Albany State University
Release: 06/23/08
Albany, Georgia

Howard University youth program participants to visit ASU

           A group of 30 children in the Howard University Youth Empowerment Program will visit Albany State University to team up with members of the Albany State University Youth Center for a multi-cultural learning experience. The students will arrive in Albany on Sunday for a week-long stay.
Dr. George Thomas, program director for the ASU Youth Center and assistant professor in the College of Sciences and Health Professions, said the students will be afforded an opportunity to gain exposure to a different college setting.
            “The students coming from Howard University are used to urban areas and have not really seen many places outside of Washington D.C.,” he said. “They now have the chance to experience a place more rural and see how a school like Albany State differs from Howard.”
           An orientation is scheduled from 8:30 to 9:25 a.m. Monday in the James Pendergrast Memorial Library auditorium with ASU President Everette Freeman speaking. The students will partake in various activities and go on field trips.
           In 2006 both Howard University and Albany State University received three-year grants of $250,000 per year from the Office of Minority Health for the funding of the youth empowerment programs. Thomas and the other staff members for ASU’s Youth Center chose a cohort of 40 at-risk African-American sixth-grade students from Albany Middle School to participate in the year-round program. The students, now in the seventh grade, are being followed for three years in an effort to help them overcome many of the social and economic disadvantages they face.
           “The ultimate goal of the Youth Empowerment Program is to reduce high-risk behaviors by strengthening protective/resiliency factors and developing skills and behaviors that lead to healthier lifestyle choices,” said Dr. Rani George, co-principal investigator for the Albany State Youth Empowerment Program and chair of the College of Education’s Department of Counseling & Educational Leadership.
The ASU Youth Center seeks to carry out its mission by improving the academic skills of ASU-YC participants, promoting healthy lifestyles and prosocial behaviors among the program participants, raising awareness and appreciation of diverse cultures among the ASU-YC participants, and increasing the awareness and knowledge of career options, including health careers among the ASU-YC participants.
The Howard University Empowerment Program has similar objectives. According to the Office of Minority Health’s website, “The goal of the Howard University Youth Empowerment Program is to educate and empower a cohort of 35 youth attending Meyers Elementary School to reject violent activities, illicit drugs, unacceptable behavior, and unhealthy lifestyles.”
The Howard University Youth Empowerment Program consists of an academic year after school program, monthly Saturday activities, and a three-week summer program, all of which are conducted at the Meyers Elementary School.
The students in the program are African-American and Hispanic/Latino youth in grades four through five.
Thomas said learning outside of the classroom is essential to the growth of students.
            “Often times the best way to engage students is to allow them to see and experience things firsthand,” he said. “By taking them to different places and exposing them to more interactive information sessions, they become more interested and in turn learn things that might not get in a traditional classroom setting.”
           The groups will visit the Agrirama, Georgia’s Museum of Agriculture and Historic Village, and tour a local farm. The students will learn about the history of Southwest Georgia, have a math bee, learn about raising self-esteem and leadership skills, and try Tai-Chi.
           “We try to make all the activities as fun as possible so the students keep a vested interest in what’s going on, particularly in during the summer,” Thomas said.
           Students will also show their talents Thursday during in a talent show in the ACAD Auditorium from 6 to 8 p.m.