magazine - Los Altos Town Crier...camp in the summer of 2006, and the program has been going strong...

toOff CampOff Campm a g a z i n em a g a z i n e

to

Running the show

Film production camp puts kids behind the camera

Kick-startingnew leadersStudents inspire students on and off the field

A Los Altos Town Crier Publication2019

| Off to Camp | January 30, 2019

Off to Camp | January 30, 2019 |

Los Altos Town Crier138 Main St., Los Altos, CA 94022

948-9000losaltosonline.com

Magazine Editor Eliza Ridgeway

Designer Mary Watanabe

Writers Angie Wang

Mary Larsen

Noa Bronicki

Copy Editors Mary Larsen

Colleen Schick

Photographer Megan V. Winslow

Sales Staff Kathy Lera

Dawn Pankonen

Ad Services Director Chris Redden

Production Staff Mary Watanabe

Elise Eisenman

Publisher Paul Nyberg

Associate Publisher Howard Bischoff

Human Resources Director Liz Nyberg

Cover photo: Students with limited family means attend the low-cost Kick, Lead, Dream Camp held in Mountain View each year to learn from, and bond with, high-school-age coaches.MEGAN V. WINSLOW/TOWN CRIER

Magazine Staf f SSSS

Circulation: 16,500. Mailed directly to households in Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and select areas of Mountain View. Hundreds of subscribers receive the Town Crier in neighboring communities as well as out of state. The Town Crier can be purchased at newsstands in Los Altos, Mountain View and Palo Alto.

Upcoming 2019 MagazinesFamily Spotlight

Publishes: Feb. 27

Living in Los AltosPublishes: March 27

Home & GardenPublishes: April 24

© Los Altos Town Crier Company Inc., 2019.All Rights Reserved.

Off to Camp is published once a year. For advertising information,

email [email protected]. For editorial information,

email Eliza Ridgeway at [email protected].

Farming for fun

Hidden Villa’s summer camps provide city

kids a taste of the outdoor life.

Page 8

Starting with soccerVolunteer coaches mentor students on and off the field at the Kick, Lead, Dream Camp.Page 4

Running the showKMVT’s after-school and summer programs offer hands-on media training in a local studio.Page 12

Learning a language

The Tayasim immersion camp builds connections

to Hebrew as a living language.Page 18

Family Spotlighta l o c a l f a m i l y g u i d e

Los Altos Town Crier Publication

2018

Businesseswith bloodlinesMultigenerational professions

carry on throughout Los Altos

Also inside:• Creative Connections

• Life and Love

• Cooking with Kids

Livingin Los AltosLos Altos HillsMountain View

A side of BaconLos Altos Hills pig Kevin Bacon sows social media following

Also inside:• Festival superfans• For love of the stroll• Local events calendar

A Los Altos Town Crier PublicationFall 2018

Have a story idea for one of our magazines?

Email Editor Bruce Barton at [email protected].

Off CamptotoOff Campm a g a z i n em a g a z i n e


By Angie WangTown Crier Editorial Intern

For two weeks every summer at Coo-per Park in Mountain View, the expansive grassy field is divided into smaller rectangles, each with two goals and kids laughing and playing soccer. The Kick, Lead, Dream (KLD) Camp aims to give low-income students the op-portunity to better their soccer skills, learn to be leaders and have the confidence to dream big.

“This camp is really cool because it’s for students and it’s run by students,” said Laynie Tamada, a student leader for KLD. “For kids who can’t afford a fancy soccer camp, they can come here, pay an optional $10 and have a good time.”

Since Akash Nigam, a freshman at Mountain View

High School at the time, founded KLD in 2007, the size of the camp has grown dramatically. It began with five high school volunteer coaches working with 30 campers; last summer, there were 90 coaches mentoring 300 kids.

KLD’s mission is more than just encouraging a love for the game; more importantly, it emphasizes teamwork, friendship and fun. The coaches are students from local high schools, and they all share a passion for soccer and working with children.

“I had two knee surgeries, so I can’t play soccer any-more,” said Annika Lund, a student leader and coach. “That happened right before high school, so this was my way of jumping back into soccer, and bringing soccer to other people, bringing people together with it and still be-ing a part of it.”

The coaches cherish the opportunities to lead by

It starts with soccerKick, Lead, Dream Camp fosters community, teamwork and fun on the field

SOCCER

MEGAN V. WINSLOW/TOWN CRIER

Soccer serves as a unifying force for the hundreds of Kick, Lead, Dream Camp participants who gather in Mountain View each summer to play and learn with 90 volunteer mentor-coaches from local high schools.


example and to empower the campers.“KLD gives (the campers) an opportu-

nity to be with a role model, (and they can) walk away knowing that there are people there to listen to them, people … to care about them, to play with them and have fun,” Lund said.

Simultaneously, the campers reflect that the highlight of KLD is learning from their role models.

“My coaches have taught all of our team lots of cool moves and ways to get around other players,” said Lydia Ander-son, a camper.

“I’ve had a lot of fun, made friends, learned how to not get mad at people, help them out when they don’t make a shot or fall down,” added sixth-year camper Nich-olas Gonzalez.

Combining energetic and compassion-ate coaches with soccer and other fun activities like water balloon fights encourages students to return each summer and spread the word to their friends and family.

From camper to coachMichael Martinez joined the program as a scrawny

second-grader in 2007, following his older brothers as

they climbed onto the bus, as KLD provides free trans-portation from Castro, Crittenden and two other schools in Sunnyvale to Cooper Park. He was a camper for seven years, and this summer, he is finishing his fourth year of coaching before attending college in the fall.

“I remember being a camper, and my first coaches Continued on Page 6

SOCCER


Volunteer coaches lead games and teach soccer skills, aiming to fill the two-week camp with fun experiences for under-resourced children.


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were Coach Sonia and Coach Jake. … Ever since then, I’ve been going to this camp every year. I haven’t missed one yet,” Martinez said proudly.

Martinez greets returning and new faces every sum-mer. He has practically watched many of the campers grow up, some even becoming coaches like him. Each coach is assigned to a team, represented by a flag of a traditional soccer country. He fondly looks back on every team he has coached and playing in the “World Cup” tour-nament that is the culmination of every camp.

The coaches gain valuable leadership skills through their commitment to ensuring that all of their campers have a positive experience.

“It’s your responsibility if anyone gets hurt, if anything happens to them, looking out for kids if they need it, and I think just having fun with them,” Martinez said of his role. “If they aren’t having fun, then they’re not going to be happy at this camp.”

Lilia Rodriguez, a coach and former camper, added, “Some kids just need somewhere to go over the summer. There’s usually a drawing table for kids who don’t re-ally want to play soccer or are forced to come because their parents need to send them to some kind of day care. Sometimes … they’re too tired. We just sit down in the shade.”

Soccer experience is not required. While guest speak-ers include members of the San Jose Earthquakes, an officer from the Mountain View Police Department also addresses the group – one of the non-soccer-related activ-ities offered at the camp. There are refreshments as well.

Martinez said he hopes the camp lives on for years to serve more youth.

Applications for campers and coaches for the sum-mer program will be available online in April. For more information, visit kldsoccer.com. �

SOCCER


The Kick, Lead, Dream Camp, which costs $10, offers access to summer fun often offered at a much higher cost.

Continued from Page 5


Event: Vacation Bible School Includes crafts & singingLocation: Immanuel Lutheran Church 1715 Grant Rd. Los Altos, CA 94024Dates: July 8 – 12, 2019Time: 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. (Monday – Thursday) 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (Friday)Who: Grades PreK – 6

Farm life draws city kidsFARM FUN

Hidden Villa’s summer camps attract students from around the Bay Area to the organic farm and preserve in Los Altos Hills. Tending to animals and crops becomes summer camp curriculum for many campers, who get hands-on experience of life lived outdoors.

MEGAN V. WINSLOW/ TOWN CRIER

Hidden Villa’ssummer camps attract students from around the Bay Area to the organic farm and preserve in Los Altos Hills. Tending to animals and crops becomes summer camp curriculumfor many campers, who get hands-on experience of life lived outdoors.



PHOTOS BY MEGAN V. WINSLOW/TOWN CRIER

Counselors lead campers in games and crafts when

they aren’t working the farm or hiking the hills

stretching above Moody Road. Students can start

attending day camp as early as age 4 and can

return through their high school years.




FARM FUN

stretching above Moody Road. Students can start

attending day camp as early as age 4 and can





The edible garden near Hidden Villa’s entrance cultivates plants for humans to graze, left. Bottle-feeding young goats has become a summer camp tradition for many participants, above.

FARM FUN

entrance cultivates plants for humans to graze, left. Bottle-feeding young goats has become a summer camp tradition for many participants, above.


The edible garden near Hidden Villa’s entrance cultivates plants for humans to

The edible garden near Hidden Villa’s entrance cultivates plants for humans to


or call (408) 477-2279

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BizSmart Global International WorkshopsDesign Thinking Workshops Around the Globe (ages 11–19)Check out the website or contact us for information on our International Workshops.

BizSmart Global Workshops 6-Day Teen Designathon (ages 16–19)Santa Clara University July 14 – 20

10-Day Alumni Accelerator (ages 12–16)Santa Clara University July 21 – August 2

Camp BizSmart 10-Day Product Design & Business Pitch Competition (ages 11–15)

Santa Clara University July 7 – 19 July 21 – August 2

Silicon Valley CommunityFoundation San MateoJune 17 – 28

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Check out the website for the latest info on all program ooerings, dates and locations.

AMERICA’S#1 TEENENTREPRENEUREXPERIENCE


By Mary LarsenTown Crier Staff Writer

For the past 12 years, KMVT 15, the Mountain View-based community media center, has pro-vided young people the opportunity for hands-on learning at camps on video production and other forms of media. Bobby Chastain, now executive director, started the first camp in the summer of 2006, and the program has been going strong ever since.

Producer-instructor Tyler Wiest explained the motiva-tion behind the camps.

“It’s in our mission – we want to build community in the areas we serve, and one of the best ways to do that is to reach out to those who want to learn,” he said. “A lot of kids want to learn video production.”

For the past several years, an after-school program has served middle schoolers. Last October marked the inau-gural high school after-school session. The pilot program

Running the showCamps and after-school programs provide hands-on learning in video production

MEDIA


Kyle Novero, above, pointing, and Alex Mousa, foreground, edit footage from “In the Mix with the Trio,” a KMVT show on which they review songs. Novero and Mousa collaborate with Cole Carter, below left, and Kirsten Andrews.

Continued on Page 14


had just three students, from Los Altos, Mountain View and Santa Clara, but Wiest said that if there’s enough in-terest, KMVT plans to offer the program again in Febru-ary or March, with the goal of sponsoring two high school after-school programs per academic year.

In the four weekly meetings of the after-school pro-gram, students produce their own short television show.

“They learn the equipment, a little bit about how to produce the show, then how to make shows,” Wiest said. “Each student is given time to produce their own live pro-duction in the studio.”

Students often come with ideas on what type of show they want to produce; if not, they find out what they’re interested in and go from there. Wiest said the first high school group had a solid idea of what it wanted to focus on.

“We have a student producing a show who wants to bring on friends to interview about topics they deal with at their school,” he said. “We usually try to let them run the show as much as they can.”

Producing a video from start to finish in four afternoon sessions might sound daunting, but no previous experi-ence is required.

“We teach them the same way we’ll teach adults or kids in the kids’ camps,” Wiest said. “We give them a full rundown of everything they’ll need to know … the basics of how we operate.”

He added that they learn skills they can transfer any-where.

Gaining confidenceLos Altos High School sophomore Charles Sirey,

during his third class session of the camp, said the stu-dents were learning a variety of roles.

“We want to get used to everything, so we’ll have a


MEDIA


Producing a TV show from start to finish at KMVT requires mastering equipment and directing, off camera.


Located just west of 280 at Alpine Road.

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Preschool - Grade 89:00am - 4:00pm

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host, a stage manager, and everybody else is in the booth working,” he said. “We’ll switch off so we can get used to every single one of them. … My favorite is host because I like to be on camera. That’s a fun one.”

He said that while the camp was a new experience, he’s always had an interest in broadcasting and might even consider doing it professionally someday.

The after-school programs are taught by one instructor, with an alternate available. At the youth camps, there’s one instructor and two interns – often former students – ages 14 and up.

Intern Nicholas Borda, a senior at Los Altos High School, was a camp student in middle school and has vol-unteered for the past few years. He helps out in a variety of ways, from explaining how things work to simply making sure the students enjoy themselves.

Borda said the camps are a great way for kids to find out if they have an interest in the field. While he person-ally plans a career in mechanical engineering, he enjoys seeing the inner workings of the studio equipment. He has also gained valuable experience in interacting with both adults and students.

“I’ve gained confidence in my ability to do things,” he said.

While the studio looks very professional, Borda likes that it has “a bit of that homemade sort of feel to it. … You can tell that people put effort into making this thing – it feels very human.”

Weeklong camps In addition to the after-school programs, KMVT hosts

several weeklong camps. The Introduction to Video Pro-duction camp – offered during February and March spring breaks as well as in June, July and August – introduces 9- to 13-year-olds to media production. Using KMVT’s

MEDIA


Producer Tyler Wiest, left, and Los Altos High student Charles Sirey follow footage from the booth at KMVT.



SUMMER SAND HILL

Sand Hill School

June 26 – July 23(No session on July 4-5)

sandhillschool.org/summerFor application and more details, visit:

650.688.3605

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650 Clark Way, Palo Alto, CA

Make sure your child is ready for fall!

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learning and fun afternoon options.

Academics, performing arts and

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professional studio, students learn basic skills in camera work, directing, audio, acting and producing. The students get to see their program broadcast on cable Channel 15, and receive a DVD copy of it.

Offered in June, July and August, the Claymation camp allows 7- to 12-year-olds to create their own Claymation movies. Students work in small groups to brainstorm ideas; create the story, script, clay figures and scenery; and design special effects for their short stop-motion an-imation movies. Students also receive a take-home DVD of their creations.


MEDIA


Alex Mousa, center, uses a smartphone to document his KMVT program’s progress.

Cole Carter, from left, Alex Mousa and Kyle Novero film “In the Mix with the Trio.” The teens, Santa Clara High freshmen, learned the tricks of the trade at KMVT.


Advanced Video Production (prerequisite: Introduc-tion to Video Production), offered in June, July and Au-gust, enables 9- to 13-year-olds to develop their multime-dia production skills. They work on screenwriting, story boarding, producing, lighting and editing and create an entire production, which is broadcast on cable Channel 15. Each student receives a take-home DVD.

The Field Production camp (prerequisite: Intro to Vid-eo Production), for ages 9-13, is scheduled July 1-5 (no class July 4).

“The studio camp (Advanced Video Production) in the summer is the most popular,” Wiest said. “They make shows just like the high school programs.”

The camp was so popular last summer that KMVT is considering adding camps this year to meet the demand.

Returning customers are the best recommendation. Wiest said some students register for multiple weeks of camps in the summer.

“Often we’ll see kids one week in studio, one week in Claymation, one week in advanced,” he said. “Maybe 10 to 15 percent of our students come back the following year.”

Camps are held at the KMVT studio at 1400 Terra Bel-la Ave., Suite M, Mountain View. Prices range from $100 to $475, depending on the program. Financial assistance may be available. To register and for more information, visit kmvt15.org/learn/youthactivities.html. �


MEDIA


By Noa BronickiTown Crier Editorial Intern

The Oshman Family Jewish Community Center’s Tayasim camp may be the first Hebrew-immersion camp on the West Coast, according to the center’s camps director Dave Rosenfeld. He said the camp, which debuted in the summer of 2017, blends immersive language teaching with the relaxed atmo-sphere of camp instead of a typical class-room experience. Even the camp’s name, which translates to “pilots” in Hebrew, hints at its experimental origins. The camp is conducted entirely in

Learning a languageImmersion camp promotes connection to Hebrew and Israeli culture

LANGUAGE


The experimental new Tayasim Hebrew camp in Palo Alto may be the first on the West Coast to offer immersion-based learning.


Hebrew to give campers an im-mersive experience.

“The idea is to make it chal-lenging without making it frus-trating,” Rosenfeld said. “The staff know at the beginning that they are going to take it really slow, use the basics and repeat themselves over and over. The teachers are there to assess the level of help that each individual child needs, but the camp is tai-lored to ramp up, so at the begin-ning the children are going to go very slow, and get more complex with the language and the activi-ties as the weeks go on.”

Tayasim is a four-week camp, in contrast to most other Osh-man camps that last only two weeks. Rosenfeld said the dura-tion fosters complete language immersion and enables the campers to reach a higher level of Hebrew.

Rosenfeld added that while many of the campers have

been exposed to Hebrew at some level, most are not fluent when they enter the camp.

“It’s definitely a learning process between (the staff)

LANGUAGE



Hebrew-fluent leaders introduce Tayasim campers to the language through stories and play over the course of four weeks.


and the kids,” he said, “and that’s a large part of the relationship build-ing, that they have to key in very close on each other and pay a lot of attention.”

The camp is still in its develop-mental stages; next summer will be its third year. Rosenfeld said Oshman officials plan to expand the camp by one grade level every year, allowing the oldest campers to come back and grow with the camp.

As Tayasim expands, Rosenfeld hopes to be able to divide groups based on level of Hebrew to al-low more individualized teaching plans.

“As the ages grow, we can make the camp itself more specific,” Rosenfeld said. “Instead of having a K to first (grades) combination, we could have enough kids to have a K only, we could provide program-ming that is more developmentally appropriate to that particular age group. We can also start to offer separate programs based on the level of Hebrew speaking that the children are at. There could be a beginner’s track and a more advanced track, and teachers could instruct at that level. I think the program could also become more com-plex. We could do more off-site trips, we could do over-nights.”

‘Fun summer’ at campTayasim is based on a model established by an ini-

tiative called Kayitz Kef, which promotes a rise in He-brew immersion and Jewish culture integration in camps throughout the country by offering resources to organi-zations interested in hosting such camps. “Kayitz Kef” translates to “fun summer” in Hebrew. Rosenfeld said the organization offered a lot of guidance in the creation of the camp.

“The camp director and I had been speaking about wanting to do a camp of this sort for several years. We thought it would be a cool way of fostering the connec-tion to Israel, the connection to the Hebrew language, all around us,” he said. “We really just wanted to find a way to tie it into camp but didn’t really know how to go about doing that. Neither of us had any experience with Hebrew, or with immersion-type programming.”

Kayitz Kef provided the Oshman staff with a variety of resources and even flew them to Toronto to observe its model of a successful immersion camp and talk to staff. Rosenfeld said he found the experience inspiring.

To maintain the authenticity of the programming, Ta-yasim hires a mixture of both local speakers and camp counselors from Israel to teach at the camp.

“We’ve actually had our project leader fly to Israel and meet the folks who were potentially going to work for us and ended up working for us,” Rosenfeld said.

LANGUAGE



Tayasim’s camp model aims to offer both Hebrew language mastery and familiarity with Jewish culture, in the U.S. and in its connections to Israel.



All Levels, Ages 7-16, M-F9AM-Noon, June 3-Aug. 9

@PaloAltoH.S.

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Camp staff attend both tradi-tional J-Camp training and spe-cial training provided by Kay-itz Kef to prepare them for the camp.

In addition to the language and cultural immersion aspects of the camp, Tayasim offers a traditional camp experience.

“Just like at all the rest of our camps, (campers) play games, do arts and crafts, do some swim-ming,” Rosenfeld said. “They get to meet with the specialists for J-Camps: we have an art spe-cialist, a sport specialist; these instructors teach in English as they don’t speak Hebrew.”

The first two years of the camp have been successful. Ros-enfeld said the parent feedback has been “phenomenal.”

As the camp continues to grow in coming years, he hopes that Tayasim will inspire the creation of additional Hebrew-immersion camps in the area.

“Now that they will see that there is a model for suc-

cess, and see that there is a great network of resources and of other camps doing it, they would probably be more likely to give it a try,” Rosenfeld said.

To register and for more information, visit ofjcc-jcamp.com. �

LANGUAGE



Traditional camp games and crafts serve as an opportunity for Tayasim campers to practice a language new – or still largely unfamiliar – for many of them.


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Casti Camp at Castilleja School . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

City of Los Altos Recreation & Community Services . . . . . . 24

Community School of Music and Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Decathlon Sports Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

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Jardin de Mariposas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Los Altos Mountain View Aquatic Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Minecraft Summer Camp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

The Music School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

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Run for Fun Camps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Sand Hill School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Sierra School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Signature Orthodontics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

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Yew Chung International School Silicon Valley . . . . . . . . . . . 23

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