Courtney - ODYS - Blog 5

Today was our final day. For me, this was the day that everything we learned from this week came together. All of the observing and volunteering work that we had done finally made sense and I was able to apply it to my own life. Hearing the backgrounds and home lives of the majority of the boys made me look at my own life differently. Seeing and imagining how those boys had to grow up makes me appreciate even more that I had a family who loved me; a family that loved me enough to make me attend school, discipline me, and want to be a better person. But more importantly, I was able to see the advantages and privileges I have over some of these boys. I grew up in a white middle class family style setting, which is already a huge advantage over most of the boys’ home lives. My family had enough money to live in Lawrence, to buy adequate, healthy food, send me to summer camps and participate in school sports. I was never pressured to join a gang, nonetheless knew that feeling pressure to join a gang in fifth grade was even a possibility. All of my friends growing up only had a positive influence on me and encouraged me to be the person that I am today. At my high school it was the norm to graduate and attend college, attending a community college if you had to. But some of the boys we met dropped out of the seventh grade! It was the norm to NOT attend school and make money illegally instead of pursuing a career at the collegiate level. I received a whole new perspective on not only the way that some children have to grow up, but also on the way that I was so lucky to have grown up. This entire trip has inspired a few participants from our group to start what the Ohio State University calls “Buckeye Reach”. With this program, OSU students volunteer at the juvenile correctional facilities and in local elementary and middle schools regularly. My group wants to incorporate what we have learned in Ohio and bring it back to Kansas. I think every student at KU would benefit from this learning experience.