Building a stronger foundation, offering mentorship, and focusing on transition support for Form One students are the key aspects of the MENtality Programme at Mucurapo East Secondary School.
The programme is designed to empower young men to navigate the challenges of adolescence with confidence.
In particular, it exposes Form Three students to six weeks of training with expert male professionals in areas such as conflict resolution and leadership. These students then use their newly acquired skills to mentor and help Form One students transition into Secondary School life.
Former Principal Derrick Phillip believes in the benefits of the programme, which was created by the school’s guidance counsellor, Nicole Young, and former teacher Kandice James.
“We continue to work those programmes. MENtality here is one of those programmes where we work on the youths to ensure that they change their mentality and so on. It doesn’t matter what area you come from — we cater for kids from Sea Lots, Beetham, to places like Carenage and so on and we have done a good job with them. Our students don’t be misbehaving in the streets; they are well-mannered and well-organised, so I think we have done a good job over the years.”
Youth gospel singer and songwriter Jaron Nurse believes that young men must seek positive guidance and understand the importance of spirituality, while acknowledging neither as a sign of weakness.
“We have a lot of influencers, but what I more so try to be is a role model. There is a big difference between a role model and an influencer. An influencer is simply someone that has a lot of following, but a role model is someone who I would want my children to follow.”
According to Programme Director of the Military-Led Academic Training Programme (MiLAT), Lieutenant Commander Anthony Goddard, these programmes are extremely important not only to establish discipline and camaraderie, but also to allow young men to write their own story of success.
“It kind of mirrors and parallels along the lines of what the MiLAT programme is, but programmes like these are integral because they target youths at a certain age — and these are the age groups that, you know, go on to commit certain crimes and have certain stereotypes against them. So programmes like these really shape how our society as a whole develops. Initiatives like these contribute a lot to building confidence, getting to know one another, and breaking down those stereotypes of what young men are supposed to express in terms of what masculinity is — and reform their way of thinking about masculinity in general.”