“Greatness is not a function of Circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.”
-Jim Collins
I have just returned from our Boys and Girls Clubs of America National Conference in San Francisco and I’m energized and hopeful for the future because of the experience. .
Roxanne Spillet our Boys and Girls Clubs of America President inspired all of us with a wonderful story of a teen girl on the brink of failure.
Evelyn Santiago was headed down the wrong path and moving fast.
A 1.0 grade point average.
Zero ambition.
No role models.
She seemed more likely to drop out of school than apply to college. But her destiny was about to be changed, changed by a determined Boys & Girls Club, CEO who made a courageous decision to do something about the 50% drop-out rate in his community.
Mike Lansing inspired a college bound program at his Club to give his kids the support they needed to succeed in school. It started slow. In the first year there were only four youth.
Today, 130 Club members are enrolled in the college bound program. These kids have the support and encouragement of a determined and caring staff, and as a result, their SAT scores are going up, they’re finishing high school, and 86% of the kids in the program, have gone on to college.
Like Evelyn Santiago who pretty much gave up until she found the Club, the college bound program and the mentor she was missing in life.
After a lot of encouragement and hard work, she began to believe in herself. Evelyn Santiago wanted something more. She wanted to do well in school, she wanted to graduate, and she wanted to go on to college.
With the support and high expectations of staff, she improved her grades, and raised her aspirations. The young girl once on the brink of failure, who once had a 1.0 grade point average and zero ambition, sent off, with some trepidation, six college applications.
She waited nervously and waited some more for that one letter that could change her future, that could change her life. Days and weeks went by, but no letter came. Then finally letters began arriving from college admissions officers in the CSU system, six letters in all. Evelyn Santiago was six for six.
Today, Evelyn Santiago is finishing her freshman year at Sonoma State University, and when she is home, you can find her volunteering in the college bound program at the Boys & Girls Club.
Change begins with all of us
Our community and country cannot succeed if the Evelyn Santiago's cannot make it out of high school and into college.
Oxnard/Port Hueneme, Ventura County, California and America cannot succeed because the consequence for high school dropouts is not just an unproductive life, but often a life incarcerated. It is well documented that 70% of people in prison do not have a high school diploma.
We need to reject the idea that the challenges we face are for others to solve – for the justice system, for the school system, and families to fix.
We need to acknowledge that these issues belong to all of us. We cannot allow anyone, or anything, to steal the future of our children.
Our commitment
We believe making an impact on each young person in our organization is achievable. But, changing lives in our community will not be business as usual. It will be a formidable task, one that will test our courage and commitment. True impact will require our intentional commitment, a commitment that says:
- We will create a culture at the Boys and Girls Club that makes learning come to life, that makes high school graduation a universally accepted goal, and college/vocational school, a bridge to a better life.
- We will initiate strong and vibrate partnerships, with schools, public and private agencies and families creating a network of support around every child.
- We will seek out all young people especially those that need us most, at risk of dropping out of school, those who have difficulty reading, those who are truant, and those who are failing already. And we must do so at an early age, because 62% of those who drop out of school are gone by the end of 10th grade.
- We will keep fun alive, build assets and surround our kids with adults who truly care about them and have high expectations of them.
- We will help kids visualize that they can go to college through various experiences like campuses visits, help them apply to schools and secure scholarships for the education they deserve.
- We will track their success and show our community that we can make a difference on a celebrated scale for hundreds, and perhaps thousands of young people like Evelyn Santiago.
The Challenge and Call to Action
By helping our kids succeed in school, we can achieve our mission of developing productive, responsible and caring citizens.
We need you and all of our community to rally and engage with us on this ambition vision for a better future for ALL our kids. We need caring adults to volunteer, investors to contribute to our cause, and we need to start today so that another generation of Evelyn Santiago do not get lost and forgotten. The responsibility belongs to all of us to make our community great for our children, no matter what the circumstance may be.
For more information on how you can make a significant impact on youth in Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme please call 805-815-4959 or go to www.positiveplace4kids.org.
For more information on the Boys and Girls clubs in Ventura County go to:
• Boys & Girls Club of Camarillo — 482-8113 or http://www.bgccam.org.
• Boys & Girls Clubs of Conejo/Las Virgenes — 1-818-880-8577 or http://www.bgcconejo.org.
• Boys & Girls Club of Moorpark — 529-1140.
• Boys & Girls Club of the Santa Clara Valley — 525-7910.
• Boys & Girls Club of Simi Valley — 527-4437 or http://www.bgcsimi.com.
• Boys & Girls Club of Ventura — 641-5585 or http://www.bgclubventura.org. |
