Published Tuesday, March 11, 2008 2:56 PM
Updated Tuesday, March 11, 2008 3:02 PM
State Rep. Patsy Knight (left) and 2007 Woodland High School graduate Keon’ta Cobbs pose with a House resolution recognizing Cobbs and three others as original members of the Dedicated and Diligent Service (DADS) mentoring program in Dorchester District Four.
Calvin Malone, left, founded the Dedicated and Diligent Service (DADS) mentoring program a decade ago.
Mentoring program uses DADS for student success
Those who helped foster the paternal spirit of the Dedicated and Diligent Service (DADS) mentoring program during its first decade in Dorchester District Four gathered Feb. 25 and honored the first mentee class to graduate from high school.
State Rep. Patsy Knight (D-St. George) was on hand at Woodland High School to present House resolutions to both the program and its District Four coordinator, Ronald Lary.
The father of DADS, Calvin Malone, said he got the idea for the program — which provides male mentors to troubled boys who lack a father figure at home — from his own visits to area schools.
“I noticed the young men would gravitate toward me,” Malone said.
With funding from the Medical University of South Carolina and the Trident Urban League as his seed money, Malone launched the program in the late 1990s. It found a home in eight elementary schools, including two in Dorchester District Four.
Support for the program in District Four came from the Blue Circle Cement Company — now Lafarge North American Cement Company — in the form of financial assistance and employees who were allowed to leave work once a week to mentor the boys.
Lary oversaw the program and earned the name, “Big Daddy.”
“When I got involved, it more or less became my life,” Lary said.
“We said, ‘Okay, we are your dad. Whenever you need us — call,” he said. “Even at the college level, they still call on us.”
Out of the District Four program’s four original members, only Keon’ta Cobbs could attend the ceremony. Cobbs graduated from Woodland High School last year alongside fellow mentees Antwan Elmore, Brandon Jenkins and Rasheed Braxton.
“It helped me build confidence in myself because, in my home, there wasn’t a father there,” Cobbs said. “I knew I could do things besides get in trouble because I had someone to keep me in line.”
Today, Cobbs is a freshman at Morris College in Sumter. He said he still keeps in touch with his mentor and with the other DADS participants.
Malone said District Four is the first district to document its DADS participants’ graduation from high school.
Contact David Berman at 873-9424 ext. 214 or dberman@journalscene.com.
Airline Tickets : 3/14/2009
Hi everyone. A rumor without a leg to stand on will get around some other way. I am from Seychelles and learning to write in English, tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "In our company you can reserve airline tickets for international or domestic flights at the best possible rates." THX :o, Bibiane.