WHEN 12-YEAR-OLD Tré Ross entered the office, Booker T. Hobbs quizzed him about the upcoming football season.

“Are you going to play C team or rec ball?” Hobbs asked. Tré said his coaches told him to continue in the recreational league.

“You’ll have to come to some of my games, Mr. Booker,” said the 5-foot 5-inch, 200-pounder. “I’m going to be playing fullback. I’ll be running over some folks.”

In most settings, the friendly chatter would have little significance, but Tré is a member of the Candler County Extension BOYS program (short for Building Our Youths’ Skills). The BOYS program — started in fall 2003 with a group of fourth and fifth graders — aims to help students stay on track both academically and socially.

Hobbs, BOYS program director and lifelong Candler County resident, oversees the enrichment program and visits the family of every participant twice a year.

“These families know me, so they’re glad to see me when I visit,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to find out if a boy is having trouble at home or if there are things going on in the family that are making it harder for him.”

At first, the program offered after-school tutoring and social enrichment programs.

“Our students face an array of difficult circumstances,” said Mary White, Candler County extension agent and the driving force behind the BOYS program. “Many come from single-parent families or have parents who work multiple jobs. Some are in foster care and others are shuffled between family members.”

The program’s most obvious effect has been that participants achieved higher standardized tests scores. But White is just as proud of the students’ other accomplishments, although they are a bit harder to quantify.

“When we began this program we had a skeptic say, ‘You’ll never get these kids to do anything,’” White recalled. “But we’ve had students participate in the science fair. And this year alone, seven seventh graders and 14 fifth and sixth graders participated in the 4-H District Project Achievement program.”

Tré points out the 12 academic awards he received this spring including perfect attendance and all As on his report card.

“Mr. Booker is straight up and says the things we need to do and not do,” Tré said. “He’ll tell you, ‘Don’t let your girlfriend get in the way of your schoolwork.’ If my homework is hard, he’ll say, ‘Tré, just focus.’”

White now is looking for funding to continue the BOYS program and establish similar programs at all Candler County’s schools.

“We were concerned that the students would feel stigmatized for participating,” she said. “Instead we’ve had students clamoring to join the program.”

DENISE H. HORTON

BOYS has been supported by a grant from the USDA’s Children, Youth and Families at Risk program.

Tags: children, Social Services, Sports, Winter 2007