BY CYNTHIA LEE
UCLA Today Staff

When 102 sixth graders and 19 parents and teachers left their homes in Scottsdale, Ariz., before dawn on March 13 bound for L.A., little did they realize their class trip was about to turn disastrous.

When they arrived at San Pedro to board a boat for Catalina and a three-day outdoor education program, the Coast Guard stopped them in their tracks. Gale-force winds had shut down the dock on the island. No boats could cross.

"My heart immediately sank to my stomach," recalled Don Hiemstra, principal of Grayhawk Elementary School in Scottsdale. The news got worse: No planes or chartered buses were available to haul them back to Arizona. They were stranded, far from home and badly in need of rescue.

Fortunately, in the flurry of emergency phone calls, Hiemstra somehow found UCLA's Director of Cultural and Recreational Affairs Mick Deluca. "We didn't know a heck of a lot about them; we just knew they needed help in a hurry," he recalled.

Immediately, Deluca mobilized his staff that runs the summer youth camp and outdoor adventure programs and strategized with Housing administration, Conference Services and finally Fleet and Transit Services to turn a giant disappointment into a five-star holiday.

Meal schedules were hastily juggled; conference rooms were readied for sleeping bags; employees rushed out to buy board games and G-rated videos.

Over two days, the kids swam, played outdoor challenge games and indulged in all-you-can-eat feasting at Hedrick Hall's cafeteria. "That ice cream machine will never be the same," Hiemstra said.

On an impromptu campus tour, they even ran into basketball stars Lisa Leslie and Magic Johnson at Pauley Pavilion. "They were on cloud nine," Deluca said of the kids. Before their flight home, UCLA buses whisked them to the Getty Museum.

"It was a real learning experience for our kids that you can make lemonade out of a lemon," said Hiemstra. "I can't tell you how much we appreciated what they did for us."