An Afternoon at John Muir High School | Pasadena Community Foundation

A group of 7 adults stand together facing the camera in front of the corner of a building that painted in a blue, yellow and orange mural that reads MUSTANGS.

Dr. Lawton Gray, third from left, provided a comprehensive tour of the Muir campus for PCF staff members Sarah, Jeannine, and Liz. They are joined here by Monica Bosserman Lopez and David Spiro from Pasadena Educational Foundation, and Karen Anderson, PUSD Arts & Enrichment Coordinator

Pasadena Community Foundation hears frequently about the great things happening at John Muir High School Early College Magnet in northwest Pasadena. Muir’s momentum can be attributed to many factors, including the dynamic leadership of principal Dr. Lawton Gray, its three College and Career Academies, a dedicated parent body, and an array of outstanding extracurricular programs.

PCF has supported the school’s successes in recent years with several grants and the Muir Class of 1966 Scholarship Endowment. In late January, PCF spent a wonderful afternoon with our partners from Pasadena Educational Foundation and PUSD Arts & Enrichment Coordinator Karen Anderson to tour two of our nonprofit partners that operate on the campus, as well as a Studio Arts classroom that received a 2023 PCF Rowe & Gayle Giesen Trust grant.

Outward Bound Adventures

Our tour first took us to Outward Bound Adventures (OBA), where Executive Director Charles Thomas and intern Jahs’tus Maat-Hotep weaved us through an office humming with students enjoying the space over lunch hour. Charles explained that OBA has six distinct programs that help BIPOC teens and young adults learn to recreate outdoors, receive training in environmental and conservation work, and practice critical outdoor skills like first aid, navigation, and much more. Multi-day (sometimes weeks) back-country excursions are the reward, during which participants camp, hike, rock climb, fish, and mountain bike. “What’s really important here is that youth from communities of color, who have been historically absent from this work, are building their outdoor pedigree. These kids are pioneers.” OBA received a 2022 PCF Educational Equity Grant.

Two Black men stand in front of colorful sleeping bags, all hanging and lined up. They have their arms around each other, facing the camera, and laughing. — Charles Thomas (left), the Executive Director of OBA, and Jahs’tus Maat-Hotep in the Gear Room. OBA is designed to move participants into leadership roles. Jahs’tus is now an OBA intern after completing training in OBA’s Diverse Outdoor Leaders Institute.

Mentoring & Partnership for Youth Development (MPYD)

Mentoring & Partnership for Youth Development (MPYD) brings adult mentors from the community together with male students during lunchtime and afterschool sessions, as well as regular field trips. The mentors offer guidance and encouragement toward academic success, helping participants develop better social skills, gain employment experience, and enhance family relations.

MPYD has been a partner organization in the PCF Scholars Program, and with funding support from PCF, MPYD has recently joined forces with nonprofit College Access Plan, who also holds weekly classes and workshops on the Muir campus. Together, the two organizations provide vital assistance in helping students apply for and get accepted into college.

A group of young men sit together inside a classroom at a long communal table. Several have their chairs turned and are facing the camera. — A lunch-hour meeting for MPYD. Participants meet almost every day during lunch hour to engage in projects, discussions, planning, and other activities.

Studio Arts

We ended our tour inside art teacher Cynthia Lake’s expansive, light-filled classroom, where students are exposed to multiple forms of studio artmaking during the regular school day and in the afterschool club, the Mustang Design Lab. Pasadena Educational Foundation secured a 2023 PCF Giesen Trust Grant that has supported the purchase of new equipment for these spaces, as well as field trips to see exhibitions, professional artist spaces, and creative industries.

We watched as students cut and pieced together fabric for aprons while several others were focused on learning how to thread a sewing machine. The ambiance was calm, happy, and mutually supportive – students helping one another, Ms. Lake scurrying from table to table to offer assistance, and students good naturedly joking with Ms. Lake. Stay tuned for our print spring newsletter, which will feature the Giesen Trust Grant for the Muir Studio Arts department in more detail.