When a 17-year-old Barton County girl was pulled over by police for a routine traffic stop, the officer found a small amount of marijuana. The next thing she knew she was a client at Juvenile Services (JS).
“When I look back, I am glad I got caught,” the teenager said. “I would have kept going down the same path.”
Her path is different today, in part, because of the JS program called Life Skills Academy, which offers a course called Survival English: Writing for the Workplace. Overall, the Academy focuses on general life skills, financial know-how and employment advice.
“I found out about Survival English through Juvenile Services,” the high school graduate recalled. “It was a really good class, it really was. For example, it helped me with essays in school and job applications.”
She emphasized that a lot of the credit for her success goes to Jack Bowman, JS program advocate, and Justin Brown, the class instructor.
“Jack is a sweet dude,” she said. “I was having a hard day one time and he sat down and listened to me. And Justin was great in class. We could ask anything; he told us no question is stupid.
“I would recommend this class to any teenager that is struggling like I was struggling,” she added.
The next step in her education is to become a certified medication aide.
Brown, who taught English in Guatemala City for nine years, is an English instructor at Barton Community College. He volunteered his time to Life Skills Academy to teach Survival English and will do it again.
“I learned about the program early this year and thought about it,” Brown recalled. “I had some problems when I was young and want to help kids with juvenile issues and perform a community service at the same time.
“A lot of kids just need to know that you care. They need encouragement to understand that ‘yes, I can do this.’ We built a rapport and could joke around a little bit.”
Brown acknowledged that he “didn’t know what to expect at first but quickly learned that my students were good kids capable of doing the work in class. I didn’t have to go back and teach basic grammar.”
The class that ended in June was held on four consecutive Thursdays; each lasted two hours. Brown said the next sessions will be one hour each during one week – Monday through Friday.
“We learned that two hours at a time might be too much,” Brown explained. “One hour is better for our attention spans.”
The topics are job applications, resumes and cover letters. The next session also will include scholarship applications.
“This is a great life-skills program,” Brown commented. “I encourage others to volunteer to teach a course in their profession. It might be intimidating at first but these are good kids, nice kids.
“And the more people who volunteer, the more choices the program can offer.”
For more information, contact Jack Bowman by calling 620-793-1930.
20th Judicial District Juvenile Services empowers youth in Barton, Rice, Ellsworth, Stafford and Russell counties to achieve positive outcomes by offering Juvenile Intake & Assessment, Immediate Intervention, Intensive Supervised Probation, Case Management, Journey to Change, Life Skills, All Stars and Youth Crew. Parents and guardians also are offered The Parent Project. Visit 1800 12th in Great Bend or call 620-793-1930.
