Escondido students tough it out in academic boot camp

By: PAUL EAKINS - Staff Writer - | Tuesday, August 1, 2006 6:52 AM PDT ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- Passing a large plastic ring down a chain of bodies or walking across a cable suspended a couple of feet above the ground may seem pretty unrelated to economics or government.
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But as 170 soon-to-be seniors at San Pasqual High School completed these tasks and others Monday morning at the campus, they learned skills that instructors hope will aid them in their advanced placement classes.

The students were participating in the school's AP Boot Camp, a military-esque three-day training that gets them mentally prepared for the difficult tasks they will soon face not on a battlefield, but in the classroom.

"There isn't a word spoken about (economics) or government," said AP economics teacher Jacob Clifford. "It's just us teaching them the skills they're going to use in the class."

These skills are teamwork, communication, organization, reading and problem-solving, he said. The students are divided into six "platoons" with military names such as Alpha, Delta, Charlie and Foxtrot, and are led by "officers" ---- recent San Pasqual High graduates decked out in cammos and who went through the boot camp themselves.

The teams compete to see who can most successfully complete the tasks, which often depend on time.

On Monday, after Marine Maj. John McDonough told the students about the importance of teamwork, leadership and hard work, the 20-plus members of the yellow-shirted Bravo Platoon took one look at a web of taut strings crisscrossing a wide metal frame and then went to work on the challenge before them.

The object of the exercise was for every member of the team to pass through one of the 13 spaces between the strings to the opposite side as quickly as possible. But, touching a string meant an extra minute would be added to the team's finishing time, and once three people when through a hole, it became officially "closed."

At first, there wasn't a lot of discussion among the teammates, just action as the teens began scrambling through the holes, a move some members later regretted. Eventually, they had to lift and pass some of the remaining team members through the highest holes and the very last ones had to carefully navigate through the middle spaces.

Afterward, Clifford asked the students what they could have done better.

"If we would have taken more time to do it right the first time, it probably wouldn't have taken so long and we wouldn't have had so many penalties," Greg Rosink said.

Greg's team member, Lizzie Crosthwaite, said after only about an hour of activities that she had already learned a few things about teamwork.

"You have to listen to other people's ideas and be open-minded," Lizzie said.

When it was Alpha Platoon's turn to face the "spider web," as the challenge was called, they struggled even more to complete it and had 12 minutes of penalties added to their time.

Jack Dill, a 2006 San Pasqual High grad who was leading the group, told the students they should have planned and organized more before starting the activity, habits he said would come in handy in class as well.

"If you're doing a project, why rush through it and get a horrible grade?" Dill said. "Instead, take some time and do it right."

Some of the other challenges the students faced during the day included helping every member of a "platoon" walk about 10 feet across a flat nylon cable, or slack line; passing several large plastic rings all the way around a circle formed by members of a team who aren't allowed to let go of their neighbors' hands; and drawing a picture based only on the description given by one's partner.

Clifford said school district officials asked schools to create the camp last year ---- a similar camp also is held at Escondido and Orange Glen high schools ---- to help out students new to the AP program as the district opened its advanced placement classes to more students.

The move was a success, he said, with the number of seniors enrolled in AP economics and government classes at San Pasqual High increasing from 80 to 120 in 2005-06, and 93 percent of these passing the AP microeconomics exam.

Student Miguel Aruizu said the boot camp will help him in school.

"I think it will be useful because we get to work with a lot of people, we get to socialize, we get trust built up," Miguel said. "When we get in the classroom, we can help each other. As long as the teamwork's there, any obstacle can be surpassed."

-- Contact staff writer Paul Eakins at (760) 740-5420 or peakins@nctimes.com.