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Youngstown Air Reserve Station personnel mentor/tutor students
VIENNA
Tutoring and mentoring students from the Inspiring Minds after-school program is a way to give back, Air Force Master Sgt. Fedno Trompe of the 910th Airlift Wing says.
Originally from Haiti, Trompe, of Howland, said coming from a third-world country, he knows the importance of education.
“This is my time to thank the people of the United States,” said Trompe, who speaks fluent French and is a naturalized U.S. citizen who served five years in the Marine Corps and has been in the Air Force 12 years.
He is one of a number of volunteers from the Youngstown Air Reserve Station who hosted a group of Inspiring Minds students Thursday at the air station as part of an effort to both help students and build closer ties between YARS and the community.
“It is a great partnership. This is a perfect fit for YARS and what we want to do in the community,” said Air Force Col. James D. Dignan, 910th commander.
“We get to be a good neighbor and maybe attract some of the students to a career in the Air Force,” said Dignan.
Kemani Adamson, 18, a 2015 graduate of Warren G. Harding High School and still in the IM program, is an example of that happening. He has enlisted in the Air Force and is leaving for basic training May 17.
“I want to serve my country,” said Adamson, whose father, Darryl, is an Army veteran.
Also, he said he is focused on learning a skill in the military that will transfer to civilian life. He said his first choice is physical medicine.
Brooklyn Honzu, 15, a sophomore at Warren Harding, has been part of Inspiring Minds since the eighth grade and says it has been good for her.
“It has helped me improve my grades, and we get to go on a lot of trips to colleges,” she said.
Inspiring Minds is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that was founded in 2006 by Deryck Toles, former Warren G. Harding, Penn State and professional football player with the Atlanta Falcons and Indianapolis Colts.
It offers after-school and summer programs to help students prepare for their future, such as exposure trips and college visits around the country, and college readiness and professional development. Admission to the program has nothing to do with grades or background.
The kids want to come after school and in the summer, said Patsy Kouvas, Inspiring Minds high school curriculum coordinator.
“We have a 97 percent attendance,” she said.
Toles said he is amazed at how the program has taken off here and plans to start a branch in Pittsburgh next and, eventually, in every state in the nation.