PROGRAM GIVES STUDENTS AT SOUTHEAST PRACTICAL WORK WITH TROUBLED KIDS

If you think grabbing a burger and soft drink at McDonald's is a "ho hum" activity, then you probably haven't chatted recently with one of 26 Southeast Missouri State University students participating in the Department of Criminal Justice's "Operation Involvement."

Terri Johnston, a senior and Southeast criminal justice major from Piedmont, works with an emotionally disturbed youth from Southeast Missouri who considers an outing to McDonald's a treat.

"T~o them, going to McDonald's is like going to Red Lobster," she said. "Most of them do not have a concept" of what the world is like, she said.

Johnston said that working with such youths "is a big learning experience. You get to see what another culture is like."

Johnston is among the group of Southeast upper level majors in criminal justice, social work or psychology who participate in one of four components of the "Operation Involvement" program. The Southeast students receive independent study credit or are paid hourly to work in the program, which is designed to serve as an alternative to institutionalizing delinquent and emotionally disturbed youth.

Director of the program is Johnny McGaha, Southeast associate professor of criminal justice. The project is funded through three grants from the state Division of

Children and Youth Services (DYS) and another from the Community Caring Council, together which total $71,000.

"Operation Involvement" pairs Southeast students with a variety of troubled youths: those who are delinquent, those emotionally disturbed and suffering from a variety of problems, those in need of tutoring while in a DYS day treatment program, or those in transition and in need of guidance while working toward independent living.

Twelve Southeast students work with 26 delinquent youths from the region in the so called "Intensive Case Monitor" program, in which Southeast students serve as "trackers" for status offenders, checking on them three to four times a week. The youths, ages 12 to 17, may have records for a number of violations, including alcohol abuse, stealing and assault. They also may have been runaways, involved in gangs, on parole, or in a group home and on their way out. The Southeast students act as "big brothers" and "big sisters" to the youths, monitoring their adherence to curfews, working with their schools and parents, and talking with them about their problems, McGaha said.

"It's an educational experience," Johnston said.

In addition, eight Southeast students work with 10 emotionally disturbed and multiproblem youths who have been referred by the Interagency Staffing Team. The team is a multi-problem, high-risk group that refers youths needing help to a variety of programs, including the one at Southeast. The youths are ages eight to 15.

The role of the Southeast student is to develop meaningful relationships with the youth and to plan activities with them. Johnston says she has taken youths bowling, to movies and out for ice cream.

"We do all kinds of things together," Johnston said. "I just absolutely love it. This is really going to help me in the future. I am going to have experience when I get out of school."

McGaha says "Operation Involvement" enhances classroom learning.

"Until kids get out and experience (juvenile delinquency and emotionally troubled youths), they really don't learn that much," he said. "We teach theory in class. They run into reality out there. Some of (the Southeast students) take to it like a duck takes to water. For some of them, it makes their career. It's just a great learning experience."

Meanwhile, five Southeast students also are getting hands-on experience with troubled youths by providing tutoring services at the Girardeau Treatment Center. And one Southeast student, through "Proctor Care," shares living quarters with a delinquent youth, in addition to cooking him meals, providing transportation to and from school, and acting as a positive role model for independent living, McGaha said.

"Operation Involvement," which was launched as a pilot program in 1990, is a prototype for the nation, he said.

"I think it's a good program," McGaha said. "I think it's good for the delinquent youth. Apparently DYS thinks it's a good thing because they continue to make financial commitments to it."

He says the future of the program is bright.

"Since its inception in 1990, this program has provided almost 100 college students from a variety of disciplines an opportunity to learn in ways that the classroom could never provide," he said. "It has also provided hundreds of problem youth the kind of direction that they need from positive role models. I really don't see any end to it right now."