By LT Phillip Ridley, Pacific Partnership 2011 Chaplain and former Upward Bound student and counselor
Recently, I had an opportunity to speak to high school students who are part of the Upward Bound program in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). I was asked to speak because, like some of my shipmates on Pacific Partnership, I am an Upward Bound alumnus.
When I was a teenager, having good friends and a place where I could fit in was very crucial to me. After my parents got divorced, having friends and a place where I knew that I would fit in socially were my primary motivators. So, during that time, I didn’t make the best choices regarding my friends at school or in my neighborhood.
If I had continued along this path, I might have gotten into trouble with the law; perhaps to the point of becoming a career criminal. However, my teachers and my mother noticed a decline in my grades and had enough concern to help me get on a better path.
My mother researched avenues and options that would help me with my grades as well as keep me out of trouble. She discovered Upward Bound, and I joined the year-round program after eighth grade.
This story was very familiar to the young men and women I talked to in Pohnpei, and it was similar to the stories told by LTJG Jennifer Velasquez and HMCS Steven Hart. At some point, someone helped each of us access the path toward success by participating in Upward Bound.
The Mars Hill College Upward Bound program I participated in allowed students to live on campus for about six weeks each summer. Then, during the school year, we met regularly as a group and had monthly meetings with our director and counselor to review our academic progress. It was purposeful fun!
My enrollment in the Upward Bound program led me to improve my grades and gave me an opportunity to find a more positive group of people to hang out with. People that cared enough to let me be myself and accept me for who I was, but who also helped steer me in the right direction. Indeed, participation in this program was one of the most beneficial experiences in my life. Not only did I make good friends, but I gained a confidence in my ability to succeed — and the ability to appreciate more of the world and people around me.
Like the Upward Bound students here in FSM, we were tutored in basic academic courses and study techniques to improve our grades and test scores. We took trips to other colleges every summer to speak with admissions counselors and tour the campuses. Sometimes we spent the night on campus to get a taste of college life. Like I said, it was purposeful fun.
My whole perspective regarding college and my future changed during Upward Bound, as I saw it doing to the young people I talked with in FSM. I gained the confidence to try to do better and try to go to college, as is happening with them. Since then, I took advantage of the opportunities afforded to me by joining the Navy, I graduated from college and became a chaplain so I could help provide a positive influence to people and help make the world a better place. Now I have come full circle – to a place on the opposite side of the world to talk to young people who remind me of myself. Maybe there’s a Sailor or even a future chaplain among them.
Upward Bound doesn’t just provide wayward youth with productive opportunities. It provides them with the ability to see a future full of potential, have confidence in their abilities, and provides them with an understanding of the need to be surrounded by people with positive intentions.
It’s for these reasons that I became an Upward Bound counselor – and why I volunteered to talk to the Micronesian youth in the program here in Pohnpei. The greatness of Upward Bound is the opportunity for diverse students to see the greatness within themselves and their communities. I am thrilled, honored, and moved by the fact that this invaluable program is alive and well in FSM.
Sincerely,
LT Phillip Ridley, Pacific Partnership 2011 Chaplain
LT Ridley is the Chaplain for the Pacific Partnership 2011 mission. His responsibility include maintaining a ministry, providing pastoral care and the organization and execution of community service projects during the deployment in five countries. He is personally responsible for the execution of 46 community service projects in Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste
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