G.R.E.A.T. Regional News

 

Due to the overwhelming response

Conference Registration is at maximum capacity

and is now closed.

 

 

 

July 16-18, 2008

St. Louis, Missouri

Families training will be offered July 14-15, 2008

We want to recognize your G.R.E.A.T. Kids and Agency by posting pictures and articles in our Regional Newsletter and on our website. Please email us with any special programs, community service, graduations or success stories that are happening within your G.R.E.A.T. Program.

Gilberto.santiago@ocfl.net or sergreat@ocfl.net .   

These are my children

By RICHARD WALKER, T&D Staff WriterSunday, March 02, 2008

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The 16 teachers who graduated on Friday aren't the typical math, history and English teachers. These 16 will focus on teaching the area's youth about life.

"You know I hear so many times, 'I don't know what's going on in Orangeburg,'" Sheriff Larry Williams said. "I'll tell you what's going on -- progress. We have children who are the beacon of the future. Let's show them the way."

The way to which Williams alluded is called G.R.E.A.T. -- Gang Resistance Education and Training. The Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office had 15 graduate from the training, along with one from South Carolina State University.

Organizers say the national program uses a school-based, law enforcement officer-instructed classroom curriculum. With prevention as its primary objective, the program is intended as an prevention tool against delinquency, youth violence and gang membership.

Originally developed in 1991, the program officials developed partnerships with the nation's youth organizations such as the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the National Association of Police Athletic Leagues.

These partnerships are aimed, officials say, at encouraging positive relationships among the community, parents, schools and law enforcement officers.

Five program instructors from across the country spent the past week in Orangeburg instructing the 16 officers so they will be able to teach the youth at area schools or address civic groups about to gang membership prevention.

G.R.E.A.T. consists of four parts: a 13-session middle school curriculum, an elementary school curriculum, a summer program and family training -- all of which the prospective teachers were required to master.

"It wasn't an easy task," Williams said. "They earned their paycheck. They gave their best."


As a participant in the week-long course, SCSU Police Chief Woodrow Morgan said to reach those objectives, teaching candidates are required to complete the 40-hour course on, "life skills: how to deal with problem solving, gangs, how to stay away from gangs, how to work through these issues."

On Monday, the 16 candidates began courses that covered such topics as weapons, gangs, communication and body language.

"They're going to have a tool of knowledge in that they are going to be enabled to teach all the children to be better at life," said GREAT instructor Gary Mork of Garland, Texas. "It's a pretty intensive course."

Federally-funded, the program didn't cost the community taxpayers or Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College, where the courses were held, a dime.

In fact, officials expect the program to return dividends in the form of a promising future for Orangeburg's youth. Williams said the community should remember the phrase, 'If I."

"I use that phrase because I don't want the citizens of Orangeburg County to say, 'If I would have reached out to a child ... If I had only stopped and reached out, this kid wouldn't be a gang banger,'" he said. "We need to say, 'This is my community, these are my children. I want them to be the best they can be."

For more information, or to schedule a newly-graduated teacher, contact the OCSO at 803-531-4647 or S.C. State at 803-536-7188.

"I want you to embrace children as your own," Williams told the graduates. "We don't embrace black children, we don't embrace white children. We embrace children, God's children."

T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5516.

By RICHARD WALKER, T&D Staff WriterTuesday, June 03, 2008

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Kentnelle Miller may be 13, but his wisdom goes beyond his years.

“Everywhere you go, there’s someone that you get along with and somebody you don’t. There’s always someone you don’t get along with,” he said.

Miller was part of Orangeburg County’s first G.R.E.A.T. class of students. They graduated during a ceremony held last week at the Boys and Girls Club of America.

In addition to social skills, the 19 graduating students took part in classes aimed at gang violence, relationships, crime and Internet safety, among other topics.

“We learned not to take matters into your own hands,” Miller said of the 13-week course. “But if you do, talk it out in the right way.”

Each of the graduating elementary and middle school students received their own diploma and gold medal necklace.

The G.R.E.A.T. program is a acronym for Gang Resistance Education and Training, a course aimed at helping young people make better decisions concerning gang membership and confrontations.

“You are the first graduates in Orangeburg County,” said Deputy Major Mernard Clarkson of the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office. “You are the leaders, you are tomorrow. You have been given the tools to be successful.”

G.R.E.A.T. Southeastern Regional Director Russell Permaul drove in from a meeting in another state to attend the graduation. Permaul encouraged the students to continue being a positive influence in their community.

The class of 19 who graduated on Friday is the product of G.R.E.A.T. instructors, local law enforcement officers who successfully completed their training in the curriculum in February. In Orangeburg County, 16 officers graduated the G.R.E.A.T. training program held at Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College.

The G.R.E.A.T. program develops partnerships with the nation’s youth organizations, such as the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the National Association of Police Athletic Leagues.

Those partnerships are aimed, officials say, at encouraging positive relationships among the community, parents, schools and law enforcement officers.

With training officers in place, more classes are expected to graduate around the community.

T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5516.