Antioch Unified School District has a program called the “Manhood Program” targeting predominantly African American male students grades 7 through 12. In 2019 the Antioch Rotary Club worked with the principals of Antioch’s Middle and High Schools. We developed and implemented a program, Kings Conference, on May 28th, 2019. This program had all 108 Manhood Students in attendance at the Antioch Community Center. It was led off by a Senior from Deer Valley High School giving a brief Kick Off presentation and then the students were divided into groups of about 15 and sent to separate rooms where two facilitators led them in a 45 minute facilitated discussion session. There were four 45 minute discussions and each group rotated through all of them. The session topics were: 1. Discovering Your Inherent Greatness 2. Persist 3. Mastering the Game 4. Rights and Responsibilities After all of the groups went through the discussion sessions, they re-assembled at the Main Conference Room where we had five amazing panelists talk about how they Mastered the game, Discovered their inherent Greatness, Persisted against great odds, and knew their Rights but also their Responsibilities. It was then opened up for questions. The Antioch Rotary Club worked to get sponsors who provided funding for Tee Shirts, rental of the Community Center and needed projectors, and lunch. This program was so well received that the School Administrators along with the Manhood Instructors were working with the Antioch Rotary Club planning for the 2020 King’s Conference when COVID-19 stopped everything.
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