EARLY YEARS: Community Builders building brighter future for Roanoke City 8th graders

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - Through service projects, college trips and even exercise classes, the Community Builders program for Roanoke City 8th graders helps build skills and confidence to last a lifetime.

“We have speakers come in and talk to us about being entrepreneurs, or like, what they do in their work or business. We went to different colleges to see if we want to go to college, or what colleges we’d want to go to in Roanoke and Richmond,” says 8th grader Starr Walker.

“We got to go to churches, like go to colleges, go to DAYTEC, and see what we want to do with our life and our communities. Things like that. We got to do culinary arts, forensic files, welding, fixing cars and stuff like that,” says 8th grader Andrew Hairston.

Community Builders was born out of legislation passed last year in the General Assembly, aimed at reducing youth violence.

“Delegate Rasoul worked with the General Assembly to pass this bill, and that created funding for the community builders program in Roanoke City Schools and also one other district in the state,” says James Breckinridge Middle School Community Builders site leader Morgan Hill.

Participants learn leadership skills, and how to make their community better through a variety of volunteering opportunities.

“Like with the homeless shelter, we go to help clean up trash around their building and we got to clean up their church that they have. And it made me realize like, don’t just everybody, because you don’t know how they’re living and stuff,” says Walker.

Building health bodies is another component of Community Builders.

D’Sean Adams incorporates his fitness program, Let’s Conquer Fitness to inspire healthy lifestyles.

“I just feel like this is the time where we are continuing to find ourselves in the middle school, you’re starting to learn about yourself. You know more things, the teachers are going to tell you about yourself, as well as the parents. Just to get started early, so you can go into high school with a clear mindset of what I want to do as far as goals,” says Adams.

Both Hairston and Walker encourage other 8th graders to join them, and dream big about the future.

“You should do it. It’s great experience for you to vision jobs in your head, put jobs in your head, and like do stuff when you get out of college or high school,” says Hairston.

“Think about college. Think about what you’re going to do when you get out of high school. And like, have a plan when you go into college,” says Walker.