By Children’s Program Director Ryan Blake
Recently I sat in on one of our teen classes while they were discussing where they saw themselves in 5 years.
One of our young men said with a very sad tone that he was going to have to join the military. I met with him the next day to discuss his answer. He explained to me that his mother had a rule that once he and his brothers graduate high school they had to either go to college, join the military, or move out and work full time.
I asked why he had already picked the military. He said college was “out of picture” for him because of his grades and how much it costs. He continued by explaining that he wouldn’t be able to afford the things he wanted in life with a job that only required a high school degree. He continued by saying that he didn’t really want to join the military but he thought that was his only realistic option.
The next day I met with him to discuss admissions standards to local colleges and scheduled a tour of UMKC. After the tour I asked him if he thought college was a realistic option for him and he told me that if he tried harder in school he might have a shot at getting into a college.
I have been amazed at how many of our students don’t know anything about college or believe that they have the ability to go to college. The fact is many of our students know more adults who have been incarcerated than have graduated from college.
One of the goals we have for our teens is that education after high school is an option for them. For this reason we are now making it possible for each of our teens to visit universities while they live at Community LINC.
For the young man who was planning on joining the military, seeing UMKC made the idea of college more real for him. He also was able to make the connection between working hard in school now and reaching his goals in the future!
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