Tre' Ross, Bodhi Roberts and Noe Recendiz took the stage
in front of several hundred UGA faculty and staff. The middle
school boys stared at their feet and glanced occasionally at
the crowd before presenting their boldly colored painting,
centered on the word "Involved," to a group of UGA
deans.
Three years ago, they wouldn't have had this opportunity. Three
years ago, they were constantly getting into trouble, and BOYS
(Building Our Youth's Skills) didn't exist.
BOYS is a program designed specifically for struggling middle
school boys, said Mary White, a UGA Cooperative Extension agent.
Its aim is to make sure these boys are promoted to the next
grade level on time and that they develop social, behavioral
and independent living skills.
"It's very gratifying," said Booker T. Hobbs, who
leads the Candler County, Ga., BOYS program, along with Ken
Dekle. "You see it in their eyes that you're making a
difference in their lives. It's very satisfying."
Off the stage, Ross, Roberts and Recendiz opened up to questioning
slowly. Recendiz, a sixth-grader, said his favorite thing about
the BOYS program was "meeting new people -- actually,
everything about BOYS."
Ross, also a sixth-grader, loves the trips. Roberts, a seventh-grader,
enjoys playing sports.
Before they were introduced to the BOYS program, many of the
students had never traveled outside Candler County. Now they've
gone to Rock Eagle 4-H Center in Eatonton, Ga., a UGA basketball
game, a Georgia Southern University football game, a Savannah
Sand Gnats baseball game and an ice-skating rink.
It's not all fun and trips. "We're busy after school," he
said. "Mr. Booker stays on us about our homework."
The project started in Candler County in May 2003, when White
received a $250,000 Children, Youth and Families-at-Risk grant
from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research,
Education and Extension Service. The grant continues through
2008.
The program began with 34 fourth- and fifth-grade boys and
now has 45 fifth- through seventh-graders.
For some of these boys, the program is the first place they've
had someone use the word college in a sentence connected to
them, Gibson said. "When we hear 'When I graduate from
high school, this is what I want to do,' we're a success."
The community, Gibson said, identified the need for the BOYS
program. They have also started a separate program, GIRLS (Gaining
Important Real-Life Skills).
"We're developing whole males and whole females," Gibson
said. "They're expected to perform. These expectations
are not out of reach. The final success is graduating from
high school, not becoming fathers or mothers in their teens,
giving them the opportunity to go on to college."
Building the New Learning Environment
The new learning environment is an academic and intellectual
community on the campus of the University of Georgia humming
with the vibrancy of the true college experience—bright
and talented students working with brilliant faculty formally
in the classroom and informally over a cup of coffee or lounging
in the greenspace which stretches from one end of campus to
the other. It is a place which recognizes that new information
technologies are transforming traditional academic disciplines
and embraces those opportunities. |
Tre'
Ross adds paint to his part of the Strong Families mural. In March
2005, students in Candler County BOYS and GIRLS groups painted pictures
on six canvases that depicted one of the six characteristics of strong
families - love, togetherness, communication, working together, resilience
and community involvement.
