On Valentines Day, the Life Scholar’s Program had the pleasure to visit Bayside Community Center. Here we learned about the executive director’s path to getting to Bayside and how he got the job there but it turned out the center had no money what so ever when he was in charge. The center had been going on for over 84 years, what I found very astonishing was that residents were willing to take out loans or get money however they could in order to keep this center open despite the lack of money. It is wonderful to hear that communities like this in Linda Vista are willing to go far and beyond for their community center and this also shows that they feel very welcome and loved in this center because if they didn’t then they wouldn’t mind if it closed down, but they really do care. The executive director went on to explain how he got several offers with tons of money to buy off the property etc. but he turned them all down until one from a real estate agent representing schools came up. This school would take over some of the property there and become a public charter school, while still keeping the center AND pay off their debt. The new school and new community center will be done in a couple of years and the idea that I really liked was that the new community center would have space for vendors like a taco truck and coffee shops to open to people from the community to sell there. That is just simply nice and heart warming! After discussing all this, we joined Zumba!
When Dr. Lewis told us that we would be doing Zumba at this center I thought to my self, well it shouldn’t be too intense but it definitely was! I was super sweaty, but I realyyyy enjoyed it and had fun, plus it added to my daily physical activity. I hadn’t done Zumba in a while so this was much more fun then going to the gym and doing cardio. It was very nice to see people their getting their daily activity done and having fun at the same time. I also liked how after Zumba the community there got together to bring a pot luck full of different foods after Zumba and sit together and just talk. While I was eating I sat with three women and one man. The man was retired from the military (navy) and two of the women were retired nurses, the other one I didn’t get to hear what her career was. It was nice talking to them and having them ask us questions like what we study, what we want to do in the future etc. One of the topics we were discussing was living in Linda Vista, and all of them said they have been there for so many years. They discussed how back in the days they bought their home for $40,000 while one of the women said her parents bought a home for $16,000. That is soo crazy because not only is San Diego an expensive city (compared to my city) but times have changed so much when it comes to money, real estate, etc. Overall, it was nice talking to them and having them mention how they always go to Bayside Community Center for Zumba and other activities they have. I also got to see that there was tabling for health while we were there like blood pressure etc. that is really nice especially for those who don’t have medical insurance. Overall, this center was amazing and it really made me feel welcomed and at home. I look forward to seeing how this center will keep progressing and its new image after its reconstructed.
When Dr. Lewis told us that we would be doing Zumba at this center I thought to my self, well it shouldn’t be too intense but it definitely was! I was super sweaty, but I realyyyy enjoyed it and had fun, plus it added to my daily physical activity. I hadn’t done Zumba in a while so this was much more fun then going to the gym and doing cardio. It was very nice to see people their getting their daily activity done and having fun at the same time. I also liked how after Zumba the community there got together to bring a pot luck full of different foods after Zumba and sit together and just talk. While I was eating I sat with three women and one man. The man was retired from the military (navy) and two of the women were retired nurses, the other one I didn’t get to hear what her career was. It was nice talking to them and having them ask us questions like what we study, what we want to do in the future etc. One of the topics we were discussing was living in Linda Vista, and all of them said they have been there for so many years. They discussed how back in the days they bought their home for $40,000 while one of the women said her parents bought a home for $16,000. That is soo crazy because not only is San Diego an expensive city (compared to my city) but times have changed so much when it comes to money, real estate, etc. Overall, it was nice talking to them and having them mention how they always go to Bayside Community Center for Zumba and other activities they have. I also got to see that there was tabling for health while we were there like blood pressure etc. that is really nice especially for those who don’t have medical insurance. Overall, this center was amazing and it really made me feel welcomed and at home. I look forward to seeing how this center will keep progressing and its new image after its reconstructed.