MACON, Ga. — Students at Northeast High School in Macon are being drafted to their favorite teams--except we're not talking football.
The students are being drafted to get on a team with an adviser to keep them on track in school.
At the beginning of the school year, teachers come together to draft which students they want to help advise. Then they go straight to work with a goal to build stronger students.
"Dreams without goals are just dreams," academic coach Jarred Moore said.
Every Tuesday and Friday, some students at Northeast come together for "Raider-visement."
"I thought about it, it is a good idea, it is smart actually," student Clarence Nash said.
Except these students aren't picked at random.
"I asked the staff to get a list of 40 students they think they had great impact and rapport with, and they brought those students in, and after bringing those students we separated our staff male and female, and we conducted a draft," Principal of Northeast High School Steven Jones said.
Jones says youth violence hits close to home for his students last year.
" I knew Chop, and I knew Dean," Nash said.
Jones says it's students like Nash who need encouragement. That's why he started this new game plan back in January.
"We just did a lot of team-building activities within our own advisement, to build rapport, so we can show ownership of our advisement," Jones said.
Advisers like Jarred Moore coach 11-14 students twice a week, focusing on character, colleges, and careers.
"Where is it you want to be 10 years from now? And let's sit down and make an action plan that is going to align with your end goal," Moore said.
"So we are being proactive instead of reactive. We are beginning with the end in mind, but again it's kind of gender specific," English teacher Kimberly Abad said.
Students talk about college readiness and how to process the trauma they face in life.
"Always talking to me about my grades, no matter, it can be a little test I just failed, he will come and confront me, I swear, we can be in lunch," Nash said.
Jones says since they started the draft program student test scores have gone up across the school. He hopes Northeast continues putting points on the board every year.
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