Mar 29, 2019 3 min read

The Greene County Community Service department has partnered with Waynesburg University students to point teens in the right direction.

The Compass program began in September as an after-school program to help students – middle through high school – who need additional tutoring, soft skills training, counseling or court-ordered disciplinary action.

“We feel it is far less expensive to educate people than to incarcerate them,” said Bret Moore, director of community service in Greene County. “This is especially true of young people. We are trying to give them the tools necessary to lead a productive life and stay out of the criminal justice system.”

The program began after the department recently received a $75,000 juvenile justice grant from the Pennsylvania Academic and Career Technical Training Program for implementation purposes. Previous to that, an initial $25,000 grant provided for a feasibility study and the development of the program.

Students can be assigned to the program by their school authorities, Children and Youth Sevices, Juvenile Probation or by local judges, Moore said. After school on Thursdays, they spend about four hours at Career Link, off of Route 21 in Franklin Township, where they work with Waynesburg University students.

“They serve as positive, peer role models,” Moore said. “Something many of these kids are missing.”

The college students provide enrichment opportunities for the teens and help improve their job interviewing skills.

“A lot of them come into the program without the skills they need to get employed,” Moore said. “Not everybody is a traditional college-prepped student. That’s why we’re trying to cover all the bases.”

In return, the college students also have benefited from the program, according to Brianna Armenia, a Waynesburg University student.

“It is amazing to be able to build relationships with the kids and see what a little bit of motivation and encouragement can do,” she said in a statement.

Brandon Robinson, Jefferson-Morgan High School principal, said the program has been effective in his school and that the teachers love it too. He said they typically use it for disciplinary purposes or for students who have missed a lot of school and need “credit recovery.”

“The kids don’t want to spend four more hours at school,” Robinson said. “So, they tend to not become repeat offenders. From my viewpoint, it’s been a great help to the county.”

Moore said the program typically has 16 to 19 student per week. They’ve had 49 students use the program so far. He said it’s used in conjunction with the Greene Alternative Program, which is a very similar program for county juveniles held on Saturday mornings.

“We still have traditional sanctions such as mowing, painting and litter pick-up in the summers,” Moore said. “However, during the school year, we want our clients to maintain their school attendance and academic progress.”