JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — School may be out across Duval County, but the learning continues at local summer programs. The Ed White Teen Center serves about 60 teens during the summer months.
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“People thought I was going to go down the wrong road. They didn’t really see a bright future for me because of how I acted,” Janiya Early, an Ed White High School graduate, said.
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That was how her story began, but it is far from how it ended. She was taught her greatest lesson without a textbook: “be the change.”
“The teen center actually helped me put that in motion. It helped me be the change I wanted to be,” Early said.
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The Ed White Teen Center is run by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida. It was the first to open inside a Duval high school and became Janiya’s family and the reason she was able to graduate with top honors this year. She’s now headed to Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University. From there she hopes to enter law school and become a criminal defense attorney.
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“Sometimes you are innocent you need someone to believe in you,” she said.
Just like Janiya’s home away from home believed in her. The Ed White Teen Center offers after-school and summer programs with everything from a robotics lab to a recording studio. It serves teens who might not otherwise have the opportunity for free.
“We’re in the communities and neighborhoods that need us most. And we want to be in those communities,” Wyatt Parlette, Vice President of Operations for Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida, said.
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This year, the organization’s summer programs are at capacity in Duval, serving about 2,000 kids per day. However, there is still limited availability at the seven Clay County locations which offer a free six-week camp. This is the first summer season for those locations. You can get more information here: Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida (bgcnf.org).
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