Talk to Watson
by Gabrielle Dingle
An organization which was designed to create a stable and safe environment for students to center their energy at the close of the school day is the definition of Osborne High School’s After-School Program (ASP) run by Terry Watson. Terry Watson ,a Cobb County School District Sanctioned Social Worker, is a well-known face around campus. Watson’s duty as a Social Worker is to create activities for students that will keep them off of the streets and out of trouble. Consequently, in 2006 when he acquired an opportunity to create a curriculum for these “delinquent” students, Watson “jumped at it.” He decided to create this program based on research done by social scientists on the effects of students who take part in after school programs. According to Watson, the scientists, who have conducted this study, have come to the realization that these students are “less likely to drop out of school, get pregnant, use drugs and/or alcohol, or get into trouble with the police.” In order to get the program rolling, Watson wrote a 60 page request to the state of Georgia asking for funding for the program. The request was approved and the program has received over ½ million dollars from the Department of Human Resources for its daily functioning. After the request was approved, Watson immediately began work on getting the program under way. Most believe that the program began with the ASP however, it started with a five-week summer program in 2006; the ASP was kicked off shortly after. The ASP offers nine different activities for students to choose from. The activities are African dance and drumming, hip-hop dancing, photography, banking and finances, drama, modeling, tutoring, step dance, Skills USA, cooking, anime and latin dancing. The Modeling Club is taught by Ms. Valerie Desvignes of Model & Talent Outreach, Inc.; the students in this program learn the fundamentals of the world of fashion modeling. The final project for the students in this group is to host a Fashion Show at the school in April. The African Dance and Drumming Class is taught by Mr. Sambo Diallo from the Ivory Coast, Africa; the students in this class are learning traditional African drumming and movement as well as the history and purpose of the movements and rhythms they use. The Teen Driving Institute is taught by a team of instructors from the Safe America Foundation, the class is a six hour class in which the students use computerized driving simulators to prepare them to drive on the road. The Photography Division is being taught by Ms. Phyllis, who has done photography for many different magazines including, National Geographic. The last course that is offered, that is not instructed by an OHS teacher, is Hip Hop Dance. This course is educated by Ms. Jerri Benjamin who has danced around the world with different artists such as LL Cool J, Will Smith, Ciara and TLC; she has also performed at the Grammy Awards, the Billboard Music Awards and the MTV Music Awards, in addition she has danced in over fifty music awards. The courses that are taught by OHS instructors are Drama which is taught by Ms. Gray, Break Dance taught by Mr. & Mrs. Nelson, Debate Team taught by Mrs. Thurston and Skills USA which is taught by Ms. Wynn, the Skills USA chapter that is offered at OHS is a part of the national organization that serves high school students who are preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service. There are already over 160 students enrolled in the ASP and membership to the program is free. The program handles over 80 students per week, the programs are offered Mondays-Thursdays. Any prospective students that would like to join the program should go to the cafeteria after school during the week and sign up for any activities that they are interested in, however they should join soon since the program is filling up fast and the instructors may have to close out the enrollment. If there are any prospective students who would like to be a part of the ASP, all they would need to do is go to the cafeteria in the afternoon, between Monday and Thursday.
-Volume 1, Issue 2-
