By Emily Randall
Northeast News
Jan. 27, 2010

A new program at Don Bosco Charter High School is helping teens improve their attitudes, confidence, grades and futures.

The first session of Helping Adolescents Navigate and Develop Successfully — or HANDS — is drawing to a close at the high school. Twenty boys and girls have come through the 12-week class and gained job and interview skills, learned to write resumes and speak in front of a group, set goals and more.

St. Louis native and public speaker Darryl Burton, a former prisoner who was exonerated in 2008 after wrongfully serving 24 years, developed the HANDS program this summer after a recent move to Kansas City.

After connecting with former Don Bosco board member Peter Dunn, Burton had spoken to an assembly of students at the school over the summer. Seeing his impact on them, he set out to create HANDS. Twenty students voluntarily joined the class in November and have kept their grades, attendance and behavior up to stay in it.

“By and large, all of them have been improving and they’ve stayed with the class,” Burton said. “We’re trying to break the cycle for the boys who are growing up in a rough neighborhood.”

In the first few weeks the students in the HANDS class were reserved and hesitant to speak up during class, Burton said. On Monday, however, the youths painted a different picture. They were smiling, speaking up and eager to interact with the adults.

Principal Burnadette Barber said she’s only seen positivity come out of HANDS.

“I have confidence in these [students] that they’re going to achieve their dreams,” Barber said. “I think [HANDS] provides the additional support that we have not been able to fund.”

Don Bosco High School pays nothing to bring HANDS into the school. A boost to the program came Monday when a Kansas City organization made a $1,000 donation to help continue the program.

The Heartland Association of Legal Assistants presented the donation Monday. HALA President Mary-Ann Gaston said Burton’s story and mission touched the group after he spoke with the members recently.

“We were all so impressed with him that we wanted to do something that would help with his program here,” Gaston said.

Burton said he hopes to continue leading HANDS at Don Bosco in the future and would like to expand the program into other Kansas City schools.

Susan Baker, of Heartland Association of Legal Assistants, presents Don Bosco High School Principal Bernadette Barber with a $1,000 check to benefit the Helping Adolescents Navigate and Develop Successfully program while HANDS founder Darryl Burton, far left, looks on with Don Bosco students and HALA representatives. ON PAGE 1: During the HANDS class Monday morning, senior Victor Williams, left, and junior Edward Young work on a goal-setting activity. Photos by Emily Randall