"What are some of the things, our kids are missing, we see other schools, other kids succeeding, what are some of the things that they're missing that we need to get to them" said Jeason Thomas, student learning advocate.
Thomas said he felt students were missing out on opportunities, to better themselves in different life skills.
"Structure, behavior management, the whole nine yards, every kid needs that, but the opportunity to succeed, if our kids aren't exposed to those things, we can't expect them in 5 to 10 years I"m going to college, because if they've never been exposed to college all they know is what they know," said Thomas.
That's when the empowering young men project was born, and the concept is pretty simple, "a small lecture, maybe 5 minutes, to get them the information and then we dive right in" and "we have some classroom time where we sit down, we literally talk about what it takes to be a successful young man, all the way from mannerism if an adult walks in the room, stand up and introduce yourself" said Thomas.
15 to 20 students meet every week, in various classrooms, here these young men are learning about science technology, and even aerodynamics.
6th grader, David McKenzie says he has some big plans for the future.
"I want be in my grandpas footsteps, I wanna be a medic, he was in an airplane," said McKenzie.
"It's like art class, you can make stuff, color stuff in here," said Matthew Rowland, 7th grader.
