12. Men of Honor: Thirty minutes a week can change the life of a child

Thirty minutes a week can change a child’s life

This we believe (NMSA, 2010)

*Every student’s academic and personal development is guided by an adult advocate. Adult Advocate

Men of Honor is the brain-child of one of our teachers, Michael Caparaso, who heard about a similar club at the American Fellowship of Christian Athletes. The two men met with our principal who supports and encourages faculty and staff to explore their creativity in support of children. They then asked teachers for their input. He shared with us the following:

Coach Ramsey and I thought it would be a good idea to start a similar club here at West called "Men of Honor".  We want to be able to reach out to young men who need a positive male role model.  We will meet once a week to teach these young men life skills that will help them in their daily lives.  We will be following a book I received when I attended an AFCA convention titled "Playbook for Manhood: A Game Plan for Being a REAL Man".  (See full email at the bottom of this blog, dated March 7, 2016.)

The response from our faculty was very positive.

“Wow!!!!!   I think this is such a great idea!  Kudos to you all!  I will be glad to help with anything I can do!”

“Awesome idea! This is one of the many reasons why I love this school!”

“This is amazing!  Thanks to both of you for your vision and dedication!”

Each team identified young men who could benefit from having male role models. A total of 30 young men were selected, five from each team. The club has been going on for two months. As a teacher of five of these young men, I can tell you they are thriving.

One activity the students engage in is to dress up one day a week. When the leaders started this they asked faculty to share shirts, ties, pants, shoes. Every one of these young men is dressed for success one day a week. In addition, the school bought them t-shirts with their mantra on the back:

“(what is on the back?) (:

Last night at our annual celebration of West, held at the School Board meeting, three of them shared their insights. It was magical, to see the confidence and appreciation these young men displayed and shared.

I asked Michael if he could share insights into the experience.

I would love to, thanks!

Benefits to the kids: The goal of the Men of Honor Club is to benefit its twenty-eight members by providing them with life skills that will help them succeed as they grow into young adults.  We work on how to greet and communicate with adults, and how to be more respectful to others.  We provide the students with weekly challenges after our meetings to implement what we have discussed.  

An example of a challenge we have issued would be to shake the hand of at least three out of their six teachers and thank them after class.  These young men are using their weekly lessons to grow as honorable young men.  The dress for success aspect of our club has also benefited our members.  Some of our students have never been complimented on their appearance before dressing up on meeting days.  It helps the students feel like someone cares about them which often times results in a better performance in the classroom.

Benefits to the teachers:  The Men of Honor has had an impact on teachers as well.  Teachers are seeing some change in these club members such as turning in assignments, being more respectful in class and having a better overall attitude towards school.  We understand not everyone has made a positive change, but the majority of students have shown growth in these areas.  Teachers also got their cars washed by these students; that is always a plus!

Benefits to the school:  We feel like our club has had a positive impact on West McDowell Middle School by limiting the disciplinary reports by our members.  These students are working harder to think before they take action in all aspects of their school day.  Our members have worked hard to become more respectful, honorable young men in our school.  Teachers, administrators, and community members have all commented on how much of a positive impact this club is having on these young men.

Benefits to the leaders: The leaders of Men of Honor have paid close attention to their daily actions as well.  We teach these young men that their actions will have an impact on them and others.  We are living by the same code and are working harder ourselves to become better men of honor as positive male role models to our students and members of the community.

Advice

1.  Teamwork.  The club leaders sat down and wrote the original contract together.  We wanted to make sure we reached the students that need this club the most. We combined three teachers' perspectives and bounced ideas off one another until we agreed on the items contained in the contract that the young men signed. We also relied on clothing donations to provide our members with items they needed to dress for success.  We were fortunate to have monetary donations from community members as well.  

2. Patience.  It took some time from our initial idea to start the club and to inviting our club members to the first meeting.  It was hard to stay patient in this phase because we were so excited about the potential of this club.  During this phase, we discussed what our lessons would be for the young men, as well as potential field trip ideas to provide these young men with positive experiences.

3. Learn from your students. Whether the students know it or not, we, the leaders, continue to learn a lot from our members.  We learn things about these students that normally would go unnoticed and may help us connect with them on a deeper level.  This information enables us to reach students who may be similar to these young men.  We are very fortunate to learn from them.  

Let me know if I can do anything else!

Thanks,  let us know how we can share/check out your blog!

Michael Caparaso

Special Education Teacher

Head Football Coach

West McDowell Middle School

First letter sent to faculty:

Some of you may have seen the story about Memminger Elementary School in Charleston, SC and their recently created "Gentlemen's Club".  Coach Ramsey and I thought it would be a good idea to start a similar club here at West called "Men of Honor".  We want to be able to reach out to young men who need a positive male role model.  We will meet once a week to teach these young men life skills that will help them in their daily lives.  We will be following a book I received when I attended an AFCA convention titled "Playbook for Manhood: A Game Plan for Being a REAL Man".  This book is intended for a football setting but is easily adaptable to pertain to a school setting.  Hopefully, this book, our lessons, and our guidance will assist these students in becoming mature, respectful young teenagers and adults.

Like the school in Charleston, we thought it would be nice to have a dress for success aspect of the club.  We want the students to dress up on meeting days and have that feeling of looking good, feeling good, and doing good. We will be asking for local donations of ties, button down shirts, polos, slacks, and shoes.  We want the students to know that someone cares about them because a lot of the time that is what they need to be more successful in the classroom.  We also would like to include community service in the club and have our students volunteer at various places throughout the rest of the school year.  Any suggestions for places to volunteer are welcome. 

We are asking each of you for recommendations of young men to be in the "Men of Honor".  We encourage you to think of students that you truly believe could benefit from the extra support and guidance.  A few suggestions on the type of young men that we would like to target:

·       Someone that seems to be ambitious but reluctant to participate in the classroom setting. 

·       Someone that does not take pride in their appearance

·       Someone that may be lacking confidence

·       Someone with poor manners

Right now, we are thinking of having 10 students per grade level for a total of 30 students in the club.  Depending on popularity and amount of donations, that number could change but that is where we want to start. After your recommendations, we will meet with those students and gauge their interest in our club and proceed accordingly. Club members will meet during their grade level Spartan Time.   

If you have any suggestions for the "Men of Honor" Club, we would love to hear them.  Please contact me or Coach Ramsey with any questions you may have.  Thank you for your time.