Getting Candid with our Graduation Specialist
The Boys & Girls Club of Fond du Lac strives to not only develop youth into the best version of themselves, but also to develop our staff team as professionals and individuals. One of the biggest things we have learned over the years is that the youth we serve contribute to our professional growth and development just as much, if not more, than any training we seek from outside sources.
After working as a dedicated program staff in our teen center throughout his college days, Demond Mettlach began his elevated role as graduation specialist in the fall of 2019. This was a new position within our organization created solely to implement the brand new Be Great: Graduation program, which is designed to help students succeed in school and graduate. The program is a nationally recognized dropout prevention program which aims to enhance each youth’s engagement with learning by providing consistent support and helping members graduate from high school on time with a plan to be college-, community-, or career-ready after graduation.
Read on as Mettlach gets candid about his experiences as a young professional working with our youth and how the everyday challenges of his role help him to grow both personally and professionally.
“Working with adolescents has been a dream of mine since high school. I’ve always wanted to change people’s lives for the better. The Be Great: Graduate program seemed like the perfect opportunity. I would be working with Fond du Lac High School students on improving themselves during their time in high school. Did I know exactly what I was signing up for in the beginning? Absolutely not. My first year was met with many challenges and hardships that no one could have foreseen. The obvious challenge I faced was being the young, new and fun adult in the building. When children are introduced to someone like this, they tend to try to get away with things and abuse the fact that the new person doesn’t know everything. This struggle has not been the easiest thing to overcome, but it gets better with time.
One of the hardest things about being so close to my students’ age is the discipline that I have to enforce. The one thing that I do not like about this job is telling students not to do things that I either did growing up or would do now. It makes me feel like a hypocrite and does not sit well with me. It’s this way for obvious reasons; the fact that as you grow older, you gain more and more experience about life. As adults, we know how easy it is to fall into bad habits or how easy a fun situation can turn bad. It is because of the experiences we have under our belts that we have to tell our youth not to do it. Even though it is something I do not like to do, I have to do it because that comes with being an adult. More importantly, an adult who works with kids. Whenever presented with a situation like this, I always make sure to tell the student that I understand where they are coming from and their feelings are valid.
Working for the Boys & Girls Club has been one of the most rewarding but stressful experiences of my life. It’s rewarding to see the kids I work with change and grow and do positive things in their lives. However, it’s also stressful putting 200% into helping a student only for them to not put in any work on their end. There’s no easy way to cope with those kinds of feelings. It’s a kind of hurt and exhaustion that’s different from anything else. A student helped me realize that I shouldn’t focus on the negatives, but focus on the students who do need me and want me by their side. Because even if it’s not as many as I would like or if it’s not all my students, in the end, the ones who do show up and want my help are enough.”
For more information regarding the Be Great: Graduate program, email Mettlach at graduation@bgcfdl.org or call Fond du Lac High School Principal Matt Steinbarth at 920-929-2740.