College may seem like a scary place to be, but it is a place where most people take classes that are essential to their jobs in the future. Birmingham sponsored a field trip in which 40 high school juniors visited seven universities in the Northern California region. The seven colleges were UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UC Santa Cruz, San Jose State, San Francisco State, UC Berkeley, and CSU East Bay.
The trip took over three days and two nights and the group stayed at two different hotels. On the first day, the students had to be at school at 5:30 am to prepare to board the bus. Most students were tired from waking up so early, and the bus ride proved perfect for a nap.
The colleges we visited on the first day were UCSB and Cal Poly SLO. UCSB had an amazing campus where bikes had the right of way instead of people. The reason is that most of the students travel around campus using bikes and designated bike paths instead of walking.
Cal Poly SLO has a beautiful campus with many hills and numerous cool spots. The most interesting thing about the campus was when they told us how they take care of horses and that the students had use of an outdoor rock climbing wall. “The gym looks perfect for working out and the rock climbing wall looks perfect for endurance practice,” expressed BCCHS student Khang Nguyen (11). Both of the colleges had their unique charms that made each campus special.
On the second day, we visited UCSC, San Jose State, and San Francisco State. UC Santa Cruz had a very special campus on a hill surrounded by nature. On a clear day, there are beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Cruz pier. There were big pine trees and there were deer scattered around the dorms. UCSC’s mascot is Sammy the Banana Slug, named after the bright yellow slugs found in the woods on campus.
When we arrived at San Jose State, it was raining. Unlike UC Santa Cruz, SJSU has a special campus where old and new buildings mix on flat ground. San Jose State also had superstitions that were funny and quirky. I asked William Rodas (11) if he had any idea about which of the colleges we visited he would be interested in attending. He stated, “I want to go to UC Santa Cruz because I am thinking of doing Computer Science and Engineering.” Santa Cruz is an amazing choice for him because UC Santa Cruz has excellent Computer Science and Engineering programs.
On Saturday night, we visited the Golden Gate Bridge and Pier 39 when it was cloudy and raining. Students had vouchers to use and they could choose from many restaurants to dine. Some of the restaurants were packed with San Francisco 49ers fans because the 49ers were playing against the Green Bay Packers in the NFL playoffs.
On the third day, we visited UC Berkeley in the morning. Berkeley has a very nice campus and very odd and funny superstitions regarding embedded university seals in the sidewalks, balls, and hills. A lot of students saved up their money to purchase UC Berkeley apparel, but sadly, the school student store was closed. Daniel Safa (11) stated, “I wanted to buy UC Berkeley hoodies and long-sleeved shirts, but their store was closed.” Finally, we toured and had lunch at CSU East Bay which had a very nice view and good food. We got back to BCCHS at eight p.m. Everyone was exhausted, but we all had a great time exploring colleges that we could potentially attend in the future.
