AUGUSTA — Teenagers Rodney Samuels, Tyrone Miller and Rickell Lynn sit on an overstuffed couch and stare at the man across from them.
Rick Keuroglian, middle-age and balding, holds a laptop in his right arm. He begins by talking about a passage from the Bible — one from the book of Acts. The lesson is a simple one; it’s about motivation.
In a quick give-and-take in which he uses a teen’s favorite football team as an example, Keuroglian tells the young men they must go from a place of being ordered to do things by adults to a place of wanting to do them for their own sake.
It’s probably not the typical way a teenager would spend a Thursday night, but then again, what Keuroglian is doing isn’t exactly typical.
An active member of the community and president of the Olde Town Neighborhood Association, Keuroglian, whose day job is director of evangelism and community involvement at First Presbyterian Church on Telfair Street, wants to stop his neighborhood’s crime at the source, and save a few lives in the process.
Last summer, he began a mentoring program called Making Mighty Men, in which his inaugural class of four teenage boys learned job skills and leadership development.
“It’s not all about looking out for bad guys,” Keuroglian said. “It’s about volunteering. It’s what can you do to curb crime.”
City leaders often emphasize the important role that good parenting and supervision play in keeping children and teenagers away from crime. Sheriff Ronnie Strength said a cultural shift has led to fewer two-parent families and to a lack of traditional values.
Willie Battle, of Men Making a Difference, spends every Wednesday and Friday in Richmond County Juvenile Court, looking for young men his group can help.
They are mentored by volunteers, in the hopes that they won’t return to the juvenile justice system.
Through tutoring and strong adult male supervision, Battle said, volunteers hope to instill a sense of purpose and discipline that was lacking.
Asked what he wants to do with his life, 14-year old Tyrone enthusiastically said he wants be a lawyer. Tyrone, who has been in Keuroglian’s program since summer, said he used to get in fights for “no reason.” Now the teen responds to questions with a polite “Yes, sir” and says he has found God.
“When I was hanging in my other neighborhood, I never heard anyone want to teach me about God. They just wanted to teach me about being a thug and a drug dealer,” said Tyrone.
Rickell Lynn, 15, was frequently suspended from school before he began working with Making Mighty Men, Keuroglian said. Again, fighting was an issue. Now, Rickell said, he just walks away from trouble.
Whether the teens will stay out of trouble is anyone’s guess, but Keuroglian said giving them a strong moral and ethical foundation is at the core of what needs to happen.
“This is my dream,” he said. “I want to see a whole new group of guys raised up as leaders in this community.”
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