Silver Knight winners
attribute success to parental help

By YANELY CORDERO
Homestead High School

Every day Alvin Bellefleur comes home from school and cooks for himself, takes care of the house and then finds time to do his homework. But Ollie Wheeler's mother has not only prepared his dinner; she fixes him an after-school snack.

Two students. Two families. Two different ways of growing up. Two winners.

At a time when society and experts are debating the effect of parental influence, students are showing they can be successful whether their families are divorced, separated, blended -- or if mom works full- or part-time or stays at home.

Wheeler and Bellefleur agree it's not necessarily the amount of time a parent spends with the kid, but the quality and value of that time. Both are among the 14 outstanding Dade County high school seniors to receive the 1997 Silver Knight award.

The competitive and prestigious honor, given by The Miami Herald, recognizes students who have excelled in various scholastic, athletic and artistic categories.

Wheeler, a Miami Jackson Senior High graduate, received the English and language arts award, while Bellefleur, a graduate of Turner Tech, took the top award in vocational -technical.

The issue, say some award winners, is not if their parents worked or stayed home. Rather, it was the time that they were able to spend together.

"My mom made many sacrifices to support me and my sister," said Bellefleur, whose parents were divorced when he was 4 years old. With his mother being a waitress, Bellefleur grew up seeing her work day and night, and then coming home to give him 100 percent of her support.

"My mom played the role of a mom and a dad. She's my role model," he said.

Wheeler recalled, "I used to rush home from school just to see and be with my mother."

He attributes his success to the constant presence of his stay-at-home mother. Wheeler said he looks up to his mom, and said he still depends on her for support. "My mother is my backbone!" he said.

Other award winners also applaud their mothers for the positive roles they played in their lives.

"My mother was always the parent who went along with my class on school field trips," said Onkarr Narula, who won the Silver Knight award in business. He said he preferred that his dad worked and that his mom always stayed home with him. That arrangement, he said, helped him build a stronger, more confident personality.

Davien Jones, another Silver Knight winner, said both of his parents worked, but that did not stop them from being supportive and having a lot of input in his life. Davien, a graduate of Norland Senior High, won the drama award. He owes most of his success to his parents, especially his mom, he said.

"I had a part-time job just to be with my children," said Joan Jones, Davien's mother, who put off earning a master's degree so that she could spend more time with Davien and his sister. It was vital, she said, for her to be there for them.

Yanier Gonzalez's and David Roddenberry's parents maintained full-time jobs while their children were in school, but that was not an obstacle to their success. In the absence of their parents, they learned how to cook their own food, do chores around the house and have time for their studies.

"Even though my parents weren't always home with me, because of the values and beliefs they instilled in me, I was able to succeed," said Roddenberry, a Silver Knight winner in general scholarship.

Artwork at the Elligan Center.

By REBECCAH ALOJADO
Hallandale High School

Every Thursday afternoon, the latest issue of The Miami Times becomes the popular reading material among the kids who hang out at the Elligan Center in Allapattah. But it is not the community events, the sports or the front page section that attract their attention. They look for the obituaries first.

"The kids at the center do just like the elderly citizens at the Edison Plaza Senior Center and immediately turn to the obituaries to also see who among their group has died. They accept it as a necessary part of life, something that is inevitable," said Cookie Straughter, a case manager at the Christian Community Service Agency.

Most of the children who benefit from the agency come as referrals from churches, schools and other social service agencies.

"For them, death may come sooner rather than later, because many of them feel that they could fall victim to drive-by shootings, or snatch-and-grab robberies," said Straughter. "I've actually listened to some of the kids plan their own funerals."

Death is just a hole and Soldiers for Life are two of the messages expressed in the paintings that hang on the walls of the Elligan Center, where the community outreach program is based. The paintings were done by children who receive tutoring, counseling and take part in other creative activities.

"It's very common for kids who are exposed on a daily basis to violence in their neighborhood to become numb to the sadness and horror of it all. It's a way of coping with pain of that way of life," said Thomas Bonner, director of psychology training at Northwest Dade Center Inc., a mental health facility in Hialeah..

Kelvin Lee, 19, attends the center as a court requirement to get community service hours.

"Whether it be for money, drugs or being drunk, someone dies once a week in Liberty City," said Lee.

"I used to hang out with a bad group of people who I thought were my friends," Lee said.

"We used to steal cars and do other bad stuff that I am too ashamed to say. I thought it was fun until once, during a police chase, the car that my friend and I stole was stopped by the accident that we got in."

What happened later had a big effect on how Lee lives his life.

"My friend ran out of the car and the police truck ran over him. He was only 15. I was charged with vehicular homicide and faced a 17-year jail term. There were witnesses, but all the people who saw what happened couldn't testify for me because they all had police records," he said.

"Good parental guidance is critical and makes a huge difference for children recovering from a life of crime because adolescents need love and need to feel that they are wanted, and worth saving," said Maria Alonso-Martinez, chief operating officer of Northwest Dade Center.

"My parents and other adults like Ms. Cookie were the ones who showed me real love," Lee said. "They supported me through my trial. They are why I'm free."

Chet Zerlin, deputy assistant state attorney for the Dade County State Attorney Office, said in the next four to five years, Dade County can expect to see an increase in the number of children who have the potential of becoming juvenile criminals.

"Things like drug dealing and robberies are just regular things in my neighborhood. At the time when I took cars, I didn't think I was stealing, I was just being a man," said Lee.

Straughter said programs like this one help troubled teens by giving them a positive group atmosphere where they are forced to talk about school, and interact with one another.

"The kids' school attendance improved, as well as their grades. Centers like Elligan didn't put that potential there, they just helped bring it out," Straughter said.

For many teens recommended to programs like this, maintaining their freedom by staying out of trouble is their primary goal.

"Not being dead or in prison for 17 years is overcoming enough for these kids," Straughter said. "They may not be able to say that they have obtained full scholarships from the University of Miami or Harvard, but they can say that they are graduating from high school and that they still have aspirations. It is important that they take advantage of their second chance."

Elligan may be an important first step to Lee's second chance, if for no other reason than he values the freedom he now has.

"I remember being in jail for three months during the trial and being in jail where you can't eat when you want to or go outside when you want to. [It] was the kind of life that I did not want," he said.