Thoughts from Jordan

 

I stumbled across GameChangers when I was searching for an organization that helps the local youth.  The first time I got in contact with Mr. Kendrick; one of the GameChanger Mentor Coordinators, he told me that GameChangers stands against women being sexually, physically, verbally, and mentally abused. After hearing his message, it made me think of my beautiful wife and all the special women in my life. I would never want any woman to ever be put in an abusive situation, so I joined and became a GameChangers Mentor advocate of “Game Changers”.

At first, I thought this topic would be too much for the students in middle school — until I heard statistics of young women being violated in elementary and middle school. I could not believe that kids were victims at such a young age. How are these kids exposed to this when they should be playing outside? 

Our young generation can be influenced by bad role models. Music, social media, television shows, movies, and more, came to my mind. The relationship between a male and female that is portrayed on many of those platforms can be a sexual or a disrespectful view. This can teach our young men to disrespect, devalue, and objectify women.

I cannot stand for this, or let our young generation fall into this trap. Therefore, I joined GameChangers and took on the responsibility of portraying a different role in how a real man treats and respects a woman. I use the example of my life – my marriage and how I talk to women, demonstrating how a relationship between a male and female is supposed to be. I now see how teaching the GameChangers material is so effective and makes a difference to future generations.

I have now been apart of GameChangers for almost a year and it has been one of the best experiences I have had serving the youth in our community. I have been able to build a bond with the young men in my GameChangers groups, and effectively teach and show them how to treat  young women and  help prevent violence against women. In doing so, we also taught our young men how to respect themselves, how to carry themselves as leaders, and how to also make a difference in the world around them.

Being with one group of participants the whole semester allowed us to connect and build trust. This allowed us, as mentors, to be a role model and actually make a difference in their lives. If you want to take a stand against women being physically, mentally, verbally, and sexually abused — join me and become a GameChanger.

-Jordan

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