Boys and Girls Club

Dean Young
Boys and Girls Club of Easton, Executive Director
Jones Houston Way, South Side
   
   "I have a young man who went on to become a principal. When I started my career, I came outside and we had was a sign on the wall that says ‘No Graffitti.’ And this young man had airbrushed some of the most magnificent airbrush I’ve ever seen.  I’m torn between not being severe but being certain, so I called him right on the spot and he asked ‘are you gonna call my mom or call the police?’ I tell him ‘here’s what you’re gonna do—come see me tomorrow at three o’clock and we’re gonna talk about this.’ So he came in, spoke with me and we decided he was going to take the airbrushing that he was doing and teach the other kids. He became a leader. Now, I used the poetry that I write, and he took that and worked with the kids and they interpreted it through art, through dance, through drama, all with the arts. 
     Fast forward, he graduates Kutztown University in three years, dean’s list student. He goes on and teaches at Easton Area High School, and he calls me and tells me ‘We got something happening at Palmer Mall.’ I get to the mall and he says, ‘Don’t you see?’ I say, ‘Of course I see! I’m happy to see you!’ He says, ‘No, no, no, no. Look up! Look up!’ So as I look up, his students that I had presented poetry to had now done the same thing: they had interpreted my poems through art, and they were now all up as mobiles in Palmer Mall. What a great tribute. Not just because he graduated and not just that he had gone on to become a principal, but because he was also one to say ‘Come back and get engaged with the students I have, and, by the way, thank you.’"

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