Mentors help Fayette’s at-risk students
remove barriers, see ‘life can be different’

By Tammy Lane
Fayette County Public Schools

Motivated All Day Every Day. That’s the goal for at-risk students chosen for the MADE mentoring program, coordinated by the Martin Luther King Jr. Academy for Excellence.

The man behind MADE, Logan Avritt, provides ample motivation in this gang-prevention/ intervention/ conflict resolution approach. Avritt, who grew up with the Crips in Portland, Ore., lost a lot of friends to drugs and violence and spent 10 years in prison before turning his life around.

“I got to sit back amid all the drama and saw all the people I was hurting,” he recalled. “When I was in that hole, I wondered ‘How did I give up on my dreams to live in this nightmare?’”

Avritt, who has family in Lexington, decided to start fresh here and try to make a difference with today’s youth. “My model is a ‘reality’ model,” he explained. “It’s real life for me – it’s not a game.”

Principal Mark Sellers and social worker Quincy Murdock agreed to let him roll out MADE in Fayette County Public Schools about three years ago. “They took a risk with me, and I believe it’s paying off,” Avritt noted.

Of some 60 students who went through MADE last year, only three wound up at MLK Academy, an alternative for students who aren’t thriving in other school settings.

Murdock also has noticed an uptick in academic performance and improved behavior among MADE participants at Bryan Station, Crawford, Leestown and Winburn middle schools.

“It’s a positive youth movement,” he said. “They have a sense of unity, a sense of belonging.”

The weekly program hosted by each school covers conflict resolution, prevention of violence against women, cultural diversity and media literacy. With the media piece, for instance, the leaders dissect popular videos and talk about the social and emotional impact of the music, fashion and language.

Another component is a field trip to Bluegrass Christian Camp, about 10 miles southeast of town. Last Friday, a group of Leestown boys spent the snowy day navigating ropes courses and zip lines, playing tug-of-war and paintball, and building bridges and friendships.

“It makes them think to depend on each other and brings on togetherness and camaraderie,” said school social worker Sterling Ward. “They’ve been disappointed a lot in their life, and they’ve got a lot of baggage already, so we’re trying to break down some of those barriers.”

The MADE program is funded by a Project Safe Neighborhoods grant through the U.S. Department of Justice. Retired police officer Greg Howard and former gang member Geo Gibson, who both now work for the Fayette County Attorney’s Office, are among the community mentors encouraging students to make wise choices.

“I was exposed to a lot of negativity growing up. We want to be positive role models to give them someone to look up to,” said Gibson, who believes in a proactive strategy for reaching at-risk youth.

“The goal,” Howard added, “is to give them the opportunity to see life can be different.”