UNIVERSITY OF EL SEGUNDO · FIRST TIDE

A neighborhood learning club with receipts.

No tuition, no degrees, no campus costume. UES is a practical framework for local sessions where people teach what they actually know, then publish the note so the next person can join.

FIRST TIDE

COURSE TRACKS

Six ways to practice local knowledge.

TRACK 1

Saltwater Skills

Tides, beach reading, marine layer, shoreline safety, and the small practical literacy of living beside the Pacific.

First session Read a tide chart, pick a beach window, and name one ocean condition worth watching.
  • Meetups
  • Local notes
TRACK 2

Court Craft

Pickleball fundamentals, doubles etiquette, paddle feel, ladder play, and friendly match structure.

First session Run a dink/reset clinic and open the paddle shelf for ten-minute trials.
  • Paddle Tide
  • Honey League
TRACK 3

Hands & Trades

Small repairs, useful craft, bike fixes, planter boxes, food skills, and the dignity of knowing how to do one real thing.

First session Each person brings one broken, dull, loose, or confusing object and leaves with a next move.
  • Meetups
  • Studio Night
TRACK 4

Civic Layer

How El Segundo actually works: city meetings, planning, airport edges, water, schools, parks, and local decisions.

First session Map one local decision path from public notice to meeting to vote to follow-up.
  • Beacon
  • PointCast blocks
TRACK 5

Honey & Garden

Local honey, native planting, seasonal harvests, neighborhood tables, and pollinator-aware gardening.

First session Pair a honey tasting with one native planting move and a published field note.
  • Honey League
  • Nature
TRACK 6

Studio Night

A low-bar, high-frequency demo room for anything someone made this week.

First session Three seven-minute demos, no slide polish, one receipt per demo.
  • Meetups
  • PointCast

PARTICIPATION

Roles that keep the room alive.

The useful artifact is not a grade. It is a session note, a roster entry, a photo receipt, a paddle handoff, a garden source, or a next host. Participation should feel visible without becoming homework.

  1. show up once

    Auditor

    Attend a session, learn the room, no commitment required.

  2. three sessions

    Regular

    Gets early notice and helps keep one track alive.

  3. one prepared session

    Host

    Leads a practical session and publishes a one-page note afterward.

  4. one active track

    Steward

    Keeps cadence, welcomes first-timers, and finds the next host.

FIRST SESSION

First Tide, 75 minutes.

  1. Roll-in

    Coffee, names, neighborhoods, and one thing each person can teach or wants to learn.

  2. Mike's frame

    What UES is, what it is not, the tracks, and how to host without overbuilding.

  3. Three demos

    Court Craft, Saltwater Skills, and Honey & Garden each get one seven-minute practical demo.

  4. Sign-up wall

    People mark auditor, regular, host, or steward for the tracks they care about.

  5. Next date

    Lock the next session before the room dissolves.

List First Tide on Meetups Feed Court Craft from Paddle Tide Cross-list Honey & Garden Read the JSON framework