I used to be shy in school, and now I'm friendly with everybody because of the project. Many are at-risk teens from troubled families. To get to Lincoln, some teens travel an hour and 40 minutes each way on public transportation and bring their lunch. And parents tell us or write to us about how good it is to see the changes in their teens. Often the letters of recommendation emphasize the teen's potential but note the family situation is collapsing.
Many teens come with a sense of bravado.
It's not a suburban backyard or the city. They don't have to prove what they normally do with their peers. We don't have gangs. What happens here is a window of opportunity that allows us to reach them. They fall into this new community and its expectations, and by the second or third week, they are the community.