As Nathalia was working on her Senior Symposium project at East Bay Innovation Academy (EBIA), she came across a challenging data question. Nathalia’s project focused on supporting the Oakland Public Library during its significant ongoing funding challenges. She collaborated with the 81st Avenue Library in East Oakland, developing a social media campaign aimed at increasing attendance, volunteering, and donations.
She wanted to sound the alarm about closing libraries during a literacy crisis that is disproportionately impacting Black and Brown Oakland students, but much of the data she found wasn’t Oakland-specific — except for FIA’s report, The Unspoken Pandemic: Oakland’s Education Crisis. The data she found that only 2 in 10 Black and Brown students in Oakland can read on grade level — a crisis that’s been going on for multiple generations.
As the 2024-25 school year came to a close, EBIA celebrated its third annual Senior Symposium, with seniors showcasing projects that highlighted their interests, creativity, and the real-world impact of businesses, projects, and initiatives across Oakland.
EBIA’s career pathway focuses on computer science and design, and students spent months working with local businesses and nonprofits, offering tech services such as revamping websites or designing social media campaigns to put into practice what they learned.
The event was held on campus and featured a gallery walk, during which students presented capstone projects they had developed in partnership with local organizations, including Planned Parenthood, East Bay Regional Parks, and a local church.
EBIA Executive Director Miranda Thorman and District 5 School Board Member Patrice Berry.
“It’s a culmination of everything they’ve put into their senior year,” said Miranda Thorman, the Executive Director of EBIA. “To see how they give back to their communities in different ways is really powerful and speaks to what we’re trying to do here: create citizens who want to go out into the world and make a difference.”
Oakland Unified School District Board Member Patrice Berry (District 5) was among the attendees, and she was impressed by the students’ ability to connect their interests to tangible community contributions.
“Students have time and space during the school day to think about who they are, where they want to go, and how they’ll get there,” Berry said, “and then choose a cool way to explore all that and contribute something to the world.”
Mia and Yamilett created a multimedia presentation and workshop with Planned Parenthood.
Seniors Mia and Yamilett partnered with Planned Parenthood to create a multimedia workshop on reproductive health and abortion access, aiming to educate peers and combat stigma.
“We wanted to educate students because sex ed wasn’t taken seriously,” Mia explained. “Planned Parenthood helped us structure the workshop, and about 50 students attended,” she added. “People learned that abortion isn’t something to look down on — it should be normalized.”
Another student, Will, designed “Campfire,” a competitive card game inspired by his own experiences with friendship struggles.
“I’ve made friends playing Uno, so I wanted to create a game that helps others do the same,” he said. Partnering with Ember Rest, a game store in Martinez, Will refined his game through playtesting. “They are even considering investing in it,” he shared of Ember Rest, adding he is interested in studying game design at UC Santa Cruz.
Will invented a cardgame focused on friendship.
The symposium was more than just showcasing student work — it was about building and then explaining the real-world skills they attained. Students cold-emailed organizations, pitched ideas, and navigated rejection, all while refining their public speaking skills and professionalism.
“A lot of them didn’t know how to make a professional phone call,” said Christine Mandilag, EBIA’s manager of the Linked Learning Pathway. “This taught resilience. Your first outreach might not work, but you keep going.”
Will echoed that sentiment. “This took a long time. Many cards didn’t make the final cut,” he said. “But it taught me persistence.”
For Nathalia, her project allowed her to sound the alarm about an issue happening right now, while also thinking about her longer-term goals. She’s interested in becoming a teacher.
“My project was connected to literacy and my community,” she said. “It felt the most right to me because it’s what I might be doing in the future.”
Christine Mandilag, EBIA’s manager of the Linked Learning Pathway, kicks off the symposium.
FIA’s Raise the Bar campaign identifies and studies schools that are making academic and college success a reality for Oakland’s Black and Brown students. Learn more here. EBIA’s college and career symposium is made possible through Measure N and H, a voter approved measure that funds Linked Learning across Oakland public high schools.
