The 16 teachers who graduated on Friday aren't the typical math, history and English teachers. These 16 will focus on teaching the area's youth about life.
"You know I hear so many times, 'I don't know what's going on in Orangeburg,'" Sheriff Larry Williams said. "I'll tell you what's going on -- progress. We have children who are the beacon of the future. Let's show them the way."
The way to which Williams alluded is called G.R.E.A.T. -- Gang Resistance Education and Training. The Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office had 15 graduate from the training, along with one from South Carolina State University.
Organizers say the national program uses a school-based, law enforcement officer-instructed classroom curriculum. With prevention as its primary objective, the program is intended as an prevention tool against delinquency, youth violence and gang membership.
Originally developed in 1991, the program officials developed partnerships with the nation's youth organizations such as the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the National Association of Police Athletic Leagues.
These partnerships are aimed, officials say, at encouraging positive relationships among the community, parents, schools and law enforcement officers.
Five program instructors from across the country spent the past week in Orangeburg instructing the 16 officers so they will be able to teach the youth at area schools or address civic groups about to gang membership prevention.
G.R.E.A.T. consists of four parts: a 13-session middle school curriculum, an elementary school curriculum, a summer program and family training -- all of which the prospective teachers were required to master.
"It wasn't an easy task," Williams said. "They earned their paycheck. They gave their best."
Southeastern Regional Director Russell Permaul said there is a five-year waiting list for the program.
As a participant in the week-long course, SCSU Police Chief Woodrow Morgan said to reach those objectives, teaching candidates are required to complete the 40-hour course on, "life skills: how to deal with problem solving, gangs, how to stay away from gangs, how to work through these issues."
On Monday, the 16 candidates began courses that covered such topics as weapons, gangs, communication and body language.
"They're going to have a tool of knowledge in that they are going to be enabled to teach all the children to be better at life," said GREAT instructor Gary Mork of Garland, Texas. "It's a pretty intensive course."
Federally-funded, the program didn't cost the community taxpayers or Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College, where the courses were held, a dime.
In fact, officials expect the program to return dividends in the form of a promising future for Orangeburg's youth. Williams said the community should remember the phrase, 'If I."
"I use that phrase because I don't want the citizens of Orangeburg County to say, 'If I would have reached out to a child ... If I had only stopped and reached out, this kid wouldn't be a gang banger,'" he said. "We need to say, 'This is my community, these are my children. I want them to be the best they can be."
For more information, or to schedule a newly-graduated teacher, contact the OCSO at 803-531-4647 or S.C. State at 803-536-7188.
"I want you to embrace children as your own," Williams told the graduates. "We don't embrace black children, we don't embrace white children. We embrace children, God's children."
T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5516. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.