Builder Bound Camp at Southwestern College Emphasizes Hope
Winfield, Kan., June 29, 2022 — Southwestern College recently completed
its annual Builder Bound Camp. The camp introduces a taste of college
life to middle school students from Stucky and Jardine Middle Schools in
Wichita.
SC also hosted students from Wichita South and Southeast High School as
part of Wichita State’s Kansas Kids @ GEAR UP program, as well as high schools
students working with Upward Bound Wichita Prep. The program, which is
federally funded through the U.S. Department of Education, is designed to help
students in foster care prepare for post-secondary education.
Dawn Pleas, vice president for retention and student success at
Southwestern College, has organized and planned Builder Bound Camp for 15
years.
“The goal of the camp each year is hope,” Pleas says. “I just want
to give kids the message that they can attend college, not just here, but
anywhere. Giving hope to young people is so important.”
Assisting Pleas each year are Southwestern College planning committee
members (Ed Loeb, Lonnie Boyd, Alissa Sheppard, and Anjaih Clemons-Williams),
along with 14 current college students who mentor the campers for three days
and two nights. Rev. Dr. Garnita Pleas travels to Southwestern College
from St. Louis each year to provide empowerment classes to the females.
Head men’s basketball coach Matt O’Brien and alum Wendell Riley led the
empowerment classes for the males.
“My initial question to the campers is ‘what’s in your toolbox?’ followed
by guidance for developing the tools for they will need to navigate life,” says
Garnita Pleas. “What we need to continue growing is self-love and self-hope.”
Classes taught during the three-day camps are science and engineering
(Michael Tessmer), mathematical enrichment (Dilini Fonseka), and yoga and
mental clarity (Roshan Adikari).
Stacy Malicoat, an instructional coach and an AVID (Advancement Via
Individual Determination) site coordinator, says that this camp is beneficial
to the students.
“Jardine is in a very low income area,” Malicoat says. “Being able
to be on a campus and to see mentors that look like them; it shows them that
they can achieve anything. It also changes their perspective. They can go
to college, they can go to higher learning. We talk about in AVID that we
are a family, and this camp helps with our mission.”
Dawn Pleas reports that nearly 125 middle and high school students
participated in the camps on the Southwestern College campus.
