Everyone has a dream, but some dreams can be a little more challenging to achieve than others. Sometimes we are told that our dreams are far from being reached, or simply that those dreams can’t be achieved.
The age group that faces these types of situations the most is teenagers, because they have all the dreams in the world, yet they are still trying to get past peer pressure. Trying to impress friends and others to fit in during teenager years can sometimes lead them down a wrong path, yet there is always a way back to the good road. One of those ways is through Salt Lake Community College’s program Sky’s the Limit.
Sky’s the Limit is a program in which college students help teenage kids who have committed misdemeanors get back on track and to help prevent them from getting in trouble again. Those teens who are in the program have committed crimes such as tagging, shoplifting and skipping school enough times to be put on probation.
SLCC students can get involved in this program and become role models for those troubled kids. Students that get involved with the program first go through training so they can know how interact with the teenagers. They have to get a background check because they are going to be working with kids who are struggling in society. After the training they meet twice a month and they go to the institution where the teens are.
At the institution, they first engage in a group dialogue to get to know each other and then they go into group discussions. There are two college students in each group, one male and one female. The group session is where the student mentors get to know the teenagers more as individuals rather than as people who are struggling. Also in those group discussions the students and teenagers share personal information, which also can be a way of seeking some advice from others.
When a college student walks into the institution they immediately become a role model for those teenagers, because many of the teens have always believed that they can’t do anything or that it is impossible to go to college because they come from a low income home, where education is not one of the main priorities.
Those who volunteer at Sky’s the Limit are not only helping those who are struggling to find the right path and who they are, but they are also finding out things about themselves as well.
“I thought that I would just be helping them, but later did I realize more about myself. Because of this program I was able to reflect about where I stood in my studies and my life,” said SLCC student and Sky’s the Limit volunteer Deena Lang. “I was able to dispel misconceptions about participants of the program for myself and others who were also introduced to the program. They are all capable young people. The just needed a little guidance.”
Those teenagers who are in the program have learned many valuable lessons that are going to stay with them for their rest of their lives. Some of the lessons that they’ve learned are that it’s never too late to start all over again going in the right path and to keep their head up.
Putting all of their effort, heart and mind to follow their dreams, they will achieve them and make something out of themselves.
For more information on Sky’s the Limit, contact Ana Archuleta at (801) 957-4473 or Carlos Moreno at (801) 957-3882.
