Commitment to character program earns money for Rogers middle school

Ray Keller, physical education teacher and head football coach, discusses the results of The R.E.A.L. Man program at with the participants at Oakdale Middle School in Rogers Thursday December 18, 2014. The character development program The R.E.A.L. Man program, respect all people, especially women, always do the right thing and live a life that matters, taught by Ray Keller, a physical education teacher and head football coach, and Jeff Smith, a history teacher and assistant football coach, was offered to eighth grade boys finished after 16 weeks with a recognition ceremony.
Ray Keller, physical education teacher and head football coach, discusses the results of The R.E.A.L. Man program at with the participants at Oakdale Middle School in Rogers Thursday December 18, 2014. The character development program The R.E.A.L. Man program, respect all people, especially women, always do the right thing and live a life that matters, taught by Ray Keller, a physical education teacher and head football coach, and Jeff Smith, a history teacher and assistant football coach, was offered to eighth grade boys finished after 16 weeks with a recognition ceremony.

ROGERS -- The Oakdale Middle School football players were being a little rambunctious in the cafeteria one fall day in 2014, so the principal suggested coach Ray Keller switch his lunch duty day to Thursdays so he could monitor them on game days.

"I said, 'No, I didn't really want to switch my lunch duty, but I've got something I want to try,'" Keller said.

REAL World

The “REAL” in REAL Man stands for:

• Respect all people,

• Especially women.

• Always do the right thing.

• Live a life that matters.

Source: www.realmaninc.org

He tried the REAL Man program, which teaches boys how to act like gentlemen. Keller, an Oakdale science teacher and now track coach, meets with boys -- most of them football players -- twice a week during the fall semester.

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They talk about the importance of showing everybody respect, especially women. They talk about doing the right thing. They talk about what it means to be successful in life and how to live a life that matters, Keller said.

He proudly presented to Principal Jeff Hernandez last week a check for $250, a grant from the Connecticut-based HOPE Foundation for a Better Tomorrow. The foundation promotes and distributes the character development program.

"This will help go a long way in funding the program in the future, hopefully expanding the program," Keller said Tuesday, addressing a group of about 30 eighth-graders who participated in the program this school year.

It's the first grant the foundation has given the school since Keller brought REAL Man to Oakdale. About 100 boys have gone through the program since then.

Some of the lessons reverberated for Garrison Carroll, 14, during the school's field day on Thursday. In a competitive atmosphere, it's important to be a good sport and keep your cool, he said.

"You learn it's a competition, but it's not the end of the world," Garrison said.

Grant Holland, another Oakdale eighth-grader, noticed some fellow students misbehaving more during the last month of the school year.

"A lot of people start to think they can do whatever they want," said Grant, 14. "And after thinking back on the program, I realize that I need to keep my cool and not be so wild to the teachers."

Dreagon Blackwell, an eighth-grade football player, said REAL Man made him think about what it means to be successful.

"It's definitely shaped my mind toward being a man and growing up to be a good man, not just someone you see on the side of the road because they lost their job," Dreagon said. "I want to be a man that's very successful in life because of this program."

He also got some tips on how to identify a classy woman and how to properly treat a woman, he said.

The program was written by Frank DiCocco, who coached football at several schools on the East Coast before dying of cancer at the age of 29 in 2013. DiCocco also wrote several books about positive youth development and started the HOPE Foundation, according to the foundation's website.

DiCocco's family has kept the foundation going; in the process, they've distributed the REAL Man program to "thousands" of middle schools, high schools and colleges nationwide, according to Kathy DiCocco, an executive director at the foundation and Frank DiCocco's mother.

"Teaching character has been proven to help kids' grades get better and help teams work together better," she said.

The foundation's grant to Oakdale is its way of thanking Keller for teaching the program, DiCocco said. The money may be used however Keller sees fit. Keller said he'll probably use the money on the instructional books students get as part of the program.

He originally heard about the program from an email he received from Frank DiCocco in January 2013, just a few months before DiCocco died.

Stephen Bowman's son, eighth-grader Cooper Bowman, participated in the program last fall. Bowman said Keller has been a "great role model" for the boys, and he appreciates Keller for volunteering his time to administer the program.

"Cooper is lucky because he does have good quality men in his life to teach him these lessons," said Bowman, principal of Garfield Elementary School. "But it's also good that (the boys) hear it from their teachers and coaches too, to reiterate the things they've been taught."

Hernandez, addressing the boys at their brief gathering Tuesday, told them they are a special group.

"You got something special here. You're laying the foundation for those coming behind you," he said. "You have no idea. This is something you will look back on, and know that you've done something the rest of your life. REAL Man program is here, it's here to stay because of you. Great job."

NW News on 05/28/2017

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