NYS OCFS Graduation Speech, Parker Training Academy, 12/10/99

When I first started working for the Office of Children and Family Services in April of 1998, I ran in to an old friend who asked me where I was working these days. I told him I was a YDA at Tryon in Johnstown. He looked at me with a confused expression and asked me what the heck a YDA is and what kind of company Tryon is. I told him that YDA stands for "Youth Division Aid" and Tryon is a residential center. His eyebrow raised and he asked me in a frustrated tone, "What do you do?" I thought for a few seconds and said, "I'm a guard in a reform school." That seemed like the right answer at the time, but the longer I worked there, the more I realized that Tryon is not simply a reform school and being a YDA is so much more than being a guard. Yes, we do guard the youths in our facility and yes, we do our best to reform and educate them, but those are the simplest definitions for what we do.

Perhaps reforming assumes that these children were ever truly formed to begin with. We have the opportunity and the responsibility to be a positive influence in the lives of impressionable teenagers who, for the most part, have lacked positive role models throughout their lives. We are mentors who help guide these young people through the final stages of adolescence before their age makes them legally adults, but are still children on the inside.

Why should we do this for kids who break the law and break the rules time and time again? I'm reminded of a video we watched in class called "Eye Of The Storm" about a third grade class room of blue eyed children and brown eyed children. Not only did Miss Elliot teach those children a valuable lesson on prejudice, but she showed how easily young people can be influenced and persuaded by adults in a position to teach them. She demonstrated that it was possible to change overnight, the students ability to learn based on what they were told about their ability to learn, and how they were treated by the other students after they were told half of them were better than the others. As YDA's we need to take that lesson to heart and give these kids a sense of self worth, but not at the expense of their peers.

Equality and consistency will create an environment that will allow us to use the opportunity we have been given to plant the seed of self-esteem. With that, when they leave OCFS to return home, they will not feel the need to rejoin or become part of gangs who make them feel safe and important. They will already have the self-confidence inside themselves to survive and a real chance to flourish on their own when they venture out into the world. To do that, we must do our best to share and instill in them our "Valiant Vision".

As a class, we have had our differences and obstacles to overcome. Some of us have had family tragedies to contend with, and through it all we've managed to show support for each other and learn a few lessons about respecting each other’s space and needs. We are fortunate that we had a great group of trainers who have been helpful in our hard times, stern, yet fair during our transgressions and excellent in their ability to teach us what we need to know to do our jobs effectively. They are a diverse group with a vast amount of knowledge and experiences, interwoven with a sense of humor unique to each, which has been very helpful in breathing life into the dry reading of policies and procedures. We want to thank them with a round of applause for all they have done to bring us to this final day here at Parker Training Academy.

Also thanks to our illustrious director Greg, whose patience we have tested, but who has been fair, accommodating and yes, even humorous on occasion. If he decides to retire anytime in the near future, I understand Roger Ebert has been inviting guest movie reviewers for the past several months and I'd be happy to pass along a letter of recommendation, if he needs one.

(After one of our instructors interrupted class and took us to the ice cream store, I couldn't help but think he had an ulterior motive. The entire trip there and back, even after eating the ice cream, I suspected something was up. I was sure it was a lesson about a resident trying to get over or something even worse.)

Sigmund Freud might say, "Sometimes a trip to the ice cream store, is just a trip to the ice cream store." As it turned out, it was just a hot day and he felt like taking us to get ice cream. (Perhaps the real lesson is that you must be able to trust those you work with to not only watch your back, but also have your back. Perhaps our instructor sensed some stress or fatigue in our group and decided it would be better to get out of the class and take a break than continue to fill our heads with too much information. That's another sign of an excellent trainer.)

So now that we have reached the end of our basic training and are setting out with Valiant Vision to accomplish the mission of the Office of Children and Family Services, I have one last question to ask Class V V, "Geeesh, Who Started Thisss?"


Joseph F. Johnson

Delivered On: 12/10/1999

12/07/1999

Author's Note: Seeds & Weeds Chapter 1: Pride & Prejudice. I was selected by my graduating class at Parker Training Academy, to give the speech at the graduation ceremony. I had to write and submit the speech for approval and practice it in less than a week. Though not a poetry reading, it did help me on the road to reading my poems at open mics. It's different writing a speech and knowing it will be read in front of people. In some ways it was easier because I had to contain my emotions, where in poetry, I am expressing them freely. But when you have NY State Administrators who have the power to terminate your employment, suddenly, it's a much more narrow path to walk down. So keeping it somewhat formal but a touch of humor injected here and there, somehow kept me focused and not so long winded. I have to say I was honored to have been selected to deliver the speech. JJ

http://astore.amazon.com/seedsandweeds-20

Posted on 10/09/2005
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