Volunteer Experience-Avid Program

The Avid Program is a week long program for students and gives kids a period to work on college preparation. I volunteer here on Tuesday and Thursday while they are doing tutorials (see previous post). A student in the Avid program was struggling but not because he couldn't do the work, he choose not to do so. After talking with him I found out he was going through some unfortunate circumstances. He's currently being charged with burglary and resisting arrest. School is the furthest thing on his mind at the moment because of the more serious hurdle he must cross. I finally got through to him after the teacher and other tutors trying to reach him. I spoke to him about not putting his life on hold by basically quitting school while going to school. I talk to him about possible future opportunities and how stressing isn't going to change anything. 


I do not know if he was innocent of his crime or not, but that part doesn't concern me. What concerns me is that he does his work and doesn't spoil the other apples in the basket. Talking to a few kids I was informed that his attitude sets the tone for the others in the class. Every since he stop doing work and started to complain many of the other students have done the same. The tutorial program is a great program if they use it the way it was intended. With another adult in the classroom I think its safe to say that we have change the culture of the class. Its a wonderful site to see the students actually getting something from this. I would like to implement this program in my non profit business.

Volunteer Experience-Avid Program

During my free time I offered to help out with the AVID program at my The-High. The AVID program is a great program that helps students who are sort of in the middle of the pack get to college. We have AP and IB programs for the smart kids and we have mentoring programs for the 1.0 and below kids. So the AVID program is special because it catches the students who face the risk of not making it to college and send them to college succesfully.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I help out for two periods. The students are required to take Cornell notes in each of their classes and come to the AVID class with at least two questions from classes they are struggling in. The students get into small groups and one student at a time gets up to do their problem. The students are teaching each other and can't answer the question but uses the Socratic method to find the answer. I'm more or less a facilitator and I actually enjoy it. 

Stay tuned to my next post about a student who I helped in the program, he's currently going to trial for a burglary and resisting arrest.

Circles in Square Holes

Fitting In, another day in the halls of E-High, home of the pretenders and wannabes.

As I travel on my urban journey through The-High (High School) I find myself eager to get to work each day. Today at work one of the students (Reggie) I’m forming a solid relationship with was suspended. This student and I have an interesting relationship on how we met. Part of my job during class changes is to make sure students are in the class and if not to make sure they get a tardy pass. At The-High we have a lot of students who are behavior problems, these same students are nuisance to some teachers in classrooms. The students who are nuisances sometimes have permission to be out of class because as soon as they get there they ask for a pass to the _________ fill in the blank. The teachers don’t care as long as the kids are out of their classrooms. Walking the halls of The-High and meeting so many students on bad terms I kind of place all these students in the same boat. I know I shouldn’t do this but it happens. Reggie the student mention above happened to be one of the students place into this category. I approach him with my normal saying of “I’m sure at The-High a school of high achievement you’re heading to your class as soon as possible, right?” He responds sarcastically with “We all are about achieving at The High”. More words were exchange and at ended up with him and I challenging each other. I questioned his GPA and he quickly came back with his report card showing his 3.8 GPA. This was definitely a shock because most of the kids I approach in the halls barely have a 1.0 GPA. Every since then I respected him and he respected me.

Fast forward to March, 2011, Reggie was suspended. This too came as a shock because I know how much of a good student he is. He was suspended unfairly in my opinion because of accusations and not facts. The title of this blog is pretenders and wannabes, rightfully name this because of the students here at The-High. Students here like many more in other schools are followers. The music industry has the culture at my school wanting to do the things the rappers rhyme about. Reggie isn’t exempt he’s a very smart kid and has a lot of potential. He is ashamed of being smart and doesn’t want people to know that he is concern about his grades. He wouldn’t be caught wearing a book bag with books, it’s against his code. After talking to him on a daily basis I have a pretty good idea on who the real Reggie is.

On this rainy day at The-High Reggie was seen covering his head with an umbrella. A young lady said to Reggie that the umbrella in his possession was stolen from her. She has been missing this particular umbrella for about a week. Reggie has had this umbrella for a couple of weeks to months. The young lady went to tell the authorities about her “stolen” umbrella. Reggie was called into the office and asked about the umbrella. The administration accused him of stealing the umbrella and right there he went into defensive mode. When kids like Reggie are accused of things they know they are innocent of they become very defensive and some times shut off. Over an umbrella Reggie was almost arrested and was suspended for three days. Might I add over an umbrella that they couldn’t prove he stole it or even prove it was hers.

As I stated earlier Reggie isn’t the type of kid that normally gets into trouble. He has never been arrested and has a bright future. Today Reggie came to me and asked me to be his mentor. He’s willing to work over time in order for his attitude to change. I’m happy to say that out of all the administration, SRO’s and other adults out here that sees Reggie as this negative kid. I know that he isn’t and is willing to show them otherwise.

My journey as a young man in High School

My journey as a young man in High School

I’m 28 years old, athletic build, neatly groom, veteran, well dressed, professional and handsome (so I’m told) young man in an environment filled with raging hormones. I face things in an urban school that I don’t believe many teachers are faced with (to this extent). I would compare my experiences to an exotic dancer in a club. If you haven’t been to a “Gentleman’s” club than you probably can’t relate. For example, when a female walks through the gentleman’s club she is subjected to name calling (come here baby, sweet cheeks etc.) and touching (everywhere). It doesn’t go as far as touching, but its close enough and also name calling isn’t as out of line as a gentleman’s club.

Today I was told by a student “there goes my husband”, and another student said “there goes my baby”. Now there are a lot more things said as I’m walking through the halls but I try my best to not acknowledge them in any way. I look straight ahead and act as if I don’t hear them.

What I’m concern with are these students who don’t know better and see it as a crush. They see nothing wrong with telling an administrator these things. I know because I pull a lot of these students aside to inform them that it isn’t appropriate. After explaining why it’s inappropriate the no longer do these things. The concern is also the teachers with whom I work with that I believe encourage or egg the students on. They even come tell me that students have a crush on me. It’s like a game to them and I don’t know how to handle them.

What is a man to do? Do I address each and every student?

Police Experience

The Police Experience

I would like to believe that everyone that’s been stopped by the police feel a little uncomfortable. If you ever been stopped by a police officer for about a good month you make sure you do speed limit, make complete stops at a stop sign, yield to pedestrians and basically follow all rules of the road. In my school a lot of the students are being more than just stop, they are being arrested.

The police experience remains the same when stop by the police; once you’re released you follow all the rules for about a month. You’re saying yes sir no sir to officers, you’re coming in early, and you may stop hanging out with the wrong crowd and even stop smoking marijuana. In one of my first blogs I stated that I have a magnet for students who commit crime. These students seek me out and sometimes tell me things like I’m a priest and they are at confession. The police experience with these students who are arrested is a sad sight. The students come to me swearing it either wasn’t their fault or that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They swear to do right from that day forward and they would like me to help.

My question is why upon release from the awful wretches of the county jail cell or even JDC (which is worse) that these kids go right back to doing what got them in it. Is the police experience superficial as being stop for a traffic ticket?

No Walk In the Park

I was hired on a school in the beginning of this school year. Not my dream job but in my dream environment. The school is made up of primarily Black students, from low economic status in Central Florida. I know it’s my purpose to work with this population and I was thrilled at the opportunity afforded to me. 

Of course upon starting the students had to feel me out. I was tested day after day to see if I was really in it for them and to see if I was real or fake. I would like to believe I passed the test with flying colors. I was liked by many and disliked by a few.  

As the months went on I noticed a student who was very quiet but a scary quiet. He was treated differently by many teachers and administrators alike. One of the school policies states that no electronic items will be brought to school and if seen we are supposed to confiscate it and suspend the perpetrator. I often walked into different classes where he was a student to see him listening to music on his MP3 player. After a thorough background check I found out that he was a member of the infamous Blood gang and also recently release from a juvenile offender program. He was sent to the program for hitting an Orange county employee (the employee still works at the school). The teachers were scared of him, so they allowed him to listen to his MP3 player as long as he did his work.

Fast forward to October of 2010, this student was sent to the in school suspension (I.S.S). While visiting the I.S.S. the student and I had an altercation. He was wearing his music again, I had asked him to take it off and hand it to me. He refused of course, so being the disciplinary person that I am; I decided to have a talk with him. I'm not the type that yells so I walked over to him and politely place my hand on his shoulder. That set him off, and he caused a huge seen, and actually threaten me by stating “You better asked this teacher about me” implying that he’s not scared to hit an administrator. I had the option of violating him because of his probation and also getting him suspended. I know that sending him to jail wasn't going to change him because I work in the jail as well. I decided to sleep on it and get back with him the next day.

The next day he and I had a conversation without other students present. This student was a completely different person; I found out that his mom just recently got out of prison, the rough area he lives in and more on his background. To make a long story short I never recovered from the incident in the ISS room, we spoke every day, an occasionally hello and good morning. Never anything more than that, I could tell that he respected me because I didn't back down from him. We had a mutual understanding of each other and after that he doesn't wear head phones in school. 

Fast forward to last week, the student was arrested and booked at the Juvenile Detention Center where a good friend of mine works. The student asked my friend if he could tell me out of all the teachers, administrators and everyone else at the school hello and that he would like to work with me when he gets out. This to me was huge because this student knows my work ethic and he seen the passion I have for kids. I currently work with kids that have felonies and are considered the most “at-risk” population. This student has recently been transferred to the adult jail where I work and we talked today. It was real refreshing to see him seek me out and now I believe I can truly reach him. He was definitely a product of his environment.

Is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Important to Todays Youth?

Last week, in my class of mostly seniors and juniors I decided to discuss Dr. Kings Dream in observance of black history month. After giving the class a brief overview of the late great Dr.King and breaking down his dream, I allowed them to listen to the famous speech. During the speech the students did not pay attention and in my opinion tried very hard to ignore what was being said. Some of the comments after it was finish was we heard this a million times.

This was disturbing to me for two reasons. The first reason is my class contained a majority black population with one Latin student and one European student. The second reason being the disrespectful manner and disregard for this man who has done so much. Don't get me wrong I know that Dr. King has been over emphasized during Black History month but come on its Dr. King. 

I learned from this a great deal because it definitely was a teachable moment. It was hard for me to get pass my own feelings and teach why its important to respect the history and sacrifices made of those before us. Needless to say I realized that one lesson isn't enough to change everyone's heart. I'm still working on this group, to be continued...