STRIVE!

The South Bronx ranks first in all of New York City in homicide rates. Many students value little but their material possessions and that which rappers and TV personalities portray as success. My students need focus in their lives. They need purpose. They need values. And they need determination. I propose the STRIVE boxing program in order to deal with some of these problems. First, boxing is an enticing sport to most young people. Second, it provides great focus. It's a sport that requires concentration and determination. The theme for this program is, "WHAT ARE YOU FIGHTING FOR?" Many of my students will fight if someone looks at them the wrong way, they will fight if someone accidentally steps on their shoes, and they will fight for that perennial "he said, she said" dialogue. But too many times, I find that my students won't fight to succeed. They won't fight to change their lives. They won't fight for bigger goals and purposes. I want to change that and you can be part of that change. As we train and box, the overarching question will be, "what are you fighting for?" We want to help define goals for the students so that boxing doesn't become a mechanism of violence, but a vehicle for striving to realize goals, a vehicle that strives to find purpose, and a vehicle that strives to strengthen will power, determination, and success. Boxing can also help lower the astounding rates of obesity and heart disease in my students' community. African Americans and Latinos are 1.6 times and 1.5 times more likely, respectively, to have diabetes than are whites. Boxing teaches hard work and can set students on a track of health consciousness so that they take better care of their bodies. If students are positively engaged in a supervised physical activity after school they are less likely to do things like drugs and alcohol that destroy their bodies. If students are engaged they are less likely to sit around after school and get into trouble. If students are engaged they are less likely to squabble over petty arguments. If students are engaged they are less likely to be part of risky sexual behavior. The South Bronx ranks highest in New York City in teenage pregnancy and AIDS. If students are engaged they are more likely to strive and succeed in the match of life. The program will begin at 4:00pm, three times a week. The first hour will be devoted to tutoring and homework. The remainding hour and a half will be devoted to physical fitness and boxing instruction. Many of us want inner city children to stay out of trouble, to do better, and to try harder. But rarely are they given the tools and motivation to do this. This is a drop in a pond that will hopefully ripple through these students' lives and help transform their futures. I will perform a program analysis. I will compare the scores of the students selected, before the program and after the program in terms of numbers of detentions, numbers of fights, numbers of negative marks reported by their teachers; their grades in math, science, social studies, and language arts. It is my contention that such a program will increase positive productive behavior which will boost these students' grades and their motivation to succeed. All analyses will be made available to donors. Please, let us get past empty rhetoric of underpriveliged kids succeeding, and let's actually help them fight for their own futures. Let's help them to STRIVE. Thank you for your time, care, and commitment.