“Do You Know the Way to San José?” is a partnership between History San José and the Quimby Oak Middle School’s Lobo School of Innovation. This educational initiative encourages LSI seventh graders to actively participate in the preservation and interpretation of San José’s rich history. This program invites students to research, formulate, and design interpretive projects to be displayed throughout History Park, offering visitors valuable insights into the city’s past.

Click on the button to learn more about the program’s objectives, structure, educational benefits, and program leads.

For summer 2023, we invite History Park visitors to view the 2022-2023 projects around the Umbarger Garden. When strolling through the exhibit, click on the posters’ QR codes to hear the students advocacy for history in their own voices!

History San José (HSJ) is a premier resource for educators when it comes to Silicon Valley history and heritage. Its mission is to preserve and enrich the cultural heritage of San José and the Santa Clara Valley through research, collections, partnerships, educational programs, and events. The organization provides educational opportunities both on HSJ sites and virtually that promote critical thinking and engage students and visitors in interactive learning.

Lobo School of Innovation (LSI) is an innovative project-based learning program partnered with the New Tech Network. It is a public middle school in the Evergreen School District and is one of the instructional choices available to Quimby Oak Middle School students. It creates rigorous, authentic projects that teach students to adapt and engage in the world around them. LSI students apply their knowledge and skills to solve real-world problems in their communities.

Artist Ramon Franco was born in Jalisco, Mexico and is one of three siblings living in the USA/San José California for the last 22 years. He decided that he wanted to be an artist even before he could speak English though his mother argues that is was before he could even walk. He is a member of the LGBTQ+ community and loves to stay active all the time. With the incredible support of his teachers along the way, he graduated from San José State University in 2021 with 2 degrees: an art history degree and a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He has been working in a studio to further expand the knowledge of sculpture, and and is hoping to matriculate into the masters program at SJSU at the end of this year. You can view his process and art installation here.