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For These Students, Building Character Is Par for Course
Science teacher Ann Staudt gives director Christina Blanco a whiff of the lip balm that students Cheyenne Vaughn, left, and Diamond Thompson made in the Program for Academic and Leadership Skills division of the Youth Leadership Foundation. Below, Chandler Boozer works on a mask for a musical production.
(Photos By Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)
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Students attend daily classes in math, English and science. But it's the character classes that make the Youth Leadership Foundation unique and take the curriculum a step further, teaching students about sound decision-making.
"Most of these kids come from failing schools or chaotic personal backgrounds," Barvick said. "They are either not challenged in school because the schools themselves are in disarray or because they are not being pushed by someone."
Outside the classroom, the foundation's character-building strategy involves a team of mentors who meet with each student for 15 minutes twice weekly. The mentors reinforce the lessons being taught in character class.
Mentors help students set goals. It could be a goal as simple as making their beds every morning, an exercise that is intended to teach responsibility.
Students also go on weekly excursions -- to a museum or swimming pool, for example. This year, the girls chorus toured a radio station and recorded a CD. The boys played the final game of their basketball tournament at the Comcast Center.
For Tyra Williams and Rohainee Jacinto, both 12, the field trips are their favorite part of the program. But they also appreciate the character-building courses.
"It helps us with self-esteem and teaches us how to be young leaders," Williams said.
Barvick said most of the students who attend the foundation's summer programs improve by an average of one letter grade when they return to school. About 97 percent of students graduate from high school and attend college, he said.
"I needed a lot of help in school because I was almost failing," said Katherine Hall, 13. "When you learn stuff during the summer, you get ahead."
Barvick said the goal of the foundation is to help students succeed academically and personally.
"We hope to not only catch them up in school," he said, "but to push them even further."
