Lighthouse Youth Development Center

Spencer Powell, Summer 2014

The Lighthouse Youth Development Center is a facility for teenage boys that are 13-17 years old, and the kids coming in are usually either dealing with emotional or behavioral problems, or they have not had success in other out of home living arrangements. The Youth Development Center provides full time housing and meals for up to 14 residents as well as teaching life skills and providing therapy to those who need it. While I was there this summer, there was a group of about 10 boys that were there the entire summer and there were about 2 or 3 spots that would be available as some kids came and a left.

An average day for me would start by going with about half on the kids to their work site in the morning. The work site had a large garden and chicken coop to tend that needed daily maintenance, and I would help the kids with the tasks, and instruct and supervise when they were using power tools. I would then offer to help serve lunch in the afternoon and if nothing was planned that day I would stay with the kids at the group home while they played video games or go play basketball with them. Other times in the afternoon we would do an activity that may be educational like going to a museum or one just for fun like going to the pool. Other times we went on day long trips such as going to Carter Caves or the Muhammad Ali Museum in Kentucky.

This was an amazing summer experience for me. The kids living at the YDC have been through some awful experiences in their lives, but they are still just normal kids that usually just act like any other teenager. An important thing to know about this site is that your experience is largely dependent on how well you can connect and communicate with the kids. As an example, I would often stay longer than 8 hours in a day if some of the kids wanted to go play basketball out back. Being able to show you care about them and taking an interest in what they are doing in their lives is a big part of this, because they have a lot of inconsistency in their lives—being away from friends and family and living with strangers—and I think they just want to feel like someone cares about them.