Humanity at the heart of Heidelberg youth programs

TIFFIN --- For the 1,700 incarcerated youth in Ohio, a little connection goes a long way. Dr Sarah Lazzari's criminology classes have found several ways to make a difference for young people in the Seneca County Youth Center. Lazzari and four of her students presented their work at the Tiffin-Seneca Public Library on Tuesday evening. The discussion-based program was entitled "We Are Still Human: giving a voice to those living in justice systems" The first project, "Writers in Residence," connects members of the Time to Invest Program at the Youth Center with college students. The at-risk youth visit Heidelberg University where they build creative writing skills. The Time to Invest program works with youth during the day to catch them up on school work. The Heidelberg cohort of Writers in Residence is the only one that brings the students to the campus. The goal is to get the youth to make education seem approachable, so that the youth can see themselves as potential college students. Heidelberg student Jacqueline Beach helped to put together a chapbook: a collection of poems from the workshops. She says, "We were not teachers at the workshops, but a group of teenagers having a conversation." The Partners in Academic Coaching for Excellence program, or PACE, is another local organization with a similar mission. College students work as tutors for students from the Youth Center, meeting once a week. Sophomore Yaniah Powell hopes to work on reuniting children with their families in the future. Powell explained that the college students are encouraged to have a "future-tense mindset" when working with the youth. Lazzari reflected that this program is beneficial for both the youth from the detention center, and her college students. "Its so fun when I see that armor come down and it happens over something organic like homework." The third opportunity for Heidelberg's criminology students is a program titled "Insight from the Inside." Working with Rev. Paul Stark, Lazzari connected her students with 45 women incarcerated at a women's prison in New Mexico. The students keep up a semester-long correspondence, learning about the prison system while finding things in common with the women. The line "we are still human" comes from a poem written by one of the incarcerated women. Lazzari's classes also seek to educate about the reasons behind incarceration rates, and ways to improve the system. She shared data about the "school-to-prison pipeline" for at-risk youth, and how high-stakes testing in school systems leaves some students behind. At the end of one course, students take what they have learned and design their own idealized prison. For the 71,000 people incarcerated in Ohio, having an educated youth who understands and cares about the system can make a huge difference. Trey Farris, a Heidelberg sophomore, wants to go into social work in the future. He said "They're kids at the end of the day. They have dreams, aspirations, goals. My biggest goal is to make them feel as human as they can possibly feel."