Senior MAP class travels to San Francisco, learns culture, history

In an attempt to accomplish each unique mission listed, the senior Media Arts Program (MAP) class travelled across the city of San Francisco on Sept. 14 and explored various landmarks.

Among other things, each group had to kiss a stranger, take a picture of each group and do other eccentric tasks.

The students were broken down into groups of five and had to complete specific tasks at various locations, mostly in the Financial District, Chinatown and North Beach areas.

“There was a huge element of history and culture which the trip was centered on,” senior Max Vo said. “But the real purpose of the trip was to allow us to work on teamwork, organizational and resourcefulness skills.”

Thirty-eight MAP students, their parent and teacher chaperones commuted to San Francisco by Caltrain, and during their travel time the groups were given maps and planned the rest of their day.

Groups had to figure out the route they would to take, which bonuses to go to, how they were going to use their money to get the most points, and make it back to the Caltrain station on time to win the race. There they unearthed many cultural and historical facts about the city while racing around the city.

According to Vo, in Chinatown they learned about the history of Chinese immigrants in San Francisco and found out that the first American flag raised in California was at Portsmouth Square in Chinatown. In North Beach, they learned about the Beats, who were poets known for their unusual writing. Groups also  visited Coit Tower, which was a pinnacle for laborers in the city.

“The thing that really made the trip fun were all the bonuses we could get for extra points,” Vo said. “Each group is given a time limit and a budget to spend on anything we may need including food, and every dollar saved is an extra point.”

There was a long list of tasks to complete for a varying number of points, and to get an A+ on the assignment they had to get over 900 points.

“One of the tasks was to take a picture of another full group,” senior Zach Grob-Lipkis said. “Any time we would run into another group, we would shout, ‘Scatter!’ And we would split up so they couldn't get a picture with all of us in it.”

The memorable moments of the trip, Vo said, were probably the bonuses that required working with strangers such as interviewing, drawing with and kissing them. According to Vo, they were able to ask a stranger if he could kiss her, who was “pretty cool about it.”

Points aside, the group shared an enjoyable day together in the city.

“All in all, it was a super fun day for everyone. We all went home with feelings of satisfaction and exhaustion,” Grob-Lipkis said. “It was exactly what you should expect from a MAP field trip.”