Archives



Reaching out at Creekside High School

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Sonoma Valley Sun

Aaron McClymonds and Ramon Cairo talk to the students at Creekside High School about the consequences of angry behavior and how to manage it.

For the past year or so Aaron McClymonds has been plying a new trade at Creekside High School. As a gang awareness counselor, McClymonds has come a long way from his early beginnings at age 14 in a lock up with the California Youth Authority. To hear him tell it, he graduated with honors from those earlier crimes to ones that put him into state prison. He’s been a burglar and part of the Aryan Nation, eventually covering the swastikas on his body with other more artful tattoos.

Today, McClymonds is a teacher at Northwest Prep in Santa Rosa, a seventh through 12-grade alternative school that is part of Piner-Olivet. Together with his assistant Ramon Cairo, McClymonds teaches gang intervention and prevention. Actually, scratch that. What started as gang intervention and prevention four years ago has morphed at Northwest Prep into a leadership class, with a stop along the way at lifeskills.

“We talk about the students feelings and emotions and everything they’re dealing with. Then we talk about what they can do to be leaders in the community,” he said. “Four years ago, most of these kids were on the verge of becoming gang members. Today, they’re taking their SATs and talking about college.”

It was about this same time last year that he brought a couple of his students to visit and speak to the students at Creekside High School. So impactful was that visit that this year, he brought 13 of his 16 students. Both he and teacher Walter Williams say the Creekside kids got a lot out of the experience and now, he teaches there every Monday morning.

On the day I watched him address the Sonoma students he and Cairo were going over an anger awareness worksheet and a homework assignment he’d provided the last time he’d taught the class. He pointed out that while the students might get cut some slack in the Creekside environment, the real world is a lot different and certain behaviors won’t be tolerated. He went through a packet with the students and encouraged them to recognize their anger triggers and respect those boundaries.

Cairo spoke to the students about understanding whether or not the results of angry behavior are worth the consequences. “If someone steps on your brand new $100 pair of Air Jordans, is it worth a trip to juvie if you get into a fight?” After a round table discussion, the students decided that no, it really wasn’t worth the fight.

Creekside sophomore Lyle Toombs said that all of the students can benefit from the class. Toombs has been through a lot in his relatively short life and he’s taught himself many anger management techniques that help him stay out of trouble. “I was born with a lot of patience but I do consider the consequences before I act. I don’t want to ruin my life by doing something dumb,” he said. Toombs is having a good year now that he’s at Creekside and is considering his options post graduation – thoughts he didn’t even entertain while in his freshman year at Sonoma Valley High School. “I really appreciate that these guys take time out of their day to come in and talk with us. It can make a big difference.”




Sonoma Sun | Sonoma, CA