Reading, writing and possibilities
By Kirsten Ballard
Published in News on April 20, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Andreta Wooten helps Jakius Davis, 7, with his homework during power hour after the children arrive at the Boys and Girls Club of Fremont. The children who attend the program in the afternoon often help one another with assignments and read after all of their homework is finished.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Jamir Culver, 10, laughs as he dives into home plate while playing quickball on the front lawn at the Boys and Girls Club of Fremont.
FREMONT -- Patrick Smith has come home.
The freshman at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill stands in the yard, throwing a football with his friends.
He grew up in the small white building. The fenced-in yard was his world.
The Northern Wayne Boys and Girls Club in Fremont is small. Space is divided between the tables and a recreational area of pool tables and a TV. There is a library at one end of the building. Colorful drawings, painted chairs and a bright red couch make it feel like home.
Patrick attended the club every day after school for 10 years.
"My parents had to work, I was safe," he said. "It definitely did change my look. Fremont isn't the best town. The Boys and Girls Club made me focus."
Patrick is studying biology at UNC, but he plans to switch over to nursing.
On his breaks from college, he returns to see Andreta Wooten, whom he calls his adopted mom.
She has many "adopted" children.
Ms. Wooten has been at the Boys and Girls Club since 1998. She has seen children grow up, graduate and come back. She has taught generations of families.
She is more than an after-school supervisor.
She is the law.
During outside play, she organizes the children into a boys versus girls kickball game.
She referees the game. She calls outs, fouls and oversees the amended rules. Because of the size of the lawn at Fremont, the rules of kickball have grown to include over-the-fence kicks are automatically two outs.
She bowls the kickball across the patchy lawn, pitching fairly for each team.
She coaches both teams, yelling advice -- "run," "throw it here." Her help evens out between the boys and the girls.
When a child falls, Ms. Wooten picks him up, dusts him off and sends him quickly back to base.
She high-fives each child, even the ones who are out. She calls them collective pet names -- they are her "babies," "her turtles" and her "little bits."
"Don't be a model," she says to the girls.
They are here to play, not worry about clothes or boys.
The Boys and Girls Clubs host seminars for both genders about hygiene, pregnancy prevention and responsibility. The Boys and Girls Clubs' mission is to increase graduation rates and to decrease teenage pregnancy.
Ms. Wooten says she believes the Stay Smart seminars work.
"They just seem to listen," she says. "You have to let them know you love them and care about them or you wouldn't pay attention."
In the past 17 years, the Boys and Girls Clubs in Wayne County have only had two teen pregnancies in active club members. The clubs also boast a 100 percent graduation rate from active members.
However, not all the numbers are as encouraging.
Fifty-nine percent of club members come from a single parent house and 97 percent qualify for free and reduced lunches.
The Boys and Girls Club on Royall Avenue in Goldsboro has a meal provided when the children get off the bus. The program started in December. This program does not extend to the other chapters in Wayne County. In the Northern Wayne Club, a cardboard sign reads, "In need of snacks, please make donations."
The Boys and Girls Club annual Pig in the Park fundraiser was Saturday. The money raised at the barbecue event goes into general club operations.
In 2014, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Wayne County, 1,146 youths were served. There are three chapters in the county: Goldsboro, Mount Olive and the Northern Wayne Unit in Fremont.
In addition to after-school, the clubs are open on early dismissal days, teacher work days, summer and school breaks.
The money raised at Pig in the Park goes into general operations. Developmental Director Jo Heidenreich says the Boys and Girls Clubs apply for specific grants, but the additional money helps sustain the day-to-day operations of the Boys and Girls Club.
Grants go toward funding programs like the Drumming Up Character group at Goldsboro.
Other grants fund game equipment, which is not only fun, but teaches the children social interaction.
"We are able to develop new opportunities for the kids," she said. "The grants are program-related, sometimes you have to use your imagination to come up with things that will benefit the children and enhance the club."
Children like Patrick Smith see the benefit of these grants. He loved playing ping pong and going on field trips. He knew it wasn't always playtime.
"I always got my homework done," he said. "I had 10 years with Ms. Wooten, she would always go out of her way for me if I needed something."
In the Northern Wayne club, a normal afternoon begins with Aim to Success, an hour of homework and educational time.
Ms. Wooten checks each sheet of homework before the children can read with the rest of power hour.
She circles problems that are not solved correctly.
At her desk, she listens to Jay Rowe read aloud. Ms. Wooten had his dad, Reggie, in the program.
She tests his reading fluency. The 6-year-old has to read a passage in under a minute with as few mistakes as possible.
He tracks his finger across the page as he reads, pausing for help on some of the more difficult words.
"I have some good kids," she said. "I'm not saying perfect kids, they're kids, and they're going to do some kid things and that's OK."