The Sojourn to the Past trip is a life-changing experience where Carlmont students go to the Deep South. It is a weeklong journey where they have the opportunity to meet many historians, such as John Lewis. They’re also able to go to many national monuments and historical sites, such as Central High School and Dr. Martin Luther King’s gravesite.
About 170 students in the district per year get to go on this journey, with teachers acting as mentors and guides. It is considered college-level work since a lot of the history that students learn about is left out of the textbooks.
The purpose of this trip is to provide the students with an experience that builds compassion and understanding within them. They have had a fundraiser for the last six years to raise money to help the kids go.
There is a dinner at the fundraiser and it is provided by the San Carlos Lions, Belmont Lions, and Redwood Shores Lions.
The dinner at the event had a wide variety of many foods such as tri-tip sliders, coleslaw, corn, and a veggie tofu salad option for vegetarians, along with cake for dessert, which many enjoyed. They projected the documentary “13th,” which was very moving and heavy for many to watch.
History teacher Karen Ramroth gave some background information about the film.
Ramroth said, “The 13th, has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary this year. It is a documentary on the Thirteenth Amendment which abolished slavery but with an exception. It’s going to walk through how [the amendment] plays out in time; it is a very heavy topic, but we feel it’s a very important part of history.”
In the transition from dinner to the movie, they introduced the students that will be going on the trip which include Rosie Asmar, Angelica Burleson, Joseph Diller, Allison Granet, Ashley Palacios, Sydney Pon, Angelina Sainez, Grace Tan, Hannah Young, Yasemin Azizalili, Nicole Dabir, Carlos Garcia Perez, Blake O’Brien, Savannah Perez, Adriana Ramirez, Olivia Smith, Kahari Williams, and Sofia Zwass.
Sojourn to the Past participants all chose activists to focus on. Rosie Asmar, a junior, spoke about the activist she chose to focus on.
Asmar said, “Her name is Alicia Garza, and she coined the term ‘Black Lives Matter’ and cofounded the organization. Her causes are to combat racism, sexism, and homophobia. She’s who I want to be as an activist. I’m very passionate about police brutality and since homophobia and sexism surround my life, she’s very important to me.”
Another student spoke about their activist as well.
Sydney Pon, a senior, said, “I picked Linda Sarsour. She is the executive director of the Arab-American Association of New York and she’s passionate about Muslim American civil rights. She is really unapologetic about who she is, and it’s really important to me to have people like her who are really unapologetic about their identity.”
On the front of the pamphlet given out at the event, there’s a quote that says “Help a teen see the past and start to shape their future.” This fundraiser is purely to help the students. If one gets the chance to help give a child a life-changing experience, take it.
Learn more about Sojourn to the Past: