Supporting Youth Through Job Corps with Ivory Boyce

Alright, so welcome to Resilient Schools. This is the podcast we're doing at the Bridging to Resilience Conference. Today we have Ivory Boyce. Ivory, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself.

why don't you. So I'm here with the Flint Hills Job Corps Center. We help students So about me, I'm a admissions counselor here at the Flint Hills. I'm new to the staff I have been working with the youth for several years.

I was at the Workforce Center when I was at the Workforce Center, I was a workforce professional and then I became a Customer Service Coordinator and then seeing all the different youth I decided to join with the Flint Hills Job Corps Center that needed the extra assistance So I'm excited to be here have two bachelor's degrees and a master's from Wichita State. Oh my goodness. So you're at home right now? Yes. Okay. So what are your bachelor's in and what's your master's in?

what I have health management and community development, and then I have the public health science with a minor in psychology is for the two bachelors. And then for my master's is health administration with aging studies concentration. Oh my gosh, that is so nerdy. I I love it With aging studies interesting. So you studied like how people get old? Basically, yes.

And then, like, how to stay healthy, and then the end of life, and how to take care of yourself, and what to do, and then Medicare, things like Fascinating. You're not working in your major, though, because you're working with kids, graduated in May. gotcha. So, with the health, with the public health, I felt like I was more into my public health side of things and community development, because it was health management and community development. That was my, one of my first bachelors.

The career development side, I'm all about helping people out, giving them the tools that they need and the resources and things like that, so I'm super excited. to 16 to

what Job Corps is a way for young adults aged 16 to 24 to further their education. They can have a high school diploma or they cannot. We'll help them get their GED or high school diploma. We'll help you get a trade.

and a driver's license if you don't have that, everything's 100 percent free room and board, you'll have a place to stay, you'll get three hot meals a day, plus snacks in between, afternoons we have recreational and different things, we'll take them to the K State games and bowling and skating, so it's like the full package, so if you're like not knowing what's the next step, then you're not able to get like a full ride to the College or you're not understanding what's your next steps.

We'll be able to be here for you to take your hand in Help you along the process. It's at your own pace So if you can finish in nine months, you'll be able to finish in nine months if it takes you 12 months We'll let you go 12 months. It takes you two years. We'll be here for two years So it's really up to you as long as you're making that progress. We'll be here to support you to get to that next level Some people go to college after and get a four year degree. Some people go to military.

Some people go into the work field. We have so many different options that you can do and we'll be here along the way to help you. Cool. So what is your purpose in coming to a conference like bridging to resilience?

coming to this conference will be able to help us grasp the knowledge of working with different populations of individuals and understanding where they're coming from. So when we're helping them bridge this. We'll be able to connect with the different resources of all the people , it's so many different teachers and different things like that.

So if you see a young adult struggling or trying to get to the next step and you're just not sure, If traditional high school is there for them, all the hope spots and things like that, sometimes traditional high school is not the best for everyone. So seeing the different option, you still want this kid to succeed, or you still want them to be able to get to the next level. And sometimes it's what will be that next level for this kid? Their high school's not for them. Come to Job Corps.

We'll be able to help you complete your high school diploma and it doesn't just have to be a GED. You'll get your high school diploma, you can get a trait, you'll get your driver's license. We'll help you, you'll have a transition specialist to help you along the process when you're done. You'll have all that extra support that you need that you feel like you're lacking in other systems. feel like you're lacking in other systems. Yeah, that's very cool.

I imagine that also some of the kids that the people here are working with in their schools would probably be good candidates for Job Corps as well. That they may not know what they want to do and may not have a stable home environment for an example of what they could do. as a stable home environment for an example of what they could do. for their child, they're going Consider that. And then, so free or reduced lunch is automatic qualifier.

There's a lot of kids that's on the public Medicaid and things like that. Automatic qualifier. As soon as you turn 18, you're an individual, and you're a grown up, and you don't have any income because you haven't worked. Automatic qualifier. So there's so many different ways we can get these young people in to bridge the gap. bridge the gap. Oh, cool. That's very good. There's been a lot at this conference. What are some of your big takeaways?

Things that you've learned that you want to make sure you remember going forward.

Yeah, so there was so many different things that I have jotted down in my notebook or whatever, but the, I love to see that people go through so many different things, but they still have that the hope and prosperity to go to the next level. So many people come from poverty or experienced poverty.

Some people might not have stayed there, but they have experienced it, being able to hear different people's perspectives, but also getting those tools that we need to work with these young individuals to get to the next level. But yeah, it's been so inspiring. And then I like the different breakout rooms, how you can go pick which class you want to be in to get to the different courses.

there was one individual who we were talking about being colorblind and you can't act like you don't see the color or where someone's coming from or their culture or their race because race and culture is two different things.

But You can't say, Oh, I don't see color and everyone's the same because you do see that I'm different and you have to respect that I'm different and respect where I'm coming from and understand that you're working with someone from a different culture and understand how to deal with each individual differently because everyone's not the same. Yeah. You can't ignore those things. Yeah, that's good. That's Charles Williams.

I wanted to chat with him on the podcast, but we couldn't make our schedules line up, so he'll be coming out in the future for sure, because I thought that was definitely an interesting session. Yes, and I also like, there's different resources here for teachers to be able, if you see a kid struggling, there's mentor programs that they're trying to line people up with.

There's all these different type of resources that we have that you can't use all of them, but if you take one or two of them away, that we'll be able to make the world a better Yeah, for sure. So with all that said, and you have in front of you a huge notebook with a ton of papers in it. The other question that I would ask Ivory is what is an action step you're gonna take as a result of being here?

I feel like I'm going to recognize my triggers and know what to do and how to manage those triggers when they come up. So no one in a perfect world, we all will be happy and if we all would agree on everything, but there is some things that come up to make us upset or so we got to focus on. Ourself sometimes in on what's our part of the mess or whatever to make sure we'll be able to help the next person So Basically is being proactive instead of focusing on the reaction.

You'll be able to focus on being proactive So that was a nice little note Yeah, I love the idea of being proactive instead of reactive when you're proactive you're able to act how you want to act rather than acting how somebody else makes you act.

And you definitely don't want to just be acted upon by other people and have them, tell you how you should be, like when there's a, especially in schools, when there's a kid who's bothering you or making you upset, like you're giving all your power to that kid by letting them control your emotions and how you feel. And if you're being reactive, but if you can instead say, regardless of what happens today, this is how I'm going to show up.

Then you can act in alignment with your values, regardless of what the circumstances are around that. And that's a really powerful skill to develop. And I can definitely agree with that. Yeah. That's powerful.

Yeah. coming to a conference like this, you're going to go back, talk with your peers at work and the other, and with this, the students that are there, what are some of the things that you're going to say are like, these were the impactful things that we learned that maybe they didn't apply to you because you're not like in a classroom setting and and a lot of people here are what are some of those things that you want to take away?

All of our people come from different walks of life it's not just the perfect picture home or whatever, but it's like, trying to calm someone down, don't tell them to calm down, because at the end of the day, telling someone to calm down when they're so heated, we have to try other de escalation methods and things like that that's a big one, trying to like, don't say calm down the non verbal cues you don't have to say some things, but then you can pick up on them based off the body language.

Tone of voice is not what you say, but it's how you say it. Those are major, because I can tell you to relay this message, but if you go say it in a different tone, or in an email or text message, tone can also get lost yeah. Yeah, those are little things, but man they sure do make a big impact, Yeah, And if you are coming across as sarcastic or inauthentic or something, then people really see and feel that and that can be really detrimental.

anything else that you feel we need to chat about before we sign off? One thing I can say is, when we're working with kids, before we react to their reaction, we have to make sure they have their basic needs. They are, taken care of, and the president or whatever of SDAC, I'm not sure if that's the correct title, but he was the keynote speaker today, this morning. Executive Director, Chad

Yes. So he gave that example of the shattering glass okay, I'm knocking on the door, seeing what it is, what's going on, and then he see that the mother is in the wheelchair, on oxygen, this, that, and the third there's more to life than just of course the kid needs to be in school, but if you see that her mom is on her deathbed or got a couple months to live, you can see why she's not at school. So the shattering glass was, that was a good story too. I really liked that.

Yeah. And that doesn't excuse behavior, but it gives us context. And that's actually what, what Chad was talking about on the show that I interviewed him earlier. The context really does matter. And it's not like that's going to make everything okay or anything like that. But if you understand it, then you can have some empathy. You can say, okay, I see where you're coming from. And you can get an idea of what's going on.

And then you can say, all right, this was really an inappropriate behavior. This was wrong. We can't do this. But... I see where you're coming from. I have empathy. I love you. I care about you. And let's move on. you can learn how to support them.

That's the main thing of getting that extra information, because it's like, you're not, like you said, you're not telling them that information is okay, but now you know how to support them, you know what they're going through, you can actually relate to them in a different way. You know what I'm saying? Like, Not saying you're going to give them any lax or any slack, but you can. Help them out and give them the extra tools they need.

Maybe they might need a ride to school, or maybe they might need some clothes or something because their mom's not working, or whatever that's, everyone has different anxieties, or different fears, or whatever that's going through their head, but whatever that's holding them back, you might be able to be that extra layer of support to get them to their next level. Jones, Transformative Principal, Jethro, Yeah. And everybody needs support getting somewhere, right?

And sometimes they're the one receiving support. Sometimes they're the one giving support. And there have been times where people that you don't think would be the supporters are the supporters. Like I've had students who have really helped me through a difficult time without even knowing that's what they were doing. And, and I'll just share one quick little story. This was my daughter who was in 7th grade at the time.

And I had just gotten told that I wasn't gonna be the principal of my school anymore. And the next day. Go back to the school, pack your office, you're done. Really difficult. And my daughter that day was like, I gotta eat lunch with my dad. And she came in and ate lunch with me. And and I was like... totally distraught, totally bummed, and she was just like chatting away. We're talking and then she says, what's wrong dad? And I said, Oh, I'm just having a rough day.

She put her hand on my arm and she said, dad, it's going to be okay. And it was like, Oh my goodness, that girl, like she, she was totally right. And it was okay. And yeah, that was a really tough thing to go through, but man, I sure am grateful that I had that moment with her. Where she could be my support when I didn't have support in that moment and I needed it bad. And that's a really powerful thing. Not sure why I felt like I needed to share that story, but there you go.

back to Yeah. the That's, a long way to make someone get to the next step in their

Yeah, for sure. So Ivor, if somebody's interested in Job Corps, we have people all over the country listening to this. Not just Flint Hills Job Corps, but anywhere in the country. How did they get connected and learn more about that? You can visit us at JobCourse. gov to get our information, or you can give me a call at 785 770 7302. . This episode was edited by Carter Black as part of the Davis Catalyst Center.