College Tour of Duty

My day was spent taking a group of young men from Volunteers for Youth Justice’s GENTS mentoring program to three local colleges. The idea behind this event was to place a bug in their ears, so to speak, about getting into college and the options that are available to them right here in the local area.

We toured Southern University Shreveport, Bossier Parish Community College, and Career Technical College of Louisiana. A big round of thanks should be given to each one of those schools and their staffs for the hard work, excellent tours, and dedication to making sure that every student in our area knows that a college education is accessible to them, no matter their situation.

We got to cruise in style thanks to A-1 Charter.

They touched on all the issues that anyone considering college and higher education in general faces. Financial aid was the most boring but most important aspect of the each session. However, I feel that each school did an excellent job of talking about the subject without making anyone want to cut their ears off and run screaming out the door in tears of boredom.

Monetary issues are of special concern to this particular crew since the majority of the young people we work with on a daily basis come from low income families.  Today was an excellent and interesting way to introduce them to the idea that paying for a higher education and, hopefully, a higher standard of living are not out of their reach.  

To make it even better, we were treated to a free lunch from Po-boy Express, which if you live in the Shreveport area, I highly recommend for some of the best sandwiches money can buy. Plus, if the order is the right size they will deliver to you. I mean, it doesn’t get much better than someone bringing you delicious sandwiches no matter where you are.

Overall, i really believe today was a great opportunity to spend some serious time with a part of our population that is underserved by well intentioned young professionals and people that genuinely care about them and their futures. Honestly, it was a great chance to spend time with kids in general. I get a big kick out of working with young people because their take on the world is so varied and yet so moldable.

Kids who are seen as delinquent or troubled bring their own special set of needs and problems, perhaps obviously, but when you reach them and get to spend one on one time with them it is such a life altering experience. Hopefully in a positive for both the young person and myself. As I can only speak for myself, today was definitely a case of it being a positive for me.

I had some very interesting conversations with boys ranging from 11 to 16, from all over the city, and with a whole host of different outlooks on  education and higher education in particular. Truthfully, their whole outlook on life is so different and varied from my own I constantly learn from just talking to them.

Usually I only get to visit with these juveniles when they are in trouble for truancy issues. So, as one might expect, they are usually not elated and chipper when they are in my office. Today was different in that these boys wanted to be there, for the most part, and I was able to just talk to them about girls, college, and everything in between. 

I have to say it was one of the more interesting days I have had in the six months that I have been on the job and an excellent break from the monotony of sitting in an office all day waiting for the “troubled ones” to come see me. I was pleased with the tours themselves as well as the young men’s attitude and behavior throughout the day.

Hopefully this in the future for all those great kids.

In the end, I think I might have taken more away from the experience then they did in the long run. But I believe that is more a factor of my age and situation than their unwillingness to engage in learning opportunities directed at offering them a better future.