Pregnancy, prostitution and drugs are just a few of the issues facing students at Will C. Wood

Middle School. Helping low-income and underprivileged children is a goal for senior social science major Lisa Jones, in her first year as a drill team coach at the middle school.

She said she wants to be able to provide a positive role model for the students and give them guidance.

“I just want them to be happy and OK,” the 26-year-old Jones said. “They don’t have to be doctors or lawyers, just have all their needs.”

Jones will graduate this semester and has been accepted to UC Davis to pursue a master’s degree in education and to obtain teaching credentials. She said she plans to become a teacher at schools with high-risk children, where many don’t want to teach.

“There are incentives for teaching at these places, which is an illustration of how hard it is for these schools to get people,” Jones said.

Jones, who attended Will C. Wood when she was younger, said it’s hard for people who are not familiar with the area to understand what these kids go through.

“Growing up in that environment,” Jones said, “I just thought I should go back and help those kids.”

Jones has always wanted to help people and looked at different areas (child psychologist, a nurse, social worker and juvenile probation officer), but said when she thought of who made the biggest impact on her life, she thought of her teachers.

Working on a project for a class, she went to Will C. Wood to interview her former teachers. One of them asked if she used to be on the drill team when she was in middle school. He told her there hadn’t been a drill team on their campus since the previous coach passed away in the early ’90s.

“She was very passionate about bringing it back,” Jones’ supervisor Mary Struhs said. “Without it, many (students) would have nothing to do after school.”

“It takes a while to get their respect, (for them) to really understand you and that you really care and are not just there to do a job,” Jones said.

According to greatschools.net, the middle school has many students whose primary spoken language at home is either Spanish or Hmong, ranking 49 percent and 33 percent among English language learners, respectively.

The Web site also stated 36 percent are Hispanic or Latino, 35 percent are Asian, 19 percent are African American and 8 percent is white. Because of this, Jones, who is petite with blonde hair and blue eyes, said the kids don’t think she understands where they come from.

She said that it hurts to see what these children go through. One of Jones’ students recently had a pregnancy scare. Another student said she wouldn’t be able to attend school anymore because her aunt, who raises her, was going to have surgery and she would not be able to buy her a bus pass anymore. Jones offered to purchase the bus pass for the student.

“Some kids are prostituted by their family just for food to eat,” Jones said.

“She is very much respected and liked by students and staff,” Struhs said.

Jones said it has been tough raising money for her team and they have not been able to even purchase uniforms.

“Pretty much everything we needed money from has come out of my pocket,” Jones said. “I’m small, so I’ve even brought in clothes for the girls.”

Said Struhs: “Lisa recognized it is important that there are teachers who understand (the students’) potential and their existing strengths and assets.”

She has tried to do as much as possible to help these students. Jones was also able to implement a music day for the campus. Fridays during lunch, music is provided for the students.

She found a friend to donate the music equipment and was even able to get radio station KBMB 103.5 FM to donate music for the school. Jones has also implemented a tutor program for the students, where she works to help the students raise their grades.

Struhs said Jones has impacted the entire campus by coordinating assemblies and rallies for all of the students.

“(The assemblies) deliver positive messages about staying in school and college,” Struhs said. “We have 900 students so there is a school-wide impact.”

“I think it is the perfect and the best thing for her to do because she didn’t have the easiest childhood,” long time friend Jennifer Crocket said.

Said Jones: “The best part of my day is when I show up for work and kids run after me and say, ‘Ms. Lisa! Ms. Lisa!’ Now that I’ve started, I cant imagine quitting and doing something else.”

Linda Le can be reached at [email protected]