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Lending a helping hand
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Campers participating in the Na
tional Youth Sports Program work
on their golf swings on the A&M
campus Thursday afternoon.
Photograph: Tim Moog
Program that helps disadvantaged youths wraps up at A&M
By Matt Mitchell
The Battalion
D r. Frank Ashley remembers the day it really
hit him.
An associate dean for the Department of Edu
cation, Ashley had recently become involved in the Na-
Upei tionalYouth Sports Program (NYSP), a federally funded,
[ hil NCAA supervised summer sports camp designed to
fori teachout to economically underprivileged youths, with
aiwbranch in the Bryan-College Station area.
Unfortunately, one of his new charges had misbe-
hayedand faced the probability of being taken home,
ataf that fell to Ashley.
“He’d broken the rules, and I was all set to drive him
florae,” Ashley recounts. “But then he said to me,
'Please don’t take me home, because if I go home, then
myfriends will make me sell drugs, and I don’t want to
liang out with them.’
“When you don’t see those tilings, you think that sort of
tiling doesn’t go on. But when you see it actually happen,
itmakes you realize we’re doing a pretty good thing here.”
Ashley, presently the project administrator of the
award-winning Texas A&M branch of the National
ibuth Sports Program, has spent the last nine years
working on the project and has seen some inspiring re
sults both in the national and state programs.
This summer’s NYSP ended last Friday, culminating
with a basketball game on the floor of G. Rollie White
Coliseum and an awards ceremony that left more than
afew of the staff and campers choked up.
The NYSP attracts some 67,000 participants in 152
cities across the country, most with universities or col
leges to help support the program. The goal of the NYSP
is to mold well-rounded youngsters by combining
sports with education.
The A&M program services the communities of
Hearne, Caldwell, Calvert and Somerville, and serves
over 300 campers each year. Thanks to its link to the
NCAA, the NYSP has access to apparel and equipment
of the highest quality.
“We call it the National Youth Sports Program, but it’s
also an education program,” Ashley said, pointing to the
seven and a half hours per week of required education
al instruction. “We teach drug education, substance and
alcohol abuse, career opportunities, even computer
skills. The good thing about it is we can teach a lot of the
classes that they can’t teach in the public school system.”
The camp runs in the afternoons five days a week for
five weeks, with youth between the ages of 10 and 16 el
igible to attend. At least 90 percent of the campers must
be categorized as living below the poverty line.The kids
are bussed from the surrounding communities, attend
camp all afternoon, and are given a snack and dinner
before being bussed home. All of this is provided free of
charge to the campers.
Ashley estimates that A&M kicks in over $100,000
per year on the camps, but emphasizes that the com
munities lend their help as well. AE Beutel Health Cen
ter and the Brazos Valley Family Health Clinic donated
their time and resources to contribute free necessary
physicals to the kids. Local merchants helped with
prizes, and local school districts bus the campers.
Along with such popular mainstream sports as vol
leyball and basketball, the NYSP participants are also
taught non-traditional sports like gymnastics, tennis
and racquetball. An aquatics program ensures every
one learns to swim, and there’s even a golf program, one
of only five such programs in the nation.
Along with Dr. Ashley, activities director Dottiedee
Agnor is quick to credit her staff with making the pro
gram such a resounding success.
“I think they (the staff) all feel like it’s a good, worth
while program to be involved with,” Agnor said. “It’s not
the easiest job in the world because it’s summer and it’s
camp and the kids come in sky-high all the time. I pull
my hair out every day, but I’ll probably miss every one
of them tomorrow.”
The staff has, in turn, had an equally positive im
pression on the kids. One might think that the campers
would balk at the notion of attending what amounts to
school for at least an hour every day. Not so, say 13-
year-olds Tiffany Harris and Erika Williams.
“I liked it when they talked to us about drugs and
suicide and stuff,” Harris said. “They taught us how
those things hurt us, so I thought the enrichment was
helpful. It was my favorite part.”
“The staff made it fun for us,” Williiams added. “They
had rules, but they gave us choices, which let us act
more like adults.”
In addition to the obvious benefits of keeping the
campers off the street, the NYSP gives them the oppor
tunity to actually experience a college campus, some
thing that is perhaps rare for many of them.
“If you give kids an opportunity to come on a uni
versity campus, it could make a big difference,” Ashley
said. “They realize there’s nothing foreign about A&M
and they think, ‘maybe I could go to Texas A&M some
day.’ It gives them hope.”
Hope is in short supply with these kids, as are many
of the opportunities afforded and taken for granted by
their suburban counterparts, who have the luxury of
sports leagues and an abundance of instruction, as well
as positive influences.
“A lot of these kids just have not had the opportuni
ties that suburban kids have had,” Agnor said. “These
are not bad kids, they just haven’t had the opportunity
of maybe the background at home, to know how to be
have appropriately.”
Day by day, the National Youth Sports Program is
changing that.
mmm
Photograph: Tim Moog
Keisha Henry, a psychology graduate
student, hugs one of her campers.
Get Away for A Taste of Summer!
ART IN THE
“REAL WORLD”
A Road Trip to Houston
Thursday, July 24. Leave campus at 1pm. Return to campus by midnight.
FREE transportation and museum admission for A&M students.
$20 for non-students.
Please make checks payable to “MSC Visual Arts Committee.”
On exhibit at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts:
JEWELS OF THE ROMANOVS
Treasures of the Russian Imperial Court
We’ll have dinner at one of Houston’s many fine restaurants. Bring money for dinner!
(We’ll keep it around $10 ea.)
Sign up IN PERSON by 5pm Monday, July 21 at the MSC Forsyth Center
Galleries (across from the Aggieland Post Office). Space is limited to 36 people.
For more information please call 845-9251.
Memorial Student Center
Visual Arts Committee
hltp://w wwmsc.tamu.edu
http://vac.tamu.edu
r If you have special needs please
call in advance at (409) 845-9251.
PART-TIME POSITIONS
Universal Computer Systems, Inc. is looking for candidates for the following positions at
our College Station office. Operating hours of the facility are 6 a.m.-IO p.m., Monday
through Friday and 8 a.m.-IO p.m. Saturday. Candidates must be able to work at least
15 hours Monday-Friday & every other Saturday and have completed at least one
semester of college.
Data Entry - We handle computer repair for all our clients nation-wide, with over 60,000 pieces of
equipment per year. Our data entry positions are responsible for maintaining info on more than
2,000 parts shipped to & from the facility.
Cleaning and Reclamation - This group must maintain upkeep of all equipment received and
shipped from the facility. Involves disassembly of equipment, cleaning and reassembly
Technician Trainee - Technicians will learn to use an oscilloscope and multi-meter to
trouble-shoot and repair malfunctioning hardware. Each individual will be trained thoroughly in
the repair of one particular piece of equipment including CRT’s, terminals, keyboards, PC’s,
mainframes, controllers, modems, and others.
Parts Inventory - Responsible for maintaining inventory of more than 2,000 parts that the facility
may handle at any one time.
Support Staff - Deal with clients and techs via telephone to provide problem solving and clerical
support. Full time positions also available.
To apply, please call our Recruiting Department. E.O.E.
Universal Computer Systems, Inc.
(409) 846-1213
http://www.ucs-systems.com
UCS hires non-tobacco users only.
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