Youth in San Francisco are rocking out at SF State -- but not the way one might think.

A program on campus called Reaching Out to Communities and Kids with Science, or SF-ROCKS, uses a fun approach to science by making documentaries, taking field trips, doing research and connecting high school-aged urban youth to the earth.

"We use a medium other than scientific investigation to engage students. We utilize art and film to engage students in that way," Jim Neiss, program director of SF-ROCKS, said.

The program began in 2001 with a $1.2 million National Science Foundation grant for creating opportunities to enhance diversity in the geosciences.

The program mainly reaches out to high school students in the southeast corridor of San Francisco -- a region of the city known for its long history of environmental injustice, according to the SF-ROCKS Web site.

"It's one of those programs that got me into geology -- It's why I'm at SF State," fourth-year geology major Claire Bailey said. "Every summer I went to their national parks trip; seeing the U.S. and learning about the geology got me into being a geologist."

During her freshman year in high school, Bailey was recommended to the program by her science teacher.

"In high school, I had no idea what geology was," Bailey said. "I wouldn't have known."

Currently, a new grant of $1.5 million, in collaboration with the University of New Orleans, University of Texas at El Paso and Purdue University, was awarded to the program. The schools join students and take geology trips with the grant money.

"We work with a various number of students for a long period of time. We run programs where only 15-20 students are participating all year 'round. We just had a group of grants end, so we finished those and are starting new projects," Neiss said. "We're always looking for new and innovative ways to engage students in earth and environmental science for students of color in San Francisco."

The program's new project will have freshmen from John O'Connell High School in the Mission District making five-minute documentaries about watersheds and water quality issues in the San Francisco area.

"During the trips, we give the students an overview of geology in that region and connect it with earthquakes, floods, volcanic activity," Neiss said. "We want to emphasize the importance of landscapes, of Native American points of view and perceptions -- they have unique connections to landscapes."

The results of the research projects for the high school students are presented at the American Geophysical Union conference held every December at Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco, attended by over 10,000 scientists from around the world, according to the SF-ROCKS Web site.

"SF-ROCKS has been able to get almost $3 million in funds since 2001 to get students of color to be engaged in geosciences," said Lisa White, associate dean of the College of Science and Engineering.

With the new grant money, SF-ROCKS will take 40 high school students on geosciences trips every year -- each one at a new location.