by Katie Kenreich
Each time Liz Lieberman, Gary Lieberman, and Katie Kenreich, from TAYF, come to speak with the Rosel Fann Recreation Center Teen Club, the number of students running to greet them increases; today is no exception. Many of the kids’ faces are familiar, but it seems as though a few other students have heard about the Teen Club’s work with TAYF and have decided to join in the excitement. The time spent at this site continues to become more and more rewarding for Liz, Gary, & Katie.
The previous week, after Hildegard (“H”) Regan–who spoke to the Teen Club about physical health–left the site, the students wrote thank you notes for her. Before all of the students arrive, some are given the opportunity to read aloud excerpts from their notes in front of Gary’s video camera. With their personal microphones and overhead spotlight, these kids are feeling–and acting–like movie stars!
Before today’s discussion with Liz starts, several kids are begging to do some of the warm-ups they’d learned from H: push-ups, jumping jacks, and mountain climbers are all in order.
Once everyone’s blood is pumping and energy level is elevated, Liz initiates the discussion by kneeling to the students and telling them that she understands they are “teen leaders.” She says she is told these are the kids who have hopes and dreams and plans for their future. TAYF has been asked to work with them so they can, together, come up with ways to help other teens. Liz, Gary and Katie and their guest speakers are here to convey information to this group of teen leaders that they can then share with their peers; it’s up to them to share what they’ve learned with the people they know.
One of the major concerns of Public Broadcasting Atlanta who asked TAYF to work with these teens is the low high school graduation rate amongst Georgia’s public schools. Liz shares with the kids that the average percentage of students who graduate on time from the high school which most of them will go to is about 50%. Liz hopes to gather the students’ thoughts on this statistic by asking how many of them intend to graduate from high school on time. Every individual’s hand is raised, as if on cue. When asked if they wanted to go to college, they give the exact same response. Liz must now make sure that these students will maintain these goals as they get older.
Some of the bitter realities to not graduating on time are then brought into the discussion, when Liz asks the students what they think would happen if they themselves didn’t graduate on time. Many respond that they wouldn’t have good jobs; that they would be poor, or they’d have to turn to illegal activity in order to get by. In accordance with her statement about these students being leaders, Liz then asks the Teen Club what it would it would be like for their friends to fail to graduate on time. Many responded that their peers would be alone, and one used the analogy that they’d be like a stranger lost in New York. To keep their friends from being in this position, Liz says, the students have to set the right example.
Liz also hopes to emphasize how failure to graduate on time not only affects the individual, but can have a negative impact on society as a whole. Most of the students share that they agree with this; one young man said that he didn’t want the U.S. as a whole to be known for having high dropout rates.
The task now is to come up with a way for the students to help their peers; Liz continues to express to the students that they are leaders. She explains that healthy diets, proper amounts of sleep, regular physical activity, and positive thoughts–all of which the Teen Club students either already have or will learn about with PBA and TAYF–are linked to higher graduation rates. The students promise to keep one person in mind whom they would like to impact and who is not a member of the Rosel Fann Teen Club. While thinking about this individual, each student must consider how to bring what he or she’s learned into the other’s life.
Though the time went by in a flash today, Liz, Gary, and Katie left the site feeling confident that the students will take home these messages. During her ride back from Rosel Fann, Liz gets a text from Jason–the head counselor of the Teen Club–saying that the students can’t stop talking about today’s session.