welcome to "comunidad del valle." i'm damian trujillo. the san francisco international arts festival. this is your "comunidad del valle". >> we begin with a non-profit that is helping youth change the world. it's called build on with me here on "comunidad del valle," katarina swab and jorge one of the students going out and changing the world.

welcome to the show. >> thank you. >> we have a clip and we'll show how you change the world. tell us about build on briefly. >> thanks for having us. build on is a global non-profit organization that is breaking the cycle of poverty, i will lit rascy and we go after school service programs across the country where urban youth like who say do community service hours and we take two students from each program overseas to do global service to help build schools and jorge went on one of those trips to haiti last summer. >> this is a promotional video you provided us from youtube. tell us what that experience was like to -- we have it okay when you look at the big picture and see what little those in other countries have. >> it was an amazing experience. we got to experience the poverty over there. and in haiti we went to a

village called shiret, five hours away from port-au-prince. there everyone is so festive. they are -- they don't like seem like they got affected by it that much. but even if they did, they don't like to show it. they like to be happy and smile. >> what did you learn because of that attitude that can-do attitude and the fearless attitude it seems? >> i learned that like everything especially us, as americans, we have it easy and even if we like do struggle, we should keep smiling and just keep going. >> why is it you want to be involved in something like this? video games are pretty popular right now. gamers are popular. why is it this is something for you? >> for me i always liked to give back to the community because i feel like not a lot of people have what i've gotten from my family, i learned that to give back, like if you give back

you'll get something back. it feels like a really good feeling to have. >> katarina, what or who are you creating with jorge and others like him? >> we're creating the next generation of leaders and educators and a lot of people look at urban youth across the country and feel like they are part of the problem. we actually feel like they are the agents of change, that they are the ones that will be empowered by local and global service to lift not only themselves but their communities and the results are in the number, 95% -- 95% of our students go on to college. their lives and our lives will be changed because of that. >> that's crucial, you said local and global service. you held both here in the homeland and abroad? >> right, we have built over 450 schools in haiti, nicaragua, and nepal. we're taking a spring and summer

track of students across the country and we have 25 students in each program going overseas to live in the community for two weeks and work alongside the villagers and help them have education become a reality for them as well. >> 16 schools? >> 16 high schools here in the bay area from the peninsula to the east bay to san francisco. >> what do you think? your message to the gamers out there and those who want to skate board all day, which is fine, what's your message? >> i would say like, to just go out because once you go out you'll have that good feeling and you'll keep going and want to do it. once you get that feeling you want to keep getting it and feel like what you've done in change and see like people be happy about it. it's very motivating. i mean, maybe games are fun for like a little while but everything you do like for community service, you grow from it. >> give me your vision for yourself, college and beyond college and maybe how to build

on maybe that transformation for you or helping you make that transformation. >> it helps me be a better person for myself and my family. and in college i just want to keep doing community service, do what my career but also keep doing community service to give back. and i want to be able to work with kids and like be able to like teach them what i learned when i was like right now. >> are most of the students intro verts? >> we have all kinds. >> very well spoken. is that part of the leadership building is public speaking like this and selling the program? >> you know, it is. we have our ninth annual fundraiser coming up, the build on dinner on may 4th at the palace hotel. >> we'll have information on the screen. >> www.buildon.org. jorge and a number of his peers have come to two public speaking

workshops that we have had at the office to get the students to tell their stories in their own voice. one of the students and group of students will be speaking, one in sort of an essay for mat and other in a poem. >> this is crucial that the fund raising event, that's how you're able to provide for students like jorge to go out and do their thing. >> exactly. my job is to raise funds to provide these afterschool programs to all of the local high schools as well as the school abroad. it will be a late night. >> where would you be without this? >> i would probably be sleeping at my house. >> that would be nice. >> yeah. >> again, it's happening at the palace hotel in san francisco on may 4th, celebrate cinco de mayo with build on. there's the web address for more information. thank you for the work you're doing locally and abroad. next, the san francisco international arts festival. stay with us. ♪

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the san francisco international arts festival in san francisco. with me today aandrew wood, the executive director of the festival. welcome to the show. >> thank you. >> you sent me beautiful colors that we want to show our viewers because this is what the guests can expect at the festival. look how beautiful this looks right here. tell us about this, kind of not one of your headliners. >> it is one of our headliners. >> tell ugs about this. this is from havana cuba, they perform cuban folk loric dance. they have been around for 40 years. the company was founded by --

now 73 years old. he was one of the founders in havana. then he founded his own company in 1970. what is different than the other companies is that most folk loric companies are all trained by the nationa ballet school. they take modern dance and look like professional dancers. one said i'm not going to do that. i'm going to go to the neighborhoods and communities and find the people that are practicing religions in santa ria and bring them into the dance company so that they have different body types, but they are all into what they do. not just another dance gig, it's something that's part of their lives. they are different in that regard from some of the other companies. >> this is kind of a jewel. you bring in.

this is -- this is never before seen on an american stage. >> juan has been here for a few times, good friends with john santos. john has had him as a guest. he is a great singer and too old to dance but great singer still. he's been here before and he's kind -- he's had two or three generations of cuban artists so he seems a father figure but his company has never been here before. >> tell us what we're missing out on. it's just a very distinct -- passion that they bring to what they do. that -- all cuban dance is passionate. it's a characteristic of what they do. with these guys that's their thing. this is as much about our religion and our culture as it is about a dance. and that's an -- that's the great thing about them. we also have -- they are bringing a collection of

musicians as well. >> i don't want to get political with you, what does it mean we're not able to have them here, the fact that our relations maybe with the island are improving and we're able to bring -- >> it's still tough. it's -- during the bush administration there was nobody coming out of the island and that was a tragedy. since the obama administration has been in made it easier for cuban artists here but it's still difficult. it's still far more honorous for cubans to get here than people from other countries. so it's still a risk and that's one of the reasons we're the exclusive u.s. debut because it's a difficult thing to do. >> it's a coup for you to be able to -- >> not now they got their visas it is. i always think, am i out of my mind. we know they are all coming and

then yes, of course it's a coup. but we presented last year and that was part of a national tour and again it was the first time following the bush administration that we were able to present afro-cuban work. we see this as traditional music and dance because you have the super groups come through and there's a commercial audience for them. but for us as a non-profit we're thinking about, what do we do that's further out admission. authentic representations of the traditions that they have. matched with the what's so popular in the bay area and what people are so passionate about in the bay area is to try to bring -- has us stand out from other organizations, we do bring artists who don't have u.s. representation and have never been in this country before. because we want to be able to represent things that you'll never see on another american

stage or very few american stages. that's even even with the rest of the programming, we also have coming from japan, the other headliner and it's strange for us because we primarily a contemporary festival and both are traditional companies. a former theater from japan and their artistic even older than juan, and he's only coming to san francisco and kennedy center and that's it. then they are going back to japan. so you don't get many opportunities to see artists of this caliber unless you're seeing them at the festival. >> you speak with such passion and also having flamenco performances and so many other performances, at the arts festival. thank you so much for what you're doing and bringing this

fabulous performance. up next, the admissions and recruitment director at san jose state. we're talking college. stay with us. [ female announcer ] what would you call an ordinary breakfast pastry that's been wrapped in a flaky crust stuffed with a gooey center toasted up all golden brown then given a delicious design? a toaster strudel. pillsbury toaster strudel. so delicious...so fun. mom, we're dying. no you're not, you're just hungry. make some totino's pizza rolls.

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biking and fly fishing and kayaking and much more cool stuff that will keep you active and having fun. go to travel nevada.com for exclusive deals that leave you falling in move with nevada. see you soon. she's director of admissions and recruitment at san jose state university. an old friend back when i was a student. >> just a few years ago. thank you. >> we're all talking about csu and uc cuts, is it still possible for my kids to go to college? >> it is very possible, damian, to have your family and lots of members of your viewing community to have those kids go out to the uc and csu, i want to make sure that families know planning for college is the message today. many of us in the business and the csu are encouraging our families and students to get out there and find the resources.

and so the most important thing to express today is making sure that they have the resources to plan ahead and never think that you can't go to college. encourage everyone to go to college. >> here's what i do with my daughter. she's in first grade and we asked, why do mommy and daddy go to work? she said so that i can go to college. >> you have to instill that in them in a very young age. if you have a child maybe in seventh or eighth grade, is it time to start preparing? >> it is the perfect time to start planning, as early as 6th grade we want families to engage in students and schools because there's resources out there. unfortunately because of the cuts in many of the high schools and middle schools, there's not a lot of counselors out there. we as higher ed administrators have to get out to the community and talk about how to plan. one of the things that i wanted to address today with your

viewers is the website from the california state university system. and it's called how to get to college. that site is filled request resources for students, parents, teachers and counselors. as a sixth grader you can map your plan to a csu with all of the resources on that website. as a 12th grader you can start looking at your application and you can go back as early as the sixth grade and see how you have progressed. so it's never too early, never too late. you want to make sure you're out there doing the research. >> we'll show you the website in just a bit. but grades and test scores, you can't -- we can't emphasize how important they are. not that we used to be able to kind of slide by the back way before, but you have to compete and you have to challenge yourself. >> more so than ever. very competitive.

all of our csus are filled to the brim with students. we're serving our students more so at the community college level as well. so they are full. it is very important for you to receive good grades, good attention to study how to get those resources out there from your schools and seek advice so that you're doing the best you can. we always used to say, do your best. well, sometimes that meant doing a c average. and if you look at our website, even at san jose state, we're looking at students that have a higher gpa that are coming in because we have so many students. we have to limit the space that we have. >> are we still getting a lot of first generation college students? i mean, back when i went to college we were first generation. you would hope that the next generation is already here now second generation. are we still seeing -- >> still seeing a large flow of

first generation students. we definitely -- our message is not only for first generation but for those students that have families like you and i have nieces and nephews and children -- we've gone to college. we want to make sure that message continues. it's still important to emphasize the importance of college. a college going environment is what we're trying to promote in the csu, grades, attention to deadlines and attention to taking test seriously. many students say, i don't know if i'll go to college, i'm going to do my -- whatever on the standardized test. those tests will make the difference for you. sats, acts, one or the other are required from the csu. so it's really important if you're planning to go to a csu, a california state university system, you pay attention to the detail on those tests and requirements. there's resources on the web for

you to plan ahead for the sat prep. as well as act. those are the two standardized tests you can start taking in a practice mode as early as tenth grade. you can have the exercise or the ability to know at least what's going to be asked. >> and there are few people who make the excuse in college isn't for everybody. now we know what the job market is like and you're competing for a job against those who have college degree or master's degree or ph.d. if you will. how user -- let's put the website on the screen. how user friendly is this website for parents who want to help their children? >> it's very user friendly. we have links for students and they can link into their grade level. we have different resources. once you go in and click on that resource, you have the ability to search for colleges. you can do research on careers and the different requirements

for parents it talks about financial resources. many parents shy away from doing anything about financial aid because of course they don't know. but that website provides the links to the different websites for fafsa which is the federal aid website. and there's a lot of information there and just general information if you're not going to apply for financial aid, at least look at the scholarship component. >> this is -- is this a sam pling of what the website looks like? if your child is sixth grou eighth grade click here. this is as user friendly as it gets. >> and it's broken down from the sixth grade and goes all the way to the 12th grade. so that's -- it's a very useful site. and i'm -- i'm just so excited that the csu taken the opportunity to get all of the things together in one place. and you can go to it by logging

into the cal state website or just go to www.go to csu.com. >> there's a website there again. give us a call and we can set you up with the website. it's fairly easy and fairly user friendly. thank you so much. >> it's wonderful to see you again. >> director of admissions at san jose state. up next, the music that we just saw, we'll play it full sound. [ male announcer ] at green giant we know nature gives us the most nutritious of gifts. but only when they are ready to be given. that's why green giant picks vegetables at their peak. ...and freezes them fast, locking in nutrients ...for you to unwrap. ♪ ho, ho, ho. green giant this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

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>> here's our address for next week. pick a copy of our newspaper and support your bilingual by weeklies across your area. we thank you for sharing a part of your sunday with us. next year the girl scouts and their farm worker movement. we leave you know. raices pro fundas. ♪

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