Carter leads program to mentor young boys
As members of both the Wofford and Spartanburg communities, students are encouraged to get out and initiate change as best they can. With programs like the Bonner Scholars as well as fraternities and sororities, chances to participate in philanthropy and giving back are readily available. In the case of Jalen Carter, ’21, Wofford’s curriculum inspired him to start an initiative of his own.
Carter runs a program called the Kings Club, an in-school club at Cleveland Academy in Spartanburg that meets on Thursdays and works with boys ages 11-12. It teaches them about manhood in an attempt to provide them with helpful life skills and to assist them with figuring out who they are in an ever changing world. However, when he introduced the program to the students, Carter was taken aback by just how self-aware the fifth graders already were.
Carter: “They have a better understanding of themselves and their situations and where they wanna go than I thought that an 11-12 year-old would have—probably a better understanding of themselves than I had at that age…it’s really impressive to me and something I can learn from.”
The Kings Club was created as a part of Carter’s Anthropology class entitled “Sustainable Communities.” With Cleveland in such close proximity, Carter saw an opportunity and seized it.
“Right across the street, there’s a demographic of people that could definitely use someone like me and I like to meet with them,” Carter said. “A lot of people have helped me get to where I am in life, and so I definitely believe that I need to pour into others as others have poured into me.”
For Carter, the most rewarding part of managing the Kings Club has been “just talking to 11-12-year-olds.” For him, being a 21-year-old college student has sequestered him from the world at times. With the Kings Club, Carter has the what he feels is a unique opportunity to interact with people who are different than him because “unless you’re related to one, you don’t really get to talk to a kid and see how kids really see the world and approach stuff.”
Carter also cited Wofford Men of Color as a big part of the Kings Club’s success. “We have a good core group of eight to nine guys that come with me weekly and they help talk to the boys,” Carter said. “I know they enjoy what they do; I know the boys enjoy talking to them.”
In the future, Carter plans to continue the Kings Club not as a part of his class, but just as a hobby during his final year at Wofford. He has also looked at possibly moving to a new age group, specifically the 13-14 range because it is “a very influential time in young men’s lives.”
This semester, though, Carter looks forward to several fun activities with the young boys at Cleveland, including a field day, a campus tour and, hopefully, a red carpet-style event to commemorate the boys’ work.
For the time being, Carter continues to make weekly trips over to Cleveland Academy, where he benefits most from the relationships that he has been able to build with the boys.
“It’s like I’m going to hang out with 60 friends,” Carter said “not like I’m going to mentor 60 kids.”
