February 16, 2022 | Published by WXII 12 | Reporter Louie Tran | Read Article on WXII 12 Website
A mentorship at a Greensboro YMCA is helping the youth by preparing them for college while helping them find their direction and passions in life.
The Hayes-Taylor Memorial YMCA, located at 2630 E. Florida St. in Greensboro, offers a mentorship program called YMCA Teen Achievers. The program is strategically designed to develop youth talents and their leadership skills, and prepare teens for life beyond high school. Teen Achievers focuses on helping students, who are in 8th to 12th grade, with their high school academics, and exposing them to possible career opportunities.
The program, which has been around for roughly 17 years, offers two main sub-programs:
Youth and Government:
- Students are able to write bills, propose legislation, and take part in competitions in Raleigh
Achiever Leadership:
- Students prepare for college, take part in interviewing workshops, public speaking workshops, etc.
The program currently has about 30 students.
"As a parent, the Achievers helped me be better prepared to support my son in the next steps for social and academic success in high school, college and life," said Margaret, a mother of an Achievers student.
Students were/are able to take part in many of the following leadership sessions during the 2021-22 academic year:
- August: Values and actions
- September: STEM - drone and flight technology
- October: Recognizing other's values, resume building, financial literacy, 3D printing and engineering
- November: Conflict conversations (equity and inclusion), aquaponic gardening
- December: Public speaking
- January: Connecting inspiration and vision, college prep, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service
"I felt it was a safe place," said Sydni Cherry, a student within the program. "It was an open place for us to tell how we felt, and we were able to meet different perspectives and become more open-minded."
According to the YMCA's data, from 2017-20:
- 100% of the students in the program who identified as a high school senior graduated on time, and were accepted to four-year colleges or universities
- 80% of Teen Achievers visited 10 or more colleges
- 100% of Teen Achievers surveyed said they now talk about college regularly with adults
- 75% of Teen Achievers surveyed reported feeling a greater sense of self-confidence
According to the YMCA's data, from 2021-22:
- 100% of parents surveyed believe the Achievers program delivers on its promises
- 90% of teens surveyed enjoyed attending Achievers Saturday leadership sessions
- 100% of parents surveyed said they "genuinely believe program staff care about their teens' personal development"
"Teens need a platform. They just really need a platform. A lot of teens have skills. They have ideas. They want to do things, and they just need a stage and tools to do those things. Our program doesn’t tell you what to do. We give you the opportunity to do things. And we give you tools to explore life," said Eric Graves, director and coordinator of the Achievers program.
Graves, who started in the program as a volunteer and later became the program's director and coordinator, is well regarded by his students.
Sixteen-year-old Nassir Majette, who's part of the program, said Graves has helped him gain more clarity on his passion. The program provided him a greater support system outside of his school, he told WXII 12 News.
"It personally helped me be able to see how other schools are doing with students at my age, in my age group, and how they’ve been dealing with the same issues I have been dealing with as well too. And we can overcome our challenges together as a group," he said.
Majette told WXII 12 News that the program also gave students a safe place to focus on their mental health. He said, "Some of the challenges we're having trouble with education, and mental health as well too. That’s a big impact. Mental health has a big impact on all students in this age range as well too. Mainly because of being overwhelmed because of stress from school work."
Sixteen-year-old Sydni Cherry joined the program in 2020 after coming across a flyer for the program. She said Graves is her mentor, and "he truly cares about his students, and I definitely appreciate everybody he brings in to help us get more knowledge on different situations and different topics."
WXII 12 News also talked with Xavier Peele who is an alumnus of the program and currently works at the YMCA.
He said the program helped him find his interest in social work, which he currently studies at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Peele said, "I never would have become a social work major if it wasn’t for the fact I was in this program."
He added, the program's workshops caught his attention, which motivated him to join.
"I came in during the equity and equality talk, and I was like, wow, that makes a lot of sense to me," he said. "I want to make sure other people understand that too and they have those opportunities. So I started to do more research and I was like social work has just that. So it really helped me point me in that direction."
To learn more about the program, and how your child can join, please click here.
To call the Hayes-Taylor Memorial YMCA, please call (336) 272-2131.