70 students in Miss Jessi’s classes have learned how to create murals, inspired by poster art in the Chicano Park Day Poster Archive.

Students choose a favorite poster, analyze it, then produce their own original sketches, inspired by the poster design. Through a multi-stage process, including enlargement and color mapping, the sketches would evolve into finished murals!

What a great opportunity for young people to learn both the history of Chicano Park, activate their imagination, collaborate, and develop their creative skills!

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Family Discovery Day at Spreckels Organ Pavilion!

An awesome musical event was enjoyed today at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park!

Family Discovery Day brought together seven outstanding local college bands, a pair of organizations that promote musical education, and a table full of instruments that the public was invited to play!

The bands participating in the epic three hour concert included: the Southwestern College Concert Band; the California State University San Marcos Concert Band; Point Loma Nazarene University; the San Diego State University Symphonic Band; the Cuyamaca College Concert Band; the University of San Diego Concert Band; and the Grossmont College Concert Band. Some of the pieces were conducted by students!

San Diego Civic Organist Raul Prieto Ramirez, when not introducing these excellent student bands, also performed beautifully on the famous Spreckels Organ.

I stayed for about an hour and was impressed by the fine musicianship. Complicated pieces were played with ease and precision. I really enjoyed SDSU’s fantastic, haunting Angels in the Architecture, by Frank Ticheli.

SDSU also provided the musical instruments that could be tried by curious kids to one side of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.

That’s Raul Prieto Ramirez on the left. Not only is he a world class organist, he’s a super cool guy! He’s working to expand the reach of the incredible Spreckels Organ and one of San Diego’s most amazing concert venues.

Music Discovery is a two year program of the San Diego Youth Symphony for young children, with classes at Liberty Station or Balboa Park.

Music produces smiles!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

A look inside San Diego’s Brain Observatory!

Refrigerator at the Brain Observatory holds brains preserved in formaldehyde.

About a year ago the Brain Observatory moved into downtown San Diego.

What, exactly, is the Brain Observatory?

It’s a museum-like place that the public can tour, whose mission is: Advancing knowledge of the brain and mental health through research, education, and the arts.

I enjoyed a look inside the Brain Observatory recently and much of what I saw was astounding. I was shown about briefly and learned about the unique facility’s history and mission.

The Brain Observatory houses a fully-functional research laboratory. Students and visitors can learn about the brain by utilizing authentic, state-of-the-art scientific equipment and by exploring real data, including samples from a large collection of donated human brains.

Founded in 2005 by Dr. Jacopo Annese, the Brain Observatory began as a brain research lab at UC San Diego. Ph.D. scientists from around the world, including a Nobel Prize winner from the Salk Institute, are on the Advisory Board.

The Brain Observatory uses MRI and microscopy to understand the biological basis of normal brain function and neurological disease. Advanced scientific equipment is also used to educate youth who take part in school programs.

Curious? The public can tour the Brain Observatory by reservation. In addition there are lunchtime lectures. Learn about these great opportunities by clicking here.

Dr. Jacopo Annese enthusiastically talked about his endeavors during my short visit. He has big plans. My own brain tried to assimilate so much information.

Brain Observatory tours and lectures, and the programs for students, are certain to be very stimulating!

A look inside the Brain Observatory in downtown San Diego. This space was last occupied by the SDSU Downtown Gallery.

The fascinating Brain Observatory uses scientific equipment to slice brains and conduct microscopic investigation.

Education is a focus of the Brain Observatory. Student artwork hangs on one wall.

Photos of people who donated their brains to science.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Art at the Festival of Science & Engineering!

Could kids find and create art at the San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering? Yes!

Today was Expo Day, a free event held at Snapdragon Stadium. Thousands of young people wandered through the stadium’s concourses, viewing STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) displays, and partaking in experiments and activities provided by about a hundred exhibitors!

The annual event is absolutely gargantuan and impossible to cover in one blog post. I’ve blogged about Expo Day several times in past years, when this educational extravaganza was held at Petco Park.

Winding through the crowd, I discovered the Art Pavilion and, with permission from various exhibitors, my camera got busy.

Enjoy a few photos of artwork created by students, teachers and artists attending the San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering. Read the captions!

Families explore the Art Pavilion during Expo Day 2024, a San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering event at Snapdragon Stadium.

Are those molecules or cool sculptures? Kids get creative with the help of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.

Two hands, liquid and bending light by artist and educator Sheena Rae Dowling.

This cool STEAM artwork, full of creative ideas, won a blue ribbon!

Demand evidence. Think critically. Erica, a biology student at National University, created this scientific artwork!

The Art Club of Patrick Henry High School created these colorful Science Pyramids: Temples of Truth. If you point your phone at the artwork, you can experience augmented reality bursting from each pyramid!

Beautiful art depicting native flora and fauna presented by the San Diego Natural History Museum.

Space exploration art from a C.A.R.T. student.

Lunna, founder of VAINANA, creates art with bananas to fight hunger and promote food sustainability.

The colorful work of EcoArts Kids. Students create environmental art in afterschool programs at several San Diego elementary schools.

Part of the SoRoART group exhibition of soft robotics by SDSU students. Air periodically inflates these lungs, as if they’re breathing!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

“If not me then who?” in National City.

A thought-provoking mural is boldly painted on a wall in National City. The wall stretches beneath the Dunkin’ Donuts on Plaza Boulevard, just east of Interstate 805.

The east side of the mural asks: “If not me then who…” The long south side encourages those passing by to: ”Make a statement by Making a Difference.”

It surprised me to learn this mural, painted in 2019, honors fallen soldier Lieutenant Commander Landon L. Jones, who died when his helicopter crashed into the Red Sea. A number of Dunkin’ Donuts franchises around San Diego dedicate their stores to a particular fallen service member. These stores are operated by Tali Burton, a U.S. Marine Veteran.

The mural was painted by Coronado residents, and was designed by a Coronado High School student!

To understand the full story, click here for an excellent article.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

More positive murals by students in Escondido!

When I returned to Washington Park in Escondido yesterday, I noticed that four more positive murals have been painted by local students on two of the community center buildings. Click here to see the murals I found during my walk through Washington Park last spring.

Here’s a great article that concerns these four new murals. They were painted later in 2023 by Del Lago Academy students in teacher Sudi Memarzadeh’s class.

I like how, in the first two photos, young human figures are together covering over hurtful words. Goodbye loner, poor, hate and ugly. Hello bright, positive colors!

The next mural honors Mahsa Amini and the women’s freedom movement in Iran…

Women, Life, Freedom.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Pepper Canyon West buildings rise at UCSD!

UC San Diego, growing by leaps and bounds, has a surprising number of construction projects now underway. People traveling near the campus this past year have probably seen multiple cranes rising into the sky.

One of UCSD’s big projects is called the Pepper Canyon West Living and Learning Neighborhood. When finished in Fall 2024, it will provide housing for 1,300 students. Accommodating a large number of students requires some large buildings!

It’s astonishing to me how quickly the buildings have risen!

I took these photos recently, while walking through a beautiful university that I attended long, long ago. In the 1980’s UCSD was considerably smaller!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Jefferson students paint kindness in North Park!

Kindness is action, not just words.

Students from Jefferson Elementary School in North Park have painted several outdoor murals that concern human kindness. They decorate a boarded-up vacant building at the corner of University Avenue and 30th Street.

The colorful artwork was created by kids attending kindergarten through fifth grade.

I spied these murals yesterday as I returned from City Heights, where I visited a new cultural center, which I will blog about shortly.

The Jefferson Action Club loves North Park.

Beautiful mural painted by Jefferson kindergarten students.

Respect the World.

Everyone has a voice!

Hand prints and hearts.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Help young students discover San Diego’s past!

Your help would be greatly appreciated!

The Old Town San Diego Foundation is a non profit that supports school field trips to Old Town–a program that is available to over 11,000 students each year.

Perhaps you remember your own 4th Grade field trip to Old Town, and how your eyes opened wide to San Diego’s rich history and the many cultures that come together where we live.

Please visit the Old Town San Diego Foundation website by clicking here. You’ll learn how they provide grants to reimburse schools for a variety of educational tours in Old Town.

The State of California has brought back in-person school field trips and educational tours to Old Town San Diego State Historic Park after the disruption caused by COVID. So it’s time to get those awesome school trips back in gear!

Help out here!

I love the above letter!

Dear very generous donors,

Thank you for helping our fourth grade class go on an awesome, wonderful, super fun field trip! All of us fourth graders had an amazing time. My favorite part was going to see the amazing things the blacksmiths made. I also learn a lot from the Mormon Battalion!

Sincerely,

Elliott

Bay Park Elementary

And below are some of the awesome people I met at Old Town’s Dia de los Muertos event who are helping to make this all happen!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Wildlife tiles at Tecolote Canyon Nature Center.

Native wildlife found in Tecolote Canyon Natural Open Space Park is illustrated by dozens of beautiful art tiles at the Nature Center.

The handmade ceramic tiles decorate outdoor walls at the Nature Center. They were created by students from University City High School. (Years ago, students from the same school painted wildlife murals that decorate a fence at the south end of Tecolote Canyon’s main hiking trail.)

Take a look at this wonderful sculptural artwork. I photographed some of the tiles–there are birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, butterflies, flowers…

Many tiles are mounted individually to the walls. Others are combined to produce murals demonstrating the different habitats of Tecolote Canyon.

Greater roadrunner

California sunflower

Red-tailed hawk

Chaparral wildlife

Harlequin bug

Prickly pear

Buckeye butterfly

Sara orangetip

Black and yellow orb-weaver

Roseate skimmer

Riparian wildlife

Great horned owl

Brush rabbit

Orange-throated whiptail

Ramona lilac

Beavertail cactus

Coastal sage scrub wildlife

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!