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The road to graduation, for this Wharton High club, begins with leadership

 
Wharton High School sophomore Marlos Drain hands out candy to first graders at Cahoon Elementary School as they take part in a lesson on summer safety on May 9. [MARLENE SOKOL | Times]
Wharton High School sophomore Marlos Drain hands out candy to first graders at Cahoon Elementary School as they take part in a lesson on summer safety on May 9. [MARLENE SOKOL | Times]
Published May 25, 2018

TAMPA -- The teens come tumbling out of the Ford SUV, all dress clothes and testosterone and a half hour late for Mrs. Leach's class at Cahoon Elementary School.

It's hard to get them all together, says Jennifer Cary-Greco, their assistant principal at Wharton High. No problem. Twenty-seven first-graders are ready to see them.

"How y'all doing today?" Marlos Drain, 16, asks while his friends unpack bags of lollipops, Airheads and Smarties.

"The top three things we are going to talk to y'all about during the summer is 911 and how to dial it, that's one.

"Two, stranger danger. And three, what's the other one? Oh yes, gun safety. That's number one of all of them. Gun safety. If y'all ever see a gun, do not pick it up. Even if it's real or fake. Go to an adult. Never pick it up."

They call themselves "the Crime Prevention Club."

They travel across north Tampa to neighborhoods where some played football as young children, welcomed by principals who appreciate that leadership comes in all shapes and sizes.

• • •

Summer is bearing down and children need advice — not from someone in a uniform or heels, but from someone who could be a big brother or cousin.

The lessons are basic, punctuated with "good job" and "that's right" and always, always candy for anything that resembles a right answer.

"Does everybody know what a stranger is?" Rythew Saint-vil, 16, asks them.

"There's a lot of strangers during the summer and you guys have got to remember to stay away from them. So everybody loves their mom, right? Everybody tells their mom that they love her every morning, right? So if a stranger comes to pick you up, your mom would never send a stranger to pick you up."

Saint-vil did not get chosen for the Crime Prevention Club because of his good grades.

It was actually the opposite.

His studies started "going south" during his freshman year at Wharton, he said. There were too many distractions, "other people that want to start stuff with you, nonsense you're in."

He needed decent grades to play football, his passion. But he still was not motivated to focus on his studies, and sophomore year was looking worse.

Then he had a conversation with Cary-Greco, who was looking for a way to get the school's sophomores to the finish line for graduation in 2020.

"She needed for me to be on my game and she wanted to start a club, so I was like, 'No problem,'" he said.

• • •

Saint-vil keeps the patter going with the children. Run away from the stranger, he tells them. Find an adult you know and trust. And have a friend with you, wherever you go. "You guys have a lot of friends, right?"

Richard Thorpe, 15, is next. He asks the kids, "Do you know who 911 is? Can I get a show of hands? Do you know the reason you would call 911?"

The first-graders tell elaborate tales of being robbed at work, of someone trying to break into their house.

Handfuls of candy later, they move on to gun safety — the many reasons why they should never touch a gun. One by one, they promise they will move away from the gun and find an adult.

"Don't pick it up because you could get hurt and if you get shot, you could get hurt and you could die," says Ismael Diaz, 7.

And by now it is clear that the 27 small children and eight teens are thoroughly and chillingly familiar with guns.

They talk about the police, and how they are your friends despite all the stereotypes. They talk about bullying, and how to stop it, and the importance of never, ever swimming without an adult.

Maybe it's the energy of the presenters, or the gripping subject matter, or the candy, or the combination of all three. But the children keep their eyes locked on their mentors, still thoroughly engaged when they gather up the grocery bags and head for the exit.

•••

Cary-Greco did not learn to form a crime prevention club in a training session, or purchase it from a curriculum vendor.

"I created it," she said.

Plagued by sporadic student fighting, Wharton needed a crime watch. So she reached out to a large program in Dade County for guidance and materials.

Then she put "my boys," as she calls them, to work.

The club assisted with a campaign at Wharton against texting and driving. They alerted administrators to conflicts between students, so mediation could be used to avoid physical confrontations. They mentored ninth graders at Wharton.

"The boys earn trips to teach elementary school students," Cary-Greco said. "Their grades must show an increase, behavior is reviewed, and they have to dress up the best they can."

Saint-vil's grades are so much better, he narrowly missed principal's honor role this spring.

It's like this, he said: "I'm a role model, because I have to live up to my expectations. What I put on for these kids, I can't just tell them when I'm not acting the same way."

It's much the same for Thorpe.

"At the end of the day, I feel like this deal teaches us a lot about how I have to live," he said.

"If we're going to tell the kids not to play with guns, we shouldn't be out there playing with guns. If we're going to tell the kids not to be bad, we shouldn't be bad in class. We have to be as positive as we can be. It's basically coming back to me because they're going to look up to me in the long run."

•••

Some of the students, probably most of the students, have overcome hardships outside school.

Thorpe would not go into details about losses he has suffered. But he said the Crime Prevention Club is like family.

"It's an excellent bonding thing," he said. "It helped me get through a lot. I learned so much from each and every one of these guys. I can come into the office sad about something, and they help me get through. We all look out for each other."

Cary-Greco, a onetime history teacher who joined the district full-time in 2001, has her own back story. It's not the stuff of Hollywood. But she came from a working class background, enough so that "I understand where these students are coming from," she said.

Today she is raising her own two children along with those at Wharton.

It will grow more difficult next year.

A round of districtwide budget cuts eliminated 15 assistant principal positions, and Cary-Greco is moving to a teaching job at Turner-Bartels K-8 School across the street.

She's determined to keep the Wharton Crime Prevention Club going, at least until the core group is ready for graduation.

"They respect me," she said.

"They know that their actions represent me, whether on campus or off campus. They also need to represent themselves, and they strive for that."

Contact Marlene Sokol at (813) 226-3356 or msokol@tampabay.com. Follow @marlenesokol.

By Marlene Sokol

Times Staff Writer

TAMPA — The teens come tumbling out of the Ford SUV, all dress clothes and testosterone and a half hour late for Mrs. Leach's class at Cahoon Elementary School.

It's hard to get them all together, says Jennifer Cary-Greco, their assistant principal at Wharton High. No problem. Twenty-seven first-graders are ready to see them.

"How y'all doing today?" Marlos Drain, 16, asks while his friends unpack bags of lollipops, Airheads and Smarties.

"The top three things we are going to talk to y'all about during the summer is 911 and how to dial it, that's one.

"Two, stranger danger. And three, what's the other one? Oh yes, gun safety. That's number one of all of them. Gun safety. If y'all ever see a gun, do not pick it up. Even if it's real or fake. Go to an adult. Never pick it up."

They call themselves "the Crime Prevention Club."

They travel across north Tampa to neighborhoods where some played football as young children, welcomed by principals who appreciate that leadership comes in all shapes and sizes.

•••

Summer is bearing down and children need advice — not from someone in a uniform or heels, but from someone who could be a big brother or cousin.

The lessons are basic, punctuated with "good job" and "that's right" and always, always candy for anything that resembles a right answer.

"Does everybody know what a stranger is?" Rythew Saint-Vil, 16, asks them.

"There's a lot of strangers during the summer and you guys have got to remember to stay away from them. So everybody loves their mom, right? Everybody tells their mom that they love her every morning, right? So if a stranger comes to pick you up, your mom would never send a stranger to pick you up."

Saint-Vil did not get chosen for the Crime Prevention Club because of his good grades.

It was actually the opposite.

His studies started "going south" during his freshman year at Wharton, he said. There were too many distractions, "other people that want to start stuff with you, nonsense you're in."

He needed decent grades to play football, his passion. But he still was not motivated to focus on his studies, and sophomore year was looking worse.

Then he had a conversation with Cary-Greco, who was looking for a way to get the school's sophomores to the finish line for graduation in 2020.

"She needed for me to be on my game and she wanted to start a club, so I was like, 'No problem,'" he said.

•••

Saint-Vil keeps the patter going with the children. Run away from the stranger, he tells them. Find an adult you know and trust. And have a friend with you, wherever you go. "You guys have a lot of friends, right?"

Richard Thorpe, 15, is next. He asks the kids, "Do you know who 911 is? Can I get a show of hands? Do you know the reason you would call 911?"

The first-graders tell elaborate tales of being robbed at work, of someone trying to break into their house.

Handfuls of candy later, they move on to gun safety — the many reasons why they should never touch a gun. One by one, they promise they will move away from the gun and find an adult.

"Don't pick it up because you could get hurt and if you get shot, you could get hurt and you could die," says Ismael Diaz, 7.

And by now it is clear that the 27 small children and eight teens are thoroughly and chillingly familiar with guns.

They talk about the police, and how they are your friends despite all the stereotypes. They talk about bullying, and how to stop it, and the importance of never, ever swimming without an adult.

Maybe it's the energy of the presenters, or the gripping subject matter, or the candy, or the combination of all three. But the children keep their eyes locked on their mentors, still thoroughly engaged when they gather up the grocery bags and head for the exit.

•••

Cary-Greco did not learn to form a crime prevention club in a training session, or purchase it from a curriculum vendor.

"I created it," she said.

Plagued by sporadic student fighting, Wharton needed a crime watch. So she reached out to a large program in Dade County for guidance and materials.

Then she put "my boys," as she calls them, to work.

The club assisted with a campaign at Wharton against texting and driving. They alerted administrators to conflicts between students, so mediation could be used to avoid physical confrontations. They mentor ninth graders at Wharton as well.

"The boys earn trips to teach elementary school students," Cary-Greco said. "Their grades must show an increase, behavior is reviewed, and they have to dress up the best they can."

Saint-Vil's grades are so much better, he narrowly missed principal's honor role this spring.

It's like this, he said: "I'm a role model, because I have to live up to my expectations. What I put on for these kids, I can't just tell them when I'm not acting the same way."

It's much the same for Thorpe.

"At the end of the day, I feel like this deal teaches us a lot about how I have to live," he said.

"If we're going to tell the kids not to play with guns, we shouldn't be out there playing with guns. If we're going to tell the kids not to be bad, we shouldn't be bad in class. We have to be as positive as we can be. It's basically coming back to me because they're going to look up to me in the long run."

•••

Some of the students, probably most of the students, have overcome hardships outside school.

Thorpe would not go into details about losses he has suffered. But he said the Crime Prevention Club is like family.

"It's an excellent bonding thing," he said. "It helped me get through a lot. I learned so much from each and every one of these guys. I can come into the office sad about something, and they help me get through. We all look out for each other."

Cary-Greco, a onetime history teacher who joined the district full-time in 2001, has her own back story. It's not the stuff of Hollywood. But she came from a working class background, enough so that "I understand where these students are coming from," she said.

Today she is raising her own two children along with those at Wharton.

It will grow more difficult next year.

A round of districtwide budget cuts eliminated 15 assistant principal positions, and Cary-Greco is moving to a teaching job at Turner-Bartels K-8 School across the street.

She's determined to keep the Wharton Crime Prevention Club going, at least until the core group is ready for graduation.

"They respect me," she said.

"They know that their actions represent me, whether on campus or off campus. They also need to represent themselves, and they strive for that."

Contact Marlene Sokol at (813) 226-3356 or msokol@tampabay.com. Follow @marlenesokol.