The Beginning of Something Titanic: Part 1

Titanic - ti·tan·ic - /tīˈtanik/: of exceptional strength, size, or power.

I'm preparing for a meeting with the Newport News Juvenile Services Program tomorrow. I spoke to the head of one of their programs last week, and they'd like me to speak with them about the book and what the next steps would look like should they graft my work into their program. It's an exciting opportunity for what I believe to be a noble purpose; Offering a choice to young men that they may not have seriously considered or even thought of as a viable option in their lives up to this point. After all, young men in the system have already made a fine mess of their lives up until now. And young men outside of the system often feel just as hopeless, lonely, and lost as their peers under lock and key.

Looking at what's ahead, or at least what I hope is ahead, puts me in a very reflective state of mind and I'd like to share the details of how I started down this path. Here's the story of how "Unleash Your Inner Titan: Empowering Boys and Young Men for Lifelong Success" came to be.

"Mr. Gray. You gonna take over R.I.S.E.?" In the early months of the 22/23 school year, these words followed me around the middle school I taught at. I was a middle school CTE Business teacher. The club sponsor from the previous year had moved on and administration was looking to fill the role. I had a really good reputation in my building and among the students, and I was already helping out in additional ways beyond teaching in the classroom. To be honest, I wanted nothing to do with the club. It was my opinion that it was being used as more of a dumping ground for the most egregious of student offenders and the boys that were doing well and staying out of trouble were being overlooked. I know why it was happening, but I couldn't get on board with sending students who didn't deserve it to Busch Gardens.

From administrators to counselors, they all asked, suggested, or nudged me towards taking over as club sponsor. But it wasn't until the boys themselves asked me to do it that I truly considered taking the role. I prayed about it and I had an interesting realization. Long before I ever thought about becoming a teacher, I was a youth minister for over 10 YEARS! I hadn't reflected much on those times because quite honestly, I thought that season in my life was over. It was enjoyable and fulfilling work but it was over. Now all these years later, the opportunity to sow into the lives of a group of young people outside of the classroom with the flexibility to engage, share with, and build them up in areas that we couldn't talk about during the school day had presented itself. I realized that I'd already been trained for the task. I officially accepted the role. Then, something happened.

In preparation for my first club meeting after school, I reached out to the youth development coordinator in charge of this particular program. I wanted to make sure I had whatever materials the district had for me were available to us at our first meeting. I called my contact and asked if there was a booklet, guide, or some kind of manual for me to use during meetings that covered topics relevant to the boys. I was told, "Yes. I have something I can bring you. How many boys do you have?" I had over 40 boys sign up so I told him I needed at least 50 of whatever it was he was going to bring me. He told me he'd bring the supplies to me at the school. A day or so later, he was knocking on my classroom door during my planning period. He had a box of books. The covers looked great. They had a cool design of the club name printed on the front and I was genuinely excited. I thanked him for bringing the books by and he left. I carried the box of books to my desk, sat down in my extra comfy desk chair, grabbed a copy of the book, and leaned back to dig into the various topics I knew we'd have a great time discussing. The book's interior was completely blank.

Frustration welled up inside of me. I was a little disgusted actually, not at my contact, but at the fact that in addition to lesson planning for my 12 classes of 300+ 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, I now had to plan lessons for the club. The second thought that came to my mind was that of the years the club has existed and been used throughout the district, had no one thought to write a manual for it? It was that thought that helped me to perceive this moment no longer as an opposition, but an opportunity...