JEFF CHUDZINSKI
North Country This Week

MASSENA — The My Brother’s Keeper Native American Program at Massena Central School continues to grow and influence at-risk students.

My Brother’s Keeper is an initiative that was established by former president Barack Obama in Feb. 2014 to address persistent opportunity gaps facing boys and young men of color and to ensure all youth can reach their full potential, the website says.

The program, with grant funding from former president Obama’s national organization, was able to establish a mentor program that currently consists of four mentors who worked with 14 students.

With assistance from their mentors, all students passed their classes and all seniors in the program graduated.

The mentors will likely continue their work throughout the school year, better assisting students in academics as well as after school activities.

A number of events were held with the program as well, including flight simulator camps and STEAM activities like robot and computer science programs.

“They have expressed interest in continuing this throughout the year and might incorporate this into the curriculum,” program grant coordinator Ryan Ransom said.

The program also offered college prep virtual workshops for students interested in attending college after graduation.

A residential school art camp was also held to drive interest in the arts and provide opportunities for students who may not have access to such activities, Ransom said.

The program was previously only available to high school students, however plans to expand to the middle-school will soon be implemented.

“We plan to start offering this to middle-school students too. They won’t have everything the high school students have but we’ll be able to get them interested. Once they get to high school they can decide what they want to focus on more,” he said.

The program also plans to bring in new technology and resources for the students to learn with, thanks in large part to grant funding.

“Give me a few more weeks but we will have flight simulators in place, 3D printers, drones, you name it and we’ll likely have it,” Ransom said.