Wayfinder partners with Cal State Los Angeles to train the next generation of teachers of the visually impaired in the ExCel Academy. Student teachers gain valuable, hands-on experience with a broad array of children who have varying levels of sight and additional disabilities. In fall semester 2018, Cal State L.A. faculty and Wayfinder staff supervised student teachers as they taught 8- to 18-year-olds a program rich in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) content. Students selected the Polynesian migration to Hawaii as the theme for their first field trip. Student teachers prepared them with Saturday lessons on sustainability, navigation and independence. On the day of the trip, students paddled outrigger canoes provided by the Makapo Aquatics Project from shore to shore in upper Newport Bay. Families, university faculty, student teachers and Wayfinder staff cheered loudly as the students landed their outriggers and established their new, sustainable homes.
December 7, 2018