C.O.P.E.

C.O.P.E. or the Center for Occupational & Personalized Education, is a second chance program for students who had problems in mainstream schools. The problems they have are varied, such as violence, truancy from school, falling classes and so on. For the youth attending this small school, it is either going to be a stepping stone back to mainstream school, or a downhill move to juvenile hall or worse. The school is designed for Middle School and High School students. COPE has no more than 50 students at a time, and classes have at most 10 students. One can not graduate from C.O.P.E therefore all students are there for a limited time at the end of which they either return to their original schools or other arrangements are made.

C.O.P.E.'s Philosophy (taken from their website)

C.O.P.E. believes that all youth deserve the opportunity to receive a quality education. C.O.P.E. serves youth whose diversified needs require supportive, individualized instructional attention. We believe that their chances for a quality education are enhanced through the availability of specialized, community-based, alternative programs. C.O.P.E. believes that youth who face academic, vocational and social/emotional barriers deserve the chance to improve their skills. We enable students to build their educational and occupational competency in preparation for adult life. C.O.P.E. believes that these youth are worthy of the best efforts of our staff and community. Therefore, we are committed to providing the highest quality educational, mentoring, life skills, substance abuse prevention and violence prevention services to ensure that these youth become successful members of our community.

As part of a class at the University of Michigan, project outreach, I volunteered at COPE in Ypsilanti for 2 semesters. My duties varied from helping a specific teacher with a class, to working with selected students on class material or just hanging out with students talking about their everyday problems. Other U of M students also volunteered at COPE. We met for lectures about juvenile delinquencies and in a discussion session with those who volunteered at the same site.

The students at C.O.P.E. are very diverse. One can find students of a wide range of ages and social economic status. The difficulties they have are varied as well. Some of the students were hard to reach while others welcomed our presence at the school. Lunch period was always interesting as we got to interact with the students at their free time. I did my best to help the students there with class work and with their everyday life. I listened to them; sometimes trying to give advice and often just listening seemed to help.

The teachers at C.O.P.E were very special. Their classes were unique and one could see they cared for their students. Many times they were treated with disrespect by the students and had to deal with situations most teachers don't deal with; like fights in classes and so on. Students were highly supervised and each student was attended to. No student was left behind. The work they did is truly remarkable even though it was not greeted with appreciation by the students much of the time.

Part of the project outreach class requirements had us work on a final project for the students in our site. My first semester project included a "fun day" for all the students. With the students' help we created a cd for them. Each student donated a song they wanted on the cd and we created the "C.O.P.E collection" that each student got to take home. We brought in movies, and had various educational games for students to enjoy, however the highlight of the event was the food for lunch that we managed to receive from donations of nearby businesses.

For my second semester project we created an "international day" for the students. Each classroom became a different country. Students got to learn about different cultures and each class had a specific activity related to that culture. We also created a cd collection with music from the countries studied on that day. The highlight of the project was the international lunch we prepared for the students.

I hope that my presence at C.O.P.E. helped some of the students. I think that C.O.P.E. is an amazing place that gives a student a second chance. Sometimes that is not enough, but they are doing their best.

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