While growing up in Chula Vista, Ana De Almeida Amaral ed Girl Scouts, sold cookies, and enjoyed camping. Many drop out during middle school, but 18-year-old Amaral is grateful that her mother convinced her to stick with the program.
She recently ed the sisterhood of Gold Award Girl Scouts who are committed to leaving the world better than they found it. Less than 6 percent of Girl Scouts successfully earn the Gold Award.
“I really gained a lot and became who I am because of Girl Scouts,“ Amaral said. Through the “Destination Program,” she traveled to Costa Rica and volunteered in a rural village. In the Global Arms of Advocacy Program, she met with other high school Girl Scouts to discuss sensitive issues such as social justice. While attending Camp Exec, a five-day Girl Scout leadership camp for grade 10-12 girls and high-level professionals, Ana was mentored by some of San Diego’s most accomplished women who are committed to ensuring girls receive the encouragement they need to succeed.
Tenth grade was a turning point. Girl Scout programs had broadened her view of the world, but revealed a gap in her own education: the perspectives, cultures and stories of people of color were not included in her curriculum. When she proposed an ethnic studies class at High Tech High Chula Vista, where 80 percent are students of color, staff was very ive and the class was offered as an official elective course.
Amaral and her friends, Izadora McGawley and Luz Victoria Simon Jasso, designed a curriculum that is completely student-led.
“We share the histories, stories, and cultures of people of color from their perspective, and learn about inspiring activists and change-makers who stood up against injustice,” Amaral said. She believes that, “Education is meant to empower, mobilize and liberate people — a lack of personal connection to education is very detrimental.”
She measures the success of the class by how students change during the program. “I saw students transform right before my eyes — coming in as shy and not engaged — then stepping up to teach a whole week of class on their own. It builds their self-confidence and their skills,” she said. “Millions of students across the country have a right to be engaged in their education, and a recent Stanford Study provides concrete data on the impact of ethnic studies programs,” she added.
More than 100 students have completed the course at High Tech High Chula Vista, and she has mentored seven students to continue the class now that she has graduated. On a larger scale, Amaral believes that ethnic studies is applicable in every classroom. “Change the perspective and the class becomes an ethnic studies program. If hundreds of teachers were trained it could impact an entire generation,” she said.
Amaral describes the Girl Scout Gold Award program as “the perfect structure for building large scale change” and the framework of her success. To complete the program, she became an advocate for inclusive education, designed and presented professional development seminars on ethnic studies for teachers and directors at 16 schools, including High Tech High’s Graduate School of Education, and has been a spokesperson at numerous conferences.
In June, she was one of 61 Girl Scouts in San Diego to receive the Gold Award, and was a director at the Sacramento Leadership Institute’s Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Project. The July 16th issue of Forbes featured her insights about ethnic studies after her presentation at the 2019 Building Equitable Learning Environment (BELE) Network conference. In September she will be a freshman at Stanford, where she will pursue a degree in ethnic studies.
About this feature
Hill is a member of the U-T Community Advisory Board. People San Diego Should Know is a weekly column about local people who are interesting and noteworthy because of their experiences, achievements, creativity or credentials.
