Spring/Summer 2019 /Medical Mysteries/
 

Pomona Partners Turns 25

Danny DeBare ’22 engages in a community-building exercise with Fremont Academy students.

Danny DeBare ’22 engages in a community-building exercise with Fremont Academy students.

Every Friday at 3 p.m., after the school bell signals the end of the school day, about 30 middle school students at Fremont Academy in the city of Pomona make their way to the cafeteria. The students are not ready to go home just yet—they’re sticking around for Pomona Partners.

Pomona Partners, the College’s longest-running community engagement program, turned 25 last fall. The program continues today through the Draper Center for Community Partnerships, with more than a dozen Pomona College students volunteering every semester to host a series of  activities and experiences with seventh- and eighth-graders.

This academic year, the focus is on critical environmental justice. Students also engage in conversations on other topics, like student activism as a result of school shootings, and share on-campus activities like games, videos, acting workshops, one-on-one interactions and group interactions, as well as two annual field trips, including one to the Pomona College campus.