CLARKSTON, Ga. — It's never too early to start thinking about the impact you leave on the world, and that's the message of a new program happening for DeKalb students this summer.
After a soft launch over winter break, the Legacy Program marked its first session this June, a chance to engage the district's 7th, 8th, and 9th-grade young men in an array of activities ranging from business and automotive skills to STEM and sports.
"I thought it was going to be boring, a waste of my time," Ian Hayes-Gibbs, 13, said, "And I was going to give up sleep."
The sleep part may be true, but Ian, a rising freshman, also surprised himself as he showed off a robot he had built.
"I've accomplished a lot," he said with a grin. "I've gone so far. It feels very good."
The Legacy program aims to build that type of positive engagement and confidence among the teens, Christopher Beal, program leader and retired educator, explained. Reaching the middle and rising high school teens all part of the DCSS-Public Safety Department's strategy to affect change, knowing that gangs often target the same age groups.
"We want to be a part of the solution and not a part of the problem," Beal said, adding that the teachers, school resource officers and volunteers participating all recognize the need for community investment in teens. "We wanted to be a part of that call and give [teens] an opportunity to have some skills and options for that success. This program develops that opportunity."
From public speaking to sports to financial literacy, the Legacy Program takes kids out of their summer routine, also partaking in field trips to MARTA and the Legacy Museum.
"We just really want to give them an opportunity to grow," Beal added.
Parents like Christine Pinson, also a district guidance counselor, already see the impact on her son, Joshua.
"He's talking about the exposure to things that I as his mom can't really teach him," Pinson shared. "It's just a great opportunity to find that window and pique their interest."
"It's really fun because at the end of the day, I can come home to my mom and say 'yeah, I learned this!'" Joshua added.