Lee High School students shed light on TAPS
Students from Lee High School shared their experiences from participating in the Teen And Police Service Academy (TAPS) at the 22nd Annual Student Conference for Research and Creative Arts (SCRCA) April 20, at the University of Houston-Clear Lake.
TAPS students arrived on campus at 10:30 a.m., and were greeted by Everette Penn, co-founder of TAPS and associate professor of UHCL. The students then had their picture taken in front of the campus. Penn described this as one of his favorite moments of the trip because most of the students had never been to a college campus before.
“That moment when they get off the bus; I like that,” Penn said. “Because that’s when you’ll hear them say ‘I’m going to college! I’m going to college! This is my first time on a college campus.’”
After having their pictures taken, TAPS students were given a tour around the campus by Penn and other UHCL faculty members. At the end of touring the Student Services and Bayou Buildings, the students were able to drop in on a live class to get a brief first-hand college experience.
TAPS students were then led to the Garden Room, where they listened to William Hoston, associate professor of political science, speak about the importance of going to college and how everyone is responsible for their own choices.
“You have to choose your own path in life, and you have to not be afraid to change,” Hoston said.
Once Hoston wrapped up his speech, TAPS students ate lunch in the Patio Café and displayed posters in Atrium II, highlighting their experiences from the TAPS program.
UHCL students and faculty walked around asking the students about what they have learned in TAPS. TAPS student Andrea Corona, 18, explained how TAPS opened her eyes to goals that she didn’t know she could achieve.
“Some of us don’t know what we are going to do once we leave high school,” Corona said. “These officers show us that there are a lot of opportunities out there for us.”
TAPS student Nicholas Johnson, 16, described how his views of police officers in general have changed since he has been in the TAPS Academy.
“Before TAPS I felt a particular way about all officers because of the media and discrimination between officers and teens,” Johnson said. “Now that we get to work with officers, we get to create chemistry with almost every ethnicity, so it makes it better for us to understand.”
Lee High School teacher Jacque Tinsley, hopes that by bringing his TAPS students to UHCL they will leave knowing that they too can be like one of the students they saw on campus and not succumb to the future they think they are destined for.
“I hope that they can take from this that they still have hope and they can do something with their lives,” Tinsley said. “That they don’t have to be just another kid on campus that thinks that they don’t have a future. Because no matter what your past is, or what you have been through, you’re still young enough to bounce back and be able to do something positive in the future.”
TAPS Academy is an 11-week curriculum based program that targets at-risk teens in a community and allows police officers to communicate with them. This program hopes to lower the social distance between officers and teens through different types of interactions and mentorships.
For more information about the TAPS Academy, visit www.TAPSAcademy.org, or contact at 832-525-1560.
