Our Urban Experience: Day Five- Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center.

Friday morning, Shannon and I packed into the car. My sister-in-law came over at 7:00 a.m. to watch the kids for the day. Shannon had a meeting in Denver at 9:00 a.m. and I was supposed to be at Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center at 8:15 a.m. for my last day of the Urban Experience. We made it, but barely.

The cohort arrived in Golden, Colorado, a small town in the foothills west of Denver rather promptly, considering that we had bad driving directions from MapQuest. We met with the director of the program and two residents for about half of an hour. Lookout Mountain is a maximum security detention center for adjudicated teens. The center incorporates a fully operating school and encourages residents to complete their high school diplomas or GEDs. In addition to their regular schooling program, the Center offers a culinary school which has received national recognition and offered troubled kids a way to a better future through the culinary arts.

After our talk with the director, we were escorted to our classrooms. Each of us was to observe in two classrooms in our content area, then were were to have lunch at the cafe, served by culinary arts students.

The first classroom that I was in was actually a remedial math class. One of our instructors, Lee Evans, a 30-year veteran of teaching Junior High School Math classes, was in the class with me. I worked with one kid on reducing fractions. He looked to be about 16 or so and was really struggling with this rather simple task. I helped him as best I could. He then took off for a visit to the Campus Library.

I then talked with Jose, a young Hispanic man. Our talk turned to gangs and he began to tell me of his life and why he was in Lookout Mountain. He told me about how he and his older brother were jumped by members of a rival gang and his brother was killed. He then took a gun and hunted down the gang members that had killed his brother and shot and killed one of them. He was 7 at the time. Since that time, he has been in and out of detention centers, usually for gang involved violence. His weapon of choice seems to be a knife. This is his second time in Lookout Mountain and he says that this time, he has turned things around. He has been here for eight months and will be getting out in about two more months. He already has a job lined up as a drywaller in Vail.

Juan told me that it is very hard to get out of a gang. If you get married and have a family or if you begin going to church every week, the gang will respect you and leave you alone. Otherwise, leaving a gang can be a death sentence. Juan said that he has been involved with the gang for so long, and "done so much stuff" that the gang would leave him alone as well. I wished him luck. It sounds like he might need it.

Then, I went to a business class. I am still not sure what the class was about, exactly, as the teacher merely read sections of a book called "How to be a CEO" by Jeff Fox. The book had little tidbits of wisdom like "Keep a personal contact list," "Make your boss look good" and so forth. It was a little strange. After class, I asked the instructor about his methods. He indicated that he had tried standard business textbooks in the past and that the kids did not respond well. He said that reading from this book and others like it keep the kids engaged and "interested" in the course material. He didn't sound overly enthusiastic.

We then had lunch at the cafe. It was served by hardworking young men. The food was excellent. We started with a salad, then moved into a very tasty tuna dish and finished with a chocolate mousse. It was one of the better meals I had all week.

It was then pushing 1:00 p.m., the time that Shannon had arranged to meet me. I excused myself from the final discussions and was escorted to the front of the campus. Shannon eventually picked me up, though quite a bit late. We drove home. I was glad to be done with this very long week...

Our Urban Experience: Day Four- Montbello High School.

Day Four, we headed out bright and early to get to Montbello High School and start our day shadowing students. As we arrived at the school, we were directed to the student council room, where we were paired with student council members. I was matched with a senior named Klahde, a quiet and pleasant young black woman.

We started the day by heading to Calculus class. Klahde is a very bright student, taking mostly Advanced Placement coursework. I also took AP classes in school, and took Calculus. Most of what the class was discussing was pretty foreign to me, though. I was not the best Calculus student in the world. We then headed to Weightlifting. I watched. There were many young black men trying to outdo each other on dead lifts of weights as high as 400 pounds. Klahde managed a personal best lift of 140 pounds and was very pleased with herself. We then headed to AP English Class. The reading assignment out of the textbook was written on the board. Klahde was to read a 5 page essay and answer a number of questions about the work. She and I read together. The essay was comparing the business ideologies of the United States and Japan. I helped her complete the questions. The teacher did not talk with the class through the entire period.

Then, we headed for AP Physics. The class was working on notebook computers hooked to a wireless network. The class was working on a science lab website, completing an experiment regarding pendulums. Most of the work involved clicking on pendulum swing points and seeing what various graphs looked like. Again, little teacher interaction. Klahde and her friends in class were not very enthusiastic about the online laboratory at all.

This was Klahde's last class of the day, as she was a senior and didn't have to be in school in the afternoon. I thanked her and headed for the exits.

There, I met with my posse, Lynn, Robert and Carolyn. We jumped into Carolyn's car and headed home, back to Fort Collins for the night.

We sleep in our own beds tonight and start out tomorrow morning for Lookout Mountain Youth Detention Center in Golden, Colorado tomorrow morning.

I am glad to be in my own bed.

Our Urban Experience: Evening Three- Mataam Fez Restaurant.

After our long day at Montbello High School and Reverend Kelly's Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives Program, we headed for Mataam Fez Restaurant. This is to be our cohort dinner out, at a place that will be unfamiliar from a cultural standpoint. I, however, have been to Mataam Fez before, having taken my wife Shannon to the restaurant a couple of years ago. Mataam Fez has bellydancers performing during the meals, so I took Shannon there, as she is a bellydancing fan.

Mataam Fez is an unusual place. You sit on pillows on the floor and there isn't any silverware. The waitress brings a towel for you to drape over your shoulder for cleaning up and sprinkles everyone's hands with warm water prior to serving any food. Dinner includes Wedding Soup, which is a curried lamb soup, there are courses of bread and appetizers, as well as the main course. I ordered the "Quinia," a spiced dish of Rabbit. I wanted to be a little different. It showed up looking sort of like a Cornish Game Hen of sorts. It was good, but soft and messy. I used up most of my towel in trying to stay clean. We were also served desert. It was good.

The most enjoyable part of the evening was the fact that we met up with "Project Select." Project Select is a brand new program at the University of South Dakota, modeled after Project Promise. The Project Select folks have been in Denver this week doing their Urban Experience. They met us for dinner at the restaurant. I was grouped with my usual cronies, Lynn, Robert and Carolyn. We sat with Roxann and Kay from South Dakota. They fit right in, as they were the two "Elder Stateswomen" of their cohort. It was lots of fun comparing notes and experiences with another group going through the same program. At the end of the evening, there were hugs all around.

This was one of the more enjoyable experiences of the week. A couple of beers didn't hurt much, either.

We got home well after 11:00 p.m. and headed straight for bed, as we need to get up bright and early to head back to Montbello High.

Our Urban Experience: Day Three- Montbello High School, Reverend Kelly's Open Door Youth Gang Alternative Program.

We are up early on Wednesday morning to pile into cars and head to Montbello High School. This is going to be one of the more immersive parts of our experience, as we will be spending two days at the school, one shadowing a teacher in our content area and another shadowing a student.

We show up as the morning bell rings. We meet for 10-15 minutes with the principal and then are introduced to members of the student council. Each of us takes a student and we are escorted to our classrooms to meet our teachers.

Montbello is a huge school, compared to anything that I am used to. Although there are a number of schools in the Denver and Boulder area that are larger, the 1200 student population doubles, if not triples any school that I have ever visited. The population at Montbello is 40 percent Hispanic, 50 percent black and 10 percent white. Here, I do not look like anyone else in the classroom. The school itself is in excellent shape, with spacious hallways and attractive classrooms.

I meet with Mrs. Dickson in the Business Department. She is a large black woman with some 20 years of experience. She is teaching Computer Applications and Accounting this semester. I introduce myself to each of her four Computer Applications classes and then help the kids with their current assignments. It is apparent that Montbello High School does not have the technology, even in their computer labs, that I am used to. In Mrs. Dickson's classroom, there are about 25 computers. Only the teacher's computer is connected to a network of any sort. The kids are working on a graphics project to design a birthday card. The program that they are using for this project is Microsoft Word. Yeah, they are using the drawing tools of their word processor to design graphics. I am thankful for what I had at Cache La Poudre Junior High School.

Most of the kids are hard working and respectful. Mrs. Dickson has to bellow a number of times when kids got a little loud in the classroom, but not much. She is rather sharp in her redirections and the kids seem to respond quickly to her. I make a mental note of this disciplinary approach.

One thing that I am rather surprised at is the polite nature of the kids. In the four classes with Mrs. Dickson, I am called "Sir" about 9 times. This is 9 times more than I was called Sir at CLPJH for 10 weeks. Mrs. Dickson and I talk about this for awhile and she tells me that "M'am" and "Sir" are the proper ways of addressing an adult in the Black community. She also tells me and then I notice it in the classroom, that the Hispanic members of her classroom call her "Miss," while the black students all call her "Mrs. Dickson."

All in all, it was an enjoyable day. The kids were pretty good and seemed willing to work hard on a rather menial assignment. I enjoyed having lunch with Mrs. Dickson and Mrs. Johnson, another member of the Business Department.

I am not too sure about shadowing a student tomorrow, but the first day at Montbello was an enjoyable experience.

As soon as the bell rings, we all dash for our cars. We drive over to a local 7-Eleven for a snack break, then we drive to another part of town and our next adventure.

We head to Reverend Kelly's Open Door Youth Gang Alternative Program, housed at Wyatt-Edison Charter School. This program works with school kids of all ages after school to provide alternative activities and instruction to try to keep kids out of gangs. We receive a short overview of the program and then are taken to the main gymnasium as the kids begin to arrive. As they have their snacks, we are told to "mingle." This is a little strange, just walking in off of the street and trying to melt into a crowd of mostly Elementary kids. Some of our cohort blends right it. It takes me awhile, but I eventually start talking with a cute young girl named Iola. Iola is in fourth grade. She is black and her older sister and younger brother are also in the program. She shows me the book she is reading and tells me about Reverend Kelly's program.

After snack, the kids are all taken to different rooms to work on their homework. Iola is working on grammar, filling out a worksheet where she has to read sentences and find the right words to go into blanks. We work our way through this exercise, point by point. I find Iola to be a charming little girl, quick to learn. After she finishes her worksheet, she says that she is to read for 20 minutes. She starts in on a book, reading sentence by sentence out loud to me, stopping to ask for help sounding out words whenever she gets stuck. After about 10 minutes, we are told to pack up and head back to the gym for activities.

The kids then spend about 30 minutes playing basketball and sliding around on little wheeled carts, closely monitored by program supervisors. Iola goes to the carts, I shoot baskets for awhile, but mostly just watch the proceedings.

Soon, whistles are blowing and older kids are streaming into the gym. Reverend Kelly is coming! Everyone needs to line up. The kids stand at attention with their toes on the line around the gym. They are arranged by grade. The members of the Project Promise cohort are not sure what to do, so we sort of toe the line in an uncomfortable manner. As everyone tentatively waits for Reverend Kelly to come into the gym, Iola leaves her classmates and comes running across the gym to me. "Will you come stand with me?" she says. "Of course," I say. I return to her side of the gym and stand at attention with her.

The Reverend Kelly comes into the gym and gives a talk. At intervals in his talk, he barks words of import, such as "Respect," "Responsibility," "Violence," "Perserverance" and so forth. After he bellows the words, each kid, in unison, barks the word and then spells it, following the ritual up with another sharp report of the word. It is impressive and strange, all at the same time.

One 5th grade girl begins giggling and is called on to "Represent." She steps forward and is grilled by the Reverend. He barks words at her and she has to repeat them and spell them, properly, then repeat them again. He is very sharp with her, barking when she misses a letter. After a couple of minutes and about 8-9 words, she is done. The Reverend calls her forward and gives her five dollars. She looks proud.

Then, the Reverend solicits another volunteer to "Represent." A young man steps forward from the kindergarten ranks. "That's Michael, my little brother!" Iola tells me. He proceeds to "Represent" for about 5-6 words. He performs flawlessly. He is pleased with the round of applause that he receives when he is done. Iola is obviously proud.

The Reverend then calls each grade into the center of the gymnasium, so that the shorter and younger kids are close to him in the center and the older kids stand about the outside of the circle. He then talks to the kids about respect, obeying their parents, staying out of trouble, doing the right thing, etc. He ends by telling the kids that he yells at them because he loves them and wants them to grow up right.

Then, the kids run for the exits and their parents, brothers, grandmothers, etc. I find Iola in the crowd and give her a hug and wish her well.

The Reverend then gives us a pep-talk as well. He asks us to get involved and do what we can for the kids.

I shake his hand on the way out. In my mind, I compare the Reverend's style of discipline with Mrs. Dickson's. They are similar, very sharp, very direct. Both seemed to garner respect with their actions. This is not how we are taught at Project Promise to approach discipline, but it appears to work, at least in some fashion, for the Reverend and Mrs. Dickson.

Then, on our whirlwind day, we move on to the evening's activities....

Our Urban Experience: Evening Two- We Relax and Do Happy Hour.

After Lunch, a large number of our cohort decided to go downtown and see the movie "Hotel Rwanda" at the movie theater in the 16th Street Mall. Lynn, Robert, Carolyn and I decided to walk around the Mall and see what there was to see. We walked from one end to another, stopping in a couple of shops and so forth, but mostly just enjoying each other's company. At the far end of the mall, we located a Starbucks. This seemed like a welcome place to stop. We pulled up some chairs and stayed for about 2-3 hours drinking lattes and coffee.

Then, we get hungry. Maggiano's Little Italy is a restaurant right next to the movie theater in the middle of the 16th Street Mall. They also have a happy hour. We make our way there. We order up some two dollar appetizers and some fancy martinis. Robert's tastes like lemondrops, Lynn's tastes like sour apples. I am talked into ordering a chocolate martini. This turns out to be a very expensive Black Russian, but tastes very good. Our group stays put for the next four hours, eating little tomato things and drinking martinis. (The picture was taken by our waitress. Note the Sour Apple Martini right up front. I am the guy in the front right.) I stop at one drink, as I have a headache. We do lots of talking, mostly about personal stuff. Each of us has an emotional breakthrough of some sort. At the end of the evening, we are pretty spent. We walk home, hungry for real food.

We decide to stop at a little place called "Famous Pizza" on the way to the Chalet. The pizza turns out to taste pretty good, but the place is a wreck, with crap thrown all over the back of the restaurant, ratty chairs, beat-up tables and a restroom in which I did not feel particularly safe. I am happy to leave and get back to the Chalet. Wednesday is to be the longest day of the week and we start very early, so we pack it in and get some much needed rest.

Our Urban Experience: Day Two: The State Capital.

On day two, we were up bright and early. We are staying at a Victorian-style mansion about 2 miles from downtown Denver, now set up as a Bed and Breakfast, called "The Holday Chalet." It is a very nice little place, with beautiful decor and a very accomodating staff (They had warm cookies ready for us after our first evening out on the town Monday night.) The only difficulty for me is the fact that we are packing five members of the cohort into one room with three beds. I am sleeping on the marble floor on an air mattress. It could be worse, I suppose.

Breakfast is very good, quiche, oatmeal, muffins, etc. Lots of coffee.

We head out as a group early in the morning. On the agenda for the day, a trip to the Colorado State Capital. A past Director of Project Promise, Angie Paccione, was elected to the State House a couple of years ago. She has invited us to sit on the floor of the House during today's session and then meet with the Education Committee during their deliberations. We sat around the outside of the floor on padded benches, but were quickly told to rise and be recognized as Angie introduced Project Promise to the members of the House and read our names to the crowd. Afterwards, we received a standing ovation for our efforts. That was pretty cool. We then settled in to follow the proceedings of the day. There was a heated discussion that had to due with the reporting of citizenship status when presenting for medical care. After an hour or so, we adjourned to a lower conference room for the Education Committee. Again, there was a heated debate regarding the privatization of some of Mesa State College's finances. This was actually a rather interesting discussion, given the ongoing debates regarding privatization of Social Security funds, etc. I liked it. Lee, one of our instructors that was sitting next to me at the time, thought it was rather boring.

We were done with this "activity" at around 12:30 or so. We has lunch with some other members of the cohort at the Adam's Mark Hotel buffet. This was very good and I enjoyed making my own pasta selection at the pasta bar. After eating, we were set free to our own devices for the rest of the day.