Program seeks to help youths

Thirteen chairs. No table. For a dozen teenagers, these sessions give them a chance to talk about their lives, their relationships with their peers and how to live without crime.\nThey are part of Juvenile Alternative Management Sessions, a program of Monroe County Community Corrections.\nJAMS is a cognitive rehabilitation service in which "high risk juveniles" are placed by court order. The goal of the program is to help juveniles turn their lives around. \nAmy Maple, juvenile coordinator, said the children are not placed in this program because they can't learn. For example, some students in the program do very well academically. The students are intelligent, but don't always use their intelligence to make the right decisions, she said.\nParticipants in the program, called "jammers," meet from 3-6 p.m., Monday through Thursday at the facility. They work on homework and improve life skills. \nA day at JAMS is broken into three periods.\nDuring the first hour, participants learn life skills, such as dealing with emotions, how to get a job and what life is like in the criminal system as an adult.\nThe second hour is spent with a tutor. Participants who attend school work on homework while those with jobs do equivalent work.\nAfter lunch, the juveniles participate in a group counseling session.\nAlthough IU supplies tutors for some classes, they do not start until late in the semester, which leaves a small number of tutors during semester breaks and the first part of each semester. There is now one full-time tutor. \nTutoring a "jammer" offers benefits to tutors and students, Maple said. She said tutors can build a relationship with their students, especially after tutoring the same person for a while.\n"We mainly depend on students for tutors," Juvenile Coordinator Carole Richard said. "We really need students early in the semesters and during breaks."\nMany of the tutors use the experience to work toward their professional goals.\nSophomore Crystal Spivey is one example. She started working in the program as a tutor and worked with one student whom she saw graduate. Now, she works as a staff member. \n"I wanted to get one foot in the door in a criminal justice setting," she said.\nSenior Amanda Jennings has been tutoring since July. \n"I've always been interested in working with disadvantaged kids," she said. "It will help prepare me to be a better teacher."\nSpivey said the juveniles perceive college students as people without problems -- a world they gave up long ago.\n"Someone who has been through high school may not understand the situation the kids are in, but does know how to succeed," Jennings said.\nMaple said the purpose of the program is to help juveniles understand a way out of their problems.\n"We want the kids to leave here not being afraid to change," she said.\nTo volunteer, contact Amy Maple or Carole Richard at 349-2089.