Happy to give back at early age

On its surface, some of Jefferson High's top athletes reading to kids at a nearby school is in itself a great thing, especially through the eyes of a young child looking up to towering football and basketball players.

But venture a little deeper and you see something else going on Monday at Roland Park K-8 Magnet School. These tough athletes are still kids at heart and actually seemed to enjoy being part of something bigger than their sport.

"I really, really enjoyed it,'' said Jefferson senior wide receiver Adrian Jenkins, who, at 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, is bigger than many of the adults the Roland Park students see each day at school. "I mean, to see the faces of these kids when you're with them, to see them get all excited about us being there to read with them, that was pretty fun.''

"It was an enlightening experience,'' said 6-2, 245-pound senior lineman Cody Lee. "I don't remember being that smart when I was their age. I would finish a book and I would ask them if they want to read and they grabbed a book and just started reading proficiently.''

That's exactly what Dragons receivers coach and Roland Park school administrator Lionel Bryant wants to hear. After watching a video of actor Will Smith speak to children about the importance of exercise and reading at a Nickelodeon awards show, he went to head coach Jeremy Earle and proposed the reading initiative between the schools.

Bryant and Earle also wanted it to be more than just football players, so they asked athletic director Bob Morgan to include athletes from other sports like basketball and cheerleading.

Bryant said there are clear benefits for Roland Park, which recently transitioned from an elementary school to a K-8 magnet school for international studies. Each week, students from Roland Park will have the opportunity to interact with a variety of student-athletes from Jefferson and make connections between the traditional subjects they learn in the classroom and how these older role models have used them in the real world.

Many of these student-athletes from Jefferson also will give the Roland Park students a chance to see how hard work in school and on the field can result in one of the biggest rewards a prep athlete can earn: a college scholarship. Jenkins is headed to Florida International on a football scholarship and Lee is going to Stetson, which is restarting its football program in 2013.

Other readers from Jefferson included football players Tyriq McCord (Miami) and David White (Florida A&M), and senior basketball standout Shayla Wilson, who is considering several colleges, including Ivy League schools.

Bryant hopes Jefferson student-athletes will be role models and build a personal connection with the Roland Park students. And that, he says, will drive everyone to be better-rounded individuals.

"If you can establish these type of relationships between the younger kids and the older kids, I think we'll all benefit,'' Bryant said. "And maybe, when it's the end of a hard workout or a tough game and they're tempted to give up, they'll think about the kids they are mentoring and how they tell them never to give up and keep trying.''