Andrae Gonzales: 180-turn for Shafter teen, thanks to mentor
| Sunday, Feb 07 2010 10:03 AM
Last Updated Sunday, Feb 07 2010 09:25 PM
Images
Kevin Keyes, left, is a mentor for Aldo Garcia, a teen dropout who turned his life around, thanks in part to Keyes.
You can't keep a good man down, and Aldo Garcia is a good man.
The 17-year-old Shafter resident who graduated from high school a semester early is preparing to enroll in Taft College and enlist in the Army soon. He's disciplined, determined, and ready to conquer the world.
And he's come a long way.
Since his freshman year in high school, Aldo has been in lots of trouble.
He got kicked out of high school, arrested several times, and was far behind in academic credits. He had felonies on his record for gang enhancement, burglary, and possession of a deadly weapon.
"I lost all hope," Aldo said, "I got lazy and didn't care about school. I just wanted to do my own thing, basically just be a low life. I just wanted to get over one day and start the next."
Soon, however, the teen realized he wasn't getting anywhere in life.
One day, Aldo's mom learned about an information session for the Grizzly Youth Academy (GYA) National Guard Youth Challenge Program in San Luis Obispo, sponsored by Project 180, a gang prevention partnership in Kern County. She and her son decided to attend the meeting to learn about the opportunity.
GYA is designed to redirect and mentor high school dropouts and those students who are at risk of dropping out. The co-educational, 17-month program is for 16- to 18-year-old high school dropouts. It consists of a 5 1/2-month quasi-military Residential Phase and is followed by a 12-month Post-Residential Phase.
The local effort is part of Project 180, a gang prevention partnership funded by the Kern County Board of Supervisors under the Joint City/County Standing Committee to Combat Gang Violence. You can find more information at its web site, www.kernproject180.org.
To be eligible for the program, youth must be drug-free, not in trouble with the law and behind in school credits or high school dropouts.
Aldo was immediately intrigued.
He approached Kevin Keyes, Project 180 Prevention Specialist at the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office, after the orientation and asked for help getting into the program. Keyes agreed, asking Garcia to meet him the next day.
The youth jumped on the opportunity.
"He took the bus in from Shafter. When I got to work at 8 a.m., he was already waiting for me," Keyes said.
But his felon record disqualified him from the Grizzly Youth Academy.
No matter.
Kevin Keyes and the Project 180 staff stood by Garcia and got him involved with other activities, including the planning committee for the annual "Leaders In Life" Youth Conference and the Police Activities League in Shafter.
After a year of community involvement, Aldo got his felonies reduced to misdemeanors. With that, he was eligible for the GYA and attended the June 2009 session.
When he arrived at the academy, he was met with immediate challenges. "I asked myself 'Where am I at? What did I get myself into?" Aldo recounts. "I couldn't take a guy screaming at my face, saying 'Do this', 'Do that'.
"I took it though. I just shut my mouth. It wasn't going to hurt me."
And he learned a few things.
"I was taught integrity, do the right thing when nobody is looking," Aldo said. "I used always be doing the wrong thing."
He graduated in December 2009 in a ceremony at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. But he didn't just graduate, he was recognized with an award for outstanding character and integrity.
"Aldo is (more) focused on setting goals, focused on education, and more considerate of others," says Kevin Keyes, who has become his mentor.
The National Guard Youth Program has had much success. Youth who have completed the program were 36 percent more likely to obtain a high school diploma or GED certificate, more than 50 percent more likely join the workforce, and 28 percent to continue their education, according to the National Guard Youth Challenge program website. And graduates are less likely to be arrested compared to at-risk youth who did not attend.
Eventually, Aldo would like to become a veterinarian.
He has his eyes on attending UC Davis after serving in the military.
And he's not letting anyone get him down.
"I stopped caring what everyone else says. Now I'm like, 'You do your thing, I'll do mine. Go ahead and say what you want to say'."
No, you can't keep Aldo down. He's too busy moving on up.
Andrae Gonzales is a local Latino columnist whose work appears regularly in The Californian. These are the opinions of Gonzales, not necessarily The Californian. E-mail him at agonzales@bakersfield.com.
