From Jaguars to Lions: CHS football players mentor Frank Porter Graham kids

By MEGAN BALLARD
Courtesy of the Carrboro Commons

Carrboro —Jaguars lending a “paw” to lions is not something you hear about every day. But that’s what’s happening in Carrboro schools. Fourteen football players at Carrboro High School, the Jaguars, are mentoring fifth-grade Lions from Frank Porter Graham Elementary School.

The program was started this year after a summer spent planning by Principal Shelia Burnette of Frank Porter Graham Elementary, Principal Kelly Batten at Carrboro High School and CHS football coach Jason Tudryn.

“This was all the brainchild of coach Tudryn,” Burnette said.

Tudryn has been with the school since its opening in August 2007. His goal since starting at Carrboro has been to create a “community-based football program.”

Tudryn’s wife, Barbie Tudryn, works at Frank Porter Graham Elementary and encouraged her husband to get his players involved at her school.

The Tudryns pushed for the “Paws to Paws” program to “establish a program to get kids to think with a future vision and get them to develop their community and their education,” Jason Tudryn said.

When Jason Tudryn pitched the program to Batten, the principal was immediately sold on the idea. Then, just before summer, Batten contacted Burnette.

“I just threw it out there as, ‘Hey what do ya think,’” Batten said. “She was pumped and excited about the whole idea.”

“If there were enough football players, we would love to have all fifth-grade students involved in the program,” Burnette says.

Fifth-grade students were selected for the program to get them excited about school. According to Batten, recent studies have found that dropout rates can be reduced as early as fifth grade.

“We realized fifth-graders are only three years away from high school. So much today rides on the high school experience that it is important to get them excited about that now,” says Batten.

The students meet once a week for fun activities. Each week there is a different plan. The events are coordinated by Renee Williams, the guidance counselor at Frank Porter Graham.

Activities have included goal setting. “It is about building a relationship over time,” says Batten.

The first semester of the program has already been deemed a success. According to Burnette, school attendance and involvement of participating students is on the rise.

The energy in the meetings is undeniable. “It is better than coffee in the morning,” Jason Tudryn says.

“The [football] players are already an outgoing group.… In the sessions, there is a definite energy in the room,” says Batten.

While “Paws to Paws” is designed to help the fifth-grade students prepare themselves for their futures and get excited about the opportunities to come, it also has been beneficial for the high school mentors.

“The high school students have been able to develop their leadership,” Tudryn says.

Fifth-grade participants have begun attending Carrboro High School football games to cheer on their mentors.

“It is cool to see them cheer the guys on at the games,” Tudryn says, “‘Paws to Paws’ is about bringing the community together.”

“[The football players] are superheroes in the eyes of the fifth graders,” says Batten.

Megan Ballard is a UNC student writing for the Carrboro Commons, a bi-weekly online lab newspaper for Jock Lauterer’s Community Journalism class at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.