This began as an after-school program in 1998 to assist high-risk students. Physical activity and coaching are key components, but empowering older youths to lead and coach younger ones is a major part of the success. By the way, the high school graduation rate at the charter school is 98%. View the video, although the script verbatim is below.
[Oklahoma Homegrown: In Oklahoma City, the Canaries Running Team, runs at Earlywine Park and enters races. Team members also have mentors. The Oklahoma City Wrestling Foundation, filled with more activities than wrestling, features Mentoring Mondays. Run the Streets in Bartlesville has 103 youth participating this season and projects between 75 to 80 youth finishers for the Rt. 66 Half Marathon on November 24th. Mentoring groups and individual mentors can focus upon more physical activity, which all of us, young and older, need.]
A school driven by phys ed
CBS Sunday Morning: A school driven by phys ed - The head of a Brooklyn charter school motivates his students with sports and physical ...
September 8, 2013 9:49 AM
(CBS News)
School is back in session around the country, and starts
tomorrow at the Urban Dove Team Charter School here in New York City. It's a
school that goes against the grain. Instead of cutting back on phys ed classes,
it's actually using sports as a hook to draw in at-risk students. Our Jeff Glor
paid a visit to ask its founder just how he does it, and why:
When Jai Nanda first told people he wanted to start a school based around
sports and physical activity, the reaction, he says, was, "You're crazy. What
are you doing? Why would you do that?"
Starting a school is an extremely difficult proposition -- perhaps even more
difficult because Nanda decided to launch his new school last year in the
Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, one of the neediest communities in
New York City.
"We see a lot of families living low income," Nanda told Glor. "We see a lot
of obesity. We see a lot of high school dropouts. So we've created a school that
attacks the education issue, attacks the health issue in a community where both
are critical."
The lab for Nanda's experimental school is in two floors of a Pentacostal
church, which he's renting until he finds a permanent home.
The kids come here from all over the city.
Ninety-three percent live below the poverty line; many never showed up for
class at their old schools.
But Nanda actively recruits kids that other schools have given up on.
Glor asked, "So, when you go to these schools and say, 'Give me your worst
students,' their reaction is?"
"'Woohoo! Awesome! Great!' " laughed Nanda. "And not from a 'We don't like
them' [attitude], but 'Someone else can educate them, and get them to be
successful? Great! We can't do it, You want them, you got them.' It's a win for
everybody."
Nanda's daring approach was to flip the whole idea of school on its head. At
a time when only six states require phys ed in every grade, and nine states
require recess, he decided to make sports the cornerstone of this program.
When students arrive at Urban Dove, they don't sit behind a desk. They spend
the first three hours of every day with their team and coaches.
They play basketball, lift weights, jump rope, use punching bags, ride bikes,
and do yoga. Students rotate sports depending on the season.
"Physical education, sports, athletics, I think it's being dismissed," Nanda
said. "We need to recognize that a full education requires that kids are
active."
What is it about sports? "It's fun; kids enjoy doing it," replied Nanda. "I
think there's something special about being on a team."
Nanda also said that children look at a coach differently: "They're willing
to share. They're willing to listen."
And that may be what's most unique about the program. When kids go to Social
Studies, English and Math, their coaches go with them . . . sitting in class,
helping with homework, and sorting out problems.
"We see them bright and early in the morning, and then we're the last people
to see them at the end of the day," said coach Alana Arthurs.
Arthurs, who sees students in gym, in the classroom, in the hallway, laughed:
"I follow them, it's weird!"
Why? "As soon as they walk out that classroom, I'm behind them, trying to
find out, 'Why did you walk out? What's wrong?' I feel the need, personally to
find out what's going on, how can I help, how can I fix it, and how can I get
you back in the classroom so you can continue to learn."
When we visited last spring, two of the school's star students were Miaklya
Hall and Chaneil Thomas.
Miakyla said there were many reasons why she rarely showed up at her old
school: "You could cut class, leave. Here I don't feel like leaving because, I
don't know, it's fun."
Does the three hours of sports in the morning tire Chaneil out? "I'm ready
for class after that," she replied. "I have more energy. I'm just sweaty, but
I'm not tired."
It was Jai Nanda's experience as a coach that first led him to create an
afterschool program for inner city kids in 1998. His idea was to reach at-risk
students by challenging them to lead younger children.
"It's all about empowerment," he said. "Giving them the responsibility to
deliver the lesson, to be the mentor, to be the role model. And once you've got
that as a foundation, then they're willing to transform all kinds of things in
their lives."
Over the past 15 years, hundreds of teens have gone through the afterschool
program. And Nanda says the results speak for themselves: Over 98 percent
graduate from high school, and college attendance rates are at 95 percent.
Based on that success, and a federal grant, Nanda was able to start his
charter school. But not everything has been easy.
"You've lost some kids, you've had to kick some kids out," said Glor.
"Realistically, how many of these kids can you keep, can you succeed with?"
"We started with about 108 kids; right now we're at about 95," Nanda
responded. "So we've lost about 10 percent of our kids over the first year.
That's not bad."
One of the true believers is Deron Rippey, head coach and guidance counselor.
He is constantly in motion -- herding kids into class, and intervening when
there is a problem.
Rippey keeps families on speed-dial and spends a lot of his time disciplining
kids, including 15-year-old Gillet Hood, who is battling anger issues. We were
there when Gillet returned to school with his grandma after a week's suspension.
She was furious.
"You are not that guy that you are trying to be. You are perpetrating a
fraud," she told her grandson.
Rippey told the youth, "You have to make sure you're helping the situation
instead of hurting it, correct?"
"Yeah," Hood replied.
"So when you get ready to get angry and stuff like that, I just want you to
picture ME in your face, OK?" his grandmother said. "Picture grandma. What I'M
gonna give you when you get back home. If you'd had been in another school, the
police would have been involved."
"I promise to do better, I guess," he said. "I mean, I know."
Lots of students at Urban Dove are still struggling, like Gillet. But he's
grateful to have a second chance, and he is trying to turn things around.
He's also lost 65 pounds since he's been here.
"You feel better about yourself?" Glor asked.
"Of course I do, I feel perfect about myself," he replied.
With so much stacked against these students, small victories are worth
celebrating. And they are part of the reason why Nanda is already looking
ahead.
"There's too many kids that need something to help them," he told Glor. "And
if we figured out a way to help a group of kids do it, then we've got to help
more kids do it."
"If we come back in a few years, where will these kids be?" asked Glor.
"On their way to graduating high school, going on to college, with all the
skills and all the tools they need, with no obstacles in their mind as to what
their future can be," Nanda replied.
Year 2 at Urban Dove starts tomorrow. While Miakyla Hall won't be there --
her family is moving to New Jersey -- most of the students will return, along
with 85 new classmates, nearly doubling the school in size.
For more info: urbandove.org
From urbandove.org:
Urban Dove Team Charter School (UD Team) is a completely unique high school for struggling 9th and 10th graders where every student is part of a team.
Energize. Students participate in a daily sports, health, and fitness program that focuses on developing the critical life-skills needed for success on the field, in the classroom and in life.
Educate. A 3-year high school for overage/under-credited students with a project-based, personalized instructional program gives students a foundation for higher education and the job skills needed to enter the world of work.
Empower. Students become leaders in their community through a comprehensive internship and job training program that gives them the skills, experience and confidence to excel beyond school.
Some of the unique and exciting features of the school include:
- A comprehensive sports, nutrition, and fitness program
- A Co-Ed school with single gender classes
- Small classes of 15 to 18 students
- Saturday sports program
- Individualized instruction, mentoring, and tutoring
- Internships and college & career readiness programs
