This year the school year began in mid-August, shortly after my granddaughter had turned 5.  The excitement leading up to that day was full of anticipation, questions about how things would go, and a little anxiety of the unknown...and that’s just on the part of parents and grandparents.  “Is she old enough?” “Will he be able to fit in?” “Will he miss us too much?”  “How are we going to wake her up in the morning?”  After the first few days of school, those questions were replaced by others, and for the most part, our children and grandchildren thoroughly embraced the new environment and were thrilled with all the time playing and making new friends.  After the first few weeks in our home, we found it hard to get her to come home at the end of the day...she was having the time of her life.

When visiting my granddaughter’s school, Yick Wo, one of the first things we heard about was the 100th day of school. “You’re invited to the 100th day of School,” so I realized this was going to be one of the highlights of the year.  Over the Christmas break, my granddaughter and I spent a lot of time together, and we talked a lot about numbers and  counting to ten and beyond.  I noticed that when describing anything from one’s age to the size of a large building, she would use the number 100 in her description.  We began talking and counting things by the 10s and 100s. The school work that she brought home, and some of her homework, included learning about number concepts and the unit of 100.

By: Amy Crawford | 01/18/12
SF Examiner Staff Writer

Would it be cold? What’s it like to sleep in a tent? Would there be bears?

“I’m interested in getting a new environmental experience,” said Clay Cael, a soft-spoken ninth-grader who said he had never seen snow.

Given the weather of late, Cael might be disappointed in his desire to “hit somebody with a snowball.” But the San Francisco Achievers Program, the youth development nonprofit that was organizing the five-day expedition that started Monday, hoped the Yosemite experience would have a deeper impact.

“Our philosophy of the program is to expose them to things they might otherwise not be exposed to, and hopefully get them wanting to keep having new experiences, because that’s how you learn,” said Myra Quadros, the program’s director.

This is the second year for the Yosemite expedition, run in conjunction with NatureBridge, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that brings student groups to national parks for environmental science lessons and team-building exercises.

“For every kid, it’s a different experience, but it’s a really powerful one,” said NatureBridge board Chairman Stephen Lockhart.

The Achievers Program, which also operates at San Francisco’s Wallenberg High School, is geared toward black boys. The four-year program of mentoring, field trips and special classes aims to get these boys on track to graduate from high school and attend college.

“If you look at any data and statistics, they’re the ones dropping out of high school,” Quadros said.

Naje’e Brown, an 11th-grade science enthusiast who hoped to model his career after that of Steve Jobs, went on the Yosemite trip last year. He agreed that black teens such as himself needed extra support.

“I feel like African-American males really do need help,” Brown said. “We have a very low level of effectiveness. We have a high rate of killing each other and a low rate of keeping a job.”

Some of that might be due to the pressure of living in The City, Brown said.

“If you’re black, you have to scowl, you have to have your pants low,” he explained. “If you don’t conform to the stereotype, you’re ridiculed.”

But that doesn’t happen at Yosemite, Brown said.

“I think the environment affects people’s mind-set,” he said. “Yosemite is a really beautiful place, and once you go there you’ll always have it in your heart.”

acrawford@sfexaminer.com

Tai-Sun Schoeman, principal at El Dorado Elementary School, wanted to help his teachers buy supplies that the Visitacion Valley school’s budget couldn’t cover. So he grew a mustache.

"I am blessed with prodigious facial hair, so it grew in fairly quickly," the hirsute Schoeman said.

He is one of dozens of men — fathers, principals and teachers — across The City who grew mustaches over five weeks this November and December to raise money for public schools. Mimicking a charity walk, they found sponsors for their whiskers through the website DonorsChoose.org.

Mustaches for Kids, which started in Los Angeles in 1999, has been an annual ritual in The City for a decade, but it has taken off in recent years as school budgets are slashed and teachers struggle to afford materials as basic as paper and pencils.

"Our teachers are really resorting to DonorsChoose," said Schoeman, whose mustache netted about $2,000 for items such as copier paper, P.E. equipment and storybooks.

Jason Sterling, whose children attend Peabody Elementary School, raised more than $1,000. He grew his first mustache last year, when there were six participants at the school. This year there were 16.

"It’s kind of the No. 1 event for dads at our school," he said.

Ed Korenman, the father of twin first-graders at Peabody, said the schedule was easier for working dads than most fundraisers.

"I’m not able to volunteer as much as I’d like, but this is something I can do," said Korenman, whose mustache raised $3,000 for Peabody.

But although the payoff might be great, growing a mustache can be uncomfortable — and awkward.

"You get on the bus, go anywhere out in public, and you can see people looking at you, thinking, ‘Does he really think that looks good?’" Sterling said.

"It’s itchy," Korenman said. "It looks ridiculous on me."

Despite his mustache’s success, Korenman planned to shave after Mustaches for Kids’ celebratory ’Stache Bash this month.

"My wife doesn’t like it," he said. "It needs to come off."

Sterling said his wife was not a fan either.

"She probably suffered more than me," he said. "She’s always saying, ‘We’ll forever have the mustache in our Christmas photos.’"

acrawford@sfexaminer.com

Bristly benefactors

San Francisco schools reaped the benefits of men’s facial hair choices for charity.

• 60: Charity mustaches in 2011
• 890: Cash donors
• $62,000: Money raised for schools this year
• $300,000: Money raised since 2008

Source: Mustaches for Kids

That's what we call walking in style.
(Mike Kepka/The Chronicle)

Some 2,400 kindergartners have their own bank accounts courtesy of the city of San Francisco.

The city program, Kindergarten to College, is now in its second year, after a pilot run last year for 1,200 students at 18 schools. By next year, every kindergartner in The City’s public schools will have a savings account, said Leigh Phillips, manager of the San Francisco Office of Financial Empowerment, a division of The City’s treasury.

“This is pretty pioneering,” Phillips said. “It’s the first of its kind in the country.”

When a child starts kindergarten, The City places $50 in an account at Citibank, with an extra $50 if the child comes from a low-income family. Parents are encouraged to deposit their own money, and private philanthropies will match up to $100 of the family’s contribution each year. The philanthropies also will give families a $100 bonus if they set up automatic deposits into the account.

Phillips said students will have until they turn 25 to use the money. It can go toward a two- or four-year college or vocational school after  a student graduates from high school.