Focus Magazine Fall 2012

fall 2012

a baylor magazine

THE

Passion ISSUE

EDITORS’ NOTE Taking a closer look at passion, and all it can accomplish

I

n our culture, we traditionally admire people who rise to the top of their profession. Accomplishment is empty if you reach a goal on technical skills alone. Hollow praise does not provide a sense of vitality.

Real fulfillment occurs only where there is passionate commitment to something personally meaningful.

People assume that passion will come to them like a flash flood, overwhelming them with a sense of vitality and commitment to purpose. In truth, passion develops slowly and purposefully. You feel it most when you take time to breathe and consider the unique life activities that have meaning to you. Passion does not seek you out; rather, you discover personal passions via a proactive pursuit of life.

Passion is transformative. It can change your perspective or inspire you to action.

In this vein, passion can have an impact on those around you. Think back to your elementary school years. Which teacher do you remember the most? Likely, it’s the one who was perhaps a bit eccentric at times but was enthusiastic for the subject taught; the one who seemed genuinely interested in your class and that you master the material. Passionate teachers are why we can multiply fractions and recite the U.S. capitals long after we’ve left the classroom.

This issue of Focus takes a closer look at how passion is transforming individual lives in the Waco, as well as how passion is impacting the community. The cover story looks at how one student’s passion for football has helped him overcome the numerous obstacles he has had to face in his 17 years. Another story explores lawyer Susan Nelson’s passion for helping illegal immigrants and their families stay in America, a passion inspired by her own journey through immigration law as she worked to bring her adopted daughter to the United States.

We hope this issue will inspire you as you read the stories of just a few of the passionate people right here in Waco.

Ashley Yeaman EDITOR 2 Focus Magazine Fall 2012

Laurean Love EDITOR

CONTRIBUTORS WRITERS Kevin Cook Mallory Hisler Kasey McMillian Jenny Philen Krista Pirtle Kayla Reeves Taylor Rexrode Ashley Yeaman

PHOTOGRAPHERS Anna Alfora Becca Armagost Matt Hellman Monica Lake Laurean Love Colin Surguine Rachel Waltz Ashley Yeaman

DESIGNERS

Dani Brown Savanah Landerholm Laurean Love Ashley Yeaman

SPECIAL THANKS Paul Carr Julie Freeman Robert Darden Rod Aydelotte Matt Hellman Baylor Journalism, Public Relations and New Media Department Cover Photo by: Colin Surguine

WHAT’S InSIDE 4 PHILANTHROPY Working to break the shackles Ending slavery. That is the task senior Natalie Garnett believes has been assigned to her.

8 MILITARY Healing the Unseen Wounds of War Being hailed with enemy fire and losing fellow comrades on the battlefield leaves its scars on soldiers long after the war is over. Vets Helping Vets helps soldiers work through PTSD.

14 ART More than a tattoo “For me, it’s all about the art,” said Keagan Eastham as he tattooed a client’s calf at Art Ambush.

Eastham wore a surgical mask and a pair of latex gloves as he gave his art, life on skin.

20 SPORTS

FOOD 28 Filled with Mirth A juicy tenderloin herb-crusted and doused in au jus. A tangy lemon curd and moist lemon sponge cake married to make a light lemon caketop mousse. All can be found at Mirth.

POLITICS 32 Her Fight Susan Nelson’s passion for immigration law began when she fought to bring her adopted daughter to the United States from Russia. Today, she works to help illegal immigrants gain citizenship.

COMMUNITY 36 From peanut butter patties to prisons In Girl Scouts, every girl learns how to survive in the wilderness. The girls of Waco Troop 9500 are in the ultimate wilderness.

Passion on and off the field Zavier’s passion for football has helped him overcome the numerous trials he has faced in his life.

Off the court, into the trenches Leadership on the BU men’s basketball team truly encompasses the virtues of selflessness and teamwork.

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Working to break the shackles A Student’s Personal Journey to End Human Trafficking

Ending slavery. That is the task Baylor University senior Natalie Garnett believes has been assigned to her.

“She has always made it no secret that she is passionate about this issue. She has spent years researching it and has gone on several trips with human trafficking as her focus,” said Blair Gulley, director of students and events at UnBound in Waco. “Natalie will be a catalyst for change wherever she goes. She will help keep this issue in the forefront and will continue to educate and mobilize others to find ways they can get involved to help.”

Story by Mallory Hisler Photos by Rachel Waltz

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The Prelude: Building of a Passion

In the summer of 2008, when Natalie Garnett was in high school, she made a trip to Northern Thailand with her siblings to work with missionaries with whom her Dallas church was connected. The missionaries, a husband and wife who were native Thai and trained in America before going back to Thailand, took in around 30 local village children to raise and give them opportunities that they wouldn’t have otherwise.

“It was so simple and so wonderful. We went with the intention of serving and loving them, and they served and loved us. We just really fell in love with them,” she said.

While she was gone, her mother went to a leadership summit where Gary Haugen, president and founder of International Justice Mission, was speaking. Haugen talked to attendees about the problem of modern slavery, and how he saw the church and prayer as the way to end it. He started IJM, an anti-trafficking NGO, as a response for the church. Natalie’s mother talked to her children after they returned about her experience at the summit, and specifically about IJM. It had a profound effect on Natalie, who was between her junior and senior year in high school. The children she had been with in Thailand were the type of children that were especially vulnerable to human trafficking because of their poverty, lack of education and tribal identity, which can keep them from being recognized as Thai citizens, and thus making them much easier to traffic across borders.

For her senior year of high school, she had to write a 15 to 20page research paper on any topic, so Natalie chose modern slavery in South and Southeast Asia. She spent a year researching human trafficking and found that there was a major lack of awareness on the subject of human trafficking.

“There was some information, but it really kept coming back to Gary Haugen and IJM, because he wrote a lot about it being the church’s mandate to fight trafficking. From that point I really started liking IJM and following them and their work,” Natalie said.

After spending the year in research on human trafficking, Natalie Garnett at the 5k benefitting Unbound.

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Natalie graduated from high school in 2009 and arrived at Baylor University not really knowing what she wanted to do, but knowing that she had a deep passion for fighting trafficking.

“I was a social work major my sophomore year, because when you think about human trafficking, you think about social work.

You think about counseling, a lot of things that come with social work—it’s a justice issue basically—and I loved it. But I was going to be a journalism-PR minor, and I realized that my talents were more in journalism, writing and public relations. I ended up being able to switch to where my major was journalism, because that’s what I actually wanted to practice, and I have a concentration in social work. I kind of got my world view and my heart shaped by social work.”

Natalie explained how she came to understand that she, a free, educated young woman, was still able to get into the heart and the practice of engaging with the marginalized and the hurting through social work.

“Everyone who knows her knows that Natalie is the girl that wants to end human trafficking. She prays for these victims every day and the desire of her heart is that they would be set free and ultimately come to know their father in heaven who cares for them,” Baylor University Master of Social Work student Jenna Wright said. “Natalie knows that human trafficking breaks the heart of God. It breaks Nat’s heart, too. The efforts she makes to get involved with ending human trafficking is evidence of the love she has for these victims. She truly, truly cares for them.”

Wright is a close friend of Natalie’s, and also accompanied her on a trip to Cambodia organized through Baylor’s School of Social Work. The group went to aftercare facilities for females ages 4 through 18 who were victims of sex trafficking. The goal was teaching the facilities art therapy techniques.

“My teammates, including Natalie, sat around with the girls and helped them make their journals while also loving on them and building relationship. It was an incredible experience that truly captured each of our hearts. Natalie’s role on the trip was so important. She kept a blog while we were there, informing our friends, family, and readers about the things we were encountering and doing in Cambodia. We learned so much while we were in Cambodia and sometimes it is hard to put all of it into words. Just the purpose of our trip alone was difficult to communicate to others. Nat did an excellent job at hitting all the high points and explaining each experience very well,” Wright said.

When Natalie talked about her time in Cambodia, she recalled seeing 4- and 5-yearold girls who had been raped and trafficked to older men, and trying to understand the unimaginable trauma that they suffered. She described it simply as the most heartbreaking thing she had ever seen, but she also sees the hope in the situation.

In one of her blog posts from the trip, she wrote “Throughout

the afternoon, as I sat and worked with the girls, I kept trying to think about the things that they had been through, the horror of abuse in their past. But as much as I tried to look at them this way, all that I saw was a group of adorable, happy, innocent, friendly, giggling girls making crafts. I saw them tease their counselors and house moms, laugh with each other, and welcome us into their home.

That is who they are. They are just girls, not defined by their past slavery, but made in the image of God.” “I think that Natalie has carried a huge burden for those who are hurting from a young age, which is pretty uncommon,” explained Gulley.

“She has always had a maturity about her that sets her apart.”

As a way to make an impact locally, she began doing communications work at a local start-up ministry for strippers called Jesus Said Love. The organization focuses For two weeks in the summer of 2010, Garnett worked in Thailand at a children’s home for orphans and children whose families on the three strip clubs in could not afford to care for them. She helped teach them English and led daily devotionals. Photos provided by Natalie Garnett.

Waco and works to show the love that they think Christ would extend to them. She has since The Future: Where Her phased out of working at Jesus Said Love and has taken on a college Journey Will Take Her leadership role with UnBound, a local anti-trafficking group based As Natalie’s story seemingly comes full circle, she recently out of Antioch Community Church. found out that she was selected for an internship communications department at IJM headquarters in Washington, D.C., for the The Present: Pushed by spring semester. IJM is the organization that made Natalie’s the Passion mother aware of human trafficking, and thus the organization that “At UnBound our mission is to mobilize the church to see the lit the flame that became Natalie’s passion and goal. This January, end of human trafficking,” Gulley said. “We live in a day where she will move to D.C. to work as a communications editorial this huge injustice is happening and followers of Christ cannot assistant for IJM. just sit back and say ‘That’s someone else’s issue to deal with.’ We The internship program is highly competitive and is reflective of are passionate about everyone getting involved because we need how much she has done to fight human trafficking up to this point. everyone in this fight to make a difference.”

“Without a doubt I know Natalie will continue making an UnBound focuses on making a difference locally by educating impact on ending human trafficking. She will use her journalism the Waco community about human trafficking, teaching rescue skills to raise awareness, educating the world about the injustices and aftercare techniques, public policy and prayer. The group of our lifetime. She will continue to grow in her relationship does weekly Internet research specifically focused on trying to with God and from that she will gain even more equipping and identify minors being trafficked in the area and passing on that compassion to serve victims of trafficking. She will put herself in information to local authorities. They host quarterly community jobs and roles that will aid in her fight against trafficking. Natalie gatherings and bring in different educators and experts to train won’t give up and won’t forget about this injustice,” Wright said. and raise awareness about the issue of human trafficking.

“She will be the one reminding others when they move on to “Natalie is a leader in our college UnBound team. She actually the next big thing that trafficking is still happening, and we still started the team by gathering other students who she knew were have to fight it. Fighting human trafficking is just a part of who passionate about this issue by inviting them to our first meeting she is. It’s who God has created her to be. She can’t help but do her at her home,” Gulley said. “She also helps with PR, volunteering at best and use what she knows to do her part in putting a stop to events and gives strategic advice across the board.” trafficking.”

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STORY AND PHOTOS BY ASHLEY YEAMAN

HEALING

the UNSEEN

WOUNDS of

WAR

It is 1969, and Wayne Adams is far from his hometown of Corsicana, Texas, where he graduated high school a year earlier. Stationed in the jungles of the Central Highlands of Vietnam, hunger and fatigue are the norm for him and his fellow soldiers. Death and destruction are everywhere. The air smells of diesel fuel and human waste, a sign of the squalor of the small Vietnamese villages. Things are bad, but it gets worse.

Eleven months in, and Adams’ small compound is overrun. The scene is chaotic. They fight all night. Several comrades are dead. Adams is down to two bullets. He takes one and loads it into his rifle—for himself. He can’t be captured— foot soldiers like him are simply tortured and killed. He places the head of the rifle under his chin.

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Wayne Adams works in the greenhouse, located on the grounds of the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System in Waco. He is an active member of Vets Helping Vets and volunteers at the greenhouse frequently.

A

But before he has a chance to shoot the gun, enemy fire stops. Soon it’s daybreak, and helicopters buzz overhead—reinforcements have arrived. Once relieved, Adams leaves, returning to his base camp 20 miles away. But he won’t get the rest he needs.

He is notified that one of his best friends has been killed in action.

“I had talked this boy into joining the Army, because he didn’t want to join. He got married and he didn’t want to go on. But we were such good friends, he didn’t want to be left out – but I just kept on him and on him [to join], and he was killed,” Adams said. “Boy, that just devastated me.”

Adams drinks all day to deal with his grief. In his intoxicated state, he gets in a fight with an officer. For punishment, he is sent about a mile away with empty, wooden artillery shell crates to burn them. All unused wood was burned to keep enemy Vietnamese from using it.

Adams and another soldier begin the task at hand but are soon swarmed by Vietnamese, who want the wood for themselves.

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Adams is beaten to a pulp. Two other soldiers in a jeep equipped with a machine gun drive in to help their comrades and open fire.

Adams is brought back to a medic, a bloody mess.

Something had snapped. It was all too much. Two weeks from when he was set to leave, he was pulled out. “They basically said this guy’s too screwed up,” Adams said.

But coming back to the United States didn’t solve his problems.

Adams couldn’t give a name to what was wrong, but he knew something was off. He had fits of anger; nightmares that were so vivid, they put him back in Vietnam. And then there were the triggers—a car backfiring, large crowds, certain smells. “If I smelled diesel fuel, all I’d be thinking about the rest of the day was Vietnam,” Adams said.

He would eventually come to recognize what he was suffering from was post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, but that would take time. *** Thomas Hughes of Waco has seen firsthand how PTSD can affect combat veterans, having worked with them for more than

it would take a breaking point for Adams to get help he needed, and that would take years after he stepped off the plane, coming back from Vietnam. *** It’s late at night, and Adams has landed in Seattle, Washington. He and the other soldiers had their instructions:“as soon as you get off the airplane, run. There will be a bus,” Adams said. The door was opened, and they began walking down the ramp, “and rocks started coming at us. And all these protesters ran up with signs. ‘Baby killers!’ Throwing rocks at us, cussing, screaming at us. And we all just froze, like, ‘What are they mad at?’” They didn’t realize the controversy that had erupted over the war. They had been overseas.

Adams wanted to be proud of what he had done, what he gone through. “I thought, ‘I’ve done something.’” But on his flight to Dallas, the flight attendant asked if he would sit in the back of the plane, to avoid “trouble.” “It was just more than you could handle,” Adams said.

When he landed and met with his father, he took his military coat off and threw it on the floor. There were protesters in the airport. His dad picked up his coat. “Let’s get out of here fast, Dad,” Adams said. “And [my dad] said, ‘What are all of these people [doing] screaming?’ And I said, “I don’t know, Dad. Let’s go.”

Adams struggled to find a job when he returned because of the stigma of Vietnam.

“All of that amplified the PTSD. And for years I hid it. I wouldn’t even talk about Vietnam. I wouldn’t even tell you I had been to Vietnam. And the more you suppress it, the worse it gets,” Adams said.

Adams finally found employment, but his symptoms keep him from holding a job. It also proves nearly impossible for him

“IF YOU SEE ALL THE VETERANS in this program coming down the hall, you’d look at them. They all look perfectly fine. Their wounds, you can’t see.” -Thomas Hughes 20 years at the Central Veterans Health Care System in Waco.

He currently works with the Post Traumatic Stress Care Team Outpatient Clinic.

“The number one symptom is probably anxiety. [They] will be walking around in the daytime, and all of the sudden some anxiety will hit them and they’ve got to move, they’ve got to get out,” Hughes said. “[Another symptom] you see is anger, because they are very angry, and not at any one particular thing, but it’s the anger that kept them alive in combat. They learned how to use anger, elevate anger to heights that they need to survive.”

Flashbacks can also happen, usually brought on by sudden pain, Hughes said. Those who suffer flashbacks briefly lose their sense of reality.

“I’ve literally had to sit on a man’s chest and holler at him – ‘It’s me!’ I mean, he was even speaking in a different language,” Hughes said.

But panic attacks like these are rare. Generally, it is difficult to tell if a veteran is suffering.

“If I open the door, and you see all the veterans in this program coming down the hall, you’d look at them. They all look perfectly fine. Their wounds, you can’t see. And that’s what makes it harder, because they’re walking and talking – but they’re having nightmares, they’re getting pissed off with things – they’re flying off the handle, and it’s always somebody else’s fault,” Hughes said.

Hughes can relate to the veterans in a way many other medical professionals cannot. He entered the Air Force after graduating high school and served four years in Korea, Japan and the U.S. When he left the military, he began working at the Central Texas Health Care system as a nursing assistant. His work eventually led him to mental health and psychiatry. He returned to school and started learning more about PTSD, which was only formally recognized in 1980.

“I kept on hearing PTSD, PTSD, and it’s like, what the hell is PTSD? Didn’t have a clue. So then I started looking into it. And then when I started working with these guys over here [who had PTSD], it was just something else, working with them and seeing the – what they were going through. And I felt, you know, this is probably someplace I can make a difference.”

Hughes would be connected with Adams in the early nineties, and he would help him face his PTSD. But

Thomas Hughes is the founder and director of Vets Helping Vets, an organization with the goal of assuring all who served are properly served.

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“I GET ENJOYMENT out of seeing somebody in the same treatment I was in and being able to influence them for them to get better.” -Wayne Adams to maintain a relationship, experiencing several marriages and divorces. His symptoms often confuse his family and friends.

“I was eating a hamburger and an order of French fries, and I opened that ketchup pack…it squirted, went down my shirt. It was a trigger. That red on me – I threw the hamburger.”

While in Vietnam, Adams was hit by shrapnel on his arm, causing a rush of blood. He still has two scars from that day, side by side.

“I just went right back to that. At the time, I didn’t know why I did it. And [my girlfriend at the time] thought, ‘You stupid – what’s wrong with you?’ She just thought I was mad because I got ketchup on my shirt. It wasn’t that. The ketchup looked like blood and it got me going,” Adams said.

Adams also struggled with the guilt of taking lives in combat.

“Everybody can pull the trigger. It’s afterwards when it starts eating on you. In the heat of the moment, it’s fight or flight. You either have to fight or you run. But if somebody’s shooting at you, you can’t run away from it. You’ve got to fight. You’ve got to eliminate the problem. And you don’t really think. You just do it.

And then 30 minutes, an hour, then it hits. Well, I took a human life. I killed them,” Adams said. “All of this starts swirling in your brain…it just really eats you up.”

Adams turns to alcohol to help “take the pressure off.”

“I would just get to where I felt like I was going to explode and just be a nervous wreck – six or seven beers, I could calm down.

After a period of years, you have to drink more and more to get to that level. You do that 20, 30, 40 years, it starts taking a toll on your body. Then you run for help, if you get the chance.” *** There would be help for Adams. A high school friend in Corsicana reached out to him. He had been attending the PTSD program in Waco. “He came and talked to me, and he said, ‘I want you to come and go with me. I want to show you something that might help you.’”

Adams had reached the lowest point in his life. “Everybody around me had died. My fiancée died. She committed suicide. My father died, and he was the only one I could talk to, because he’d [also] been in combat, and he knew,” Adams said.

Adams’ friend took him to Waco, and that’s when he met Tom Hughes for the first time. “I came over here [at] 10 o’clock in the morning. He stayed with me all day. He gets off at 4:30.

When they closed the doors, he sat down with me in the parking lot until 9 o’clock that night, trying to convince me to get in the program and get some treatment,” Adams said.

Adams concedes, but it takes times for Hughes to break down the emotional walls he’s built around himself, as it does for anyone suffering from PTSD. “The challenge for anybody working with PTSD is you have to make the veteran feel comfortable, because combat veterans do not trust anybody. They just trust themselves and they trust guys that served with them in combat. That’s the extent of their trust, and you have to build that trust with them,” Hughes said. “Never 12 Focus Magazine Fall 2012

lie to them, because they see through all kinds of stuff. Just don’t lie to them. And you don’t disrespect them.”

Through this approach, Hughes was able to break through and help Adams. Eleven and a half years later, and he’s still a lifeline for Adams.

“He’s done so many good things for me, I can’t even tell you all,” Adams said. “I still need the reassurance of him, because I still have bad days. If I have extremely bad days, I can pick up the phone and call him.”

Through working with PTSD sufferers like Adams, Hughes saw the need to do more. *** In 2001, Vets Helping Vets was established give a personal touch to PTSD care in Central Texas. About 35 veterans, including Adams, serve as volunteers to the organization, reaching out to veterans who need help and assisting them in navigating the medical system when they arrive.

“You’d be surprised at how many veterans come and they don’t know what’s available for them. They don’t know where help is,” Hughes said. And so Hughes recruits a veteran who has been with the program for several years to assist new veterans, physically taking them where they need to go and helping them through the medical system process. “[We] alleviate anxieties that veterans have,” Hughes said.”

In 2009, a pivotal year for Vets Helping Vets, the organization reaches out to the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System about using an idle greenhouse on the hospital property. After receiving approval, the volunteers of the organization go to work, remodeling the greenhouse and the area surrounding it.

The greenhouse became a center for therapy, both from PTSD professionals and peer-led activity by volunteers.

“People say—what the hell? A veteran in a greenhouse? That ain’t going to work. Well, what [Hughes] does—he’ll get you in there and he’ll say, ‘I need you to plant these little plants here, put this dirt in a pot, move this’—well, the whole time, he’s easily doing a little therapy on you. ‘Well, how was your day today?’ And then he’ll start his therapy and you don’t even know it,” Adams said, “It’s a more comfortable, less clinical environment. It’s relaxed, you see other veterans walking around.”

The greenhouse also serves other patients, and University high school autism students. Wheelchair repair facilities serve a similar role to the greenhouse, as a place for therapy.

Hughes takes pride in that the organization is entirely volunteer-based. “Nobody in the organization gets a cent.

Whatever we get donated goes right back into it,” Hughes said.

Vets Helping Vets recently became a 501 C3 tax-exempt nonprofit organization, which allows it greater independence. VHV also is able to take more donations.

His efforts also reach outside of the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System. Vets Helping Vets reaches out to veterans coming home from conflicts with traumatic injuries. Since last year, the organization has also raised money for Christmas presents for children in Child Protective Services throughout the state, something Hughes and Adams are proud to do.

Hughes will be retiring in the spring but plans on continuing his efforts.

He looks forward to being able to work with Vets Helping Vets full-time, and possibly expanding the program. *** A moment of great pride for the organization, for both Hughes and Adams, came in 2004.

Adams received a phone call at his home in Corsicana. It was from the Fondrens, parents who don’t have anywhere else to turn. They had received word that their son, Jay Fondren, was severely wounded in Iraq, and that he was currently being flown to Germany for treatment.

“[They] said, ‘What can you do? We don’t know how to deal with the hospitals, money, airplane tickets and all that,’” Adams said.

It was 9 o’clock at night. Adams worked through the night, calling other veterans. “As soon as I told them the story—‘How much you need?’ A veteran will veteran faster than anybody, especially combat veterans.” By six that morning, Adams had raised $6,000.

Through fund-raisers organized by Vets Helping Vets in Waco and Corsicana, more than $76,000 was raised for the travel and medical expenses for the family. Fondren pulled through, although he lost both his legs and a thumb. Today, lives in Waco, helping other veterans through his work at the Veterans Affairs regional office in downtown Waco.

For Adams, being able to help veterans is therapeutic. “I get enjoyment out of seeing somebody in the same treatment I was in and being able to influence them, for them to get better,” he said.

Adams and the other volunteers are passionate about helping fellow veterans, something at the heart of Vets Helping Vets.

“God love the combat veterans. They gave so much during combat, but when you get ahold of them and they trust you enough, they just keep on giving,” Hughes said.

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MORE THAN A

BY KEVIN COOK PHOTOS BY LAUREAN LOVE

Keagan’s work station is full of bright paints and his drawings, as well as other essentials tattoo artists must have.

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Keagan Eastham is a 22-year-old tattoo artist for Art Ambush. Keagan translated his passion for art into a career as a tattoo artist.

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or me, it’s all about the art,” said Keagan Eastham as he tattooed a client’s calf at Art Ambush. Eastham, 22, of Fort Worth wore a surgical mask and a pair of latex gloves as he gave his art life.

Perhaps one of the most surprising aspects about Eastham is that does not have any tattoos himself.

“I just feel like, at this point in my life, I don’t know myself well enough,” Eastham said.

Eastham has wanted to be an artist since the age of 7.

“I have a lot of siblings, and all of them drew. Being a part of a bigger family, I didn’t get a whole lot of attention. I guess that was my way of getting attention, in a way. That was my outlet, really,” Eastham said.

Eastham took art classes in high school, but had been drawing for years before that.

“I drew the most when I was supposed to be taking notes,” Eastham said. After not practicing art for about two years, Eastham signed up for Art I in high school.

Eastham’s Art I teacher suggested that he take Advanced Art instead. Eastham said Advanced Art was pivotal in his life.

“If I didn’t get in that class, I probably wouldn’t be where I am today with my art,” Eastham said.

As a part of the class, the students were required to enter art competitions in which five pieces from each student’s portfolio are submitted. Eastham’s picture was one of 32 chosen from 900,000 submissions.

“I took that as a sign,” Eastham said.

After moving to Waco to be with family, Eastham attended McLennan Community College and worked at a local restaurant, where he would doodle on napkins and receipts. Some of his coworkers would ask Eastham to design a tattoo for them, but they didn’t exactly turn out well. Eastham said they were terrible.

So Eastham thought that he should be the one to tattoo his art.

Eastham visited several other tattoo shops in Waco before landing a job at Art Ambush. Instead of accepting the first job that was offered to him, Eastham chose the place that suited his needs the best.

He traveled around to different shops and showed them his portfolio. Most of the shops were eager to hire Eastham.

Eastham said that most of the shops had flash on the wall.

Flash art, or wall art, are terms commonly used to describe tattoo designs that are premade and displayed on the wall of the shop.

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“There are custom shops, and there are flash shops. Art Ambush has a different feel. It’s not Tattoo Ambush, it’s Art Ambush. I basically saw an opportunity, and I took it,” Eastham said.

Before being able to do tattoos on his own, Eastham served as an apprentice under Lindsey Ebert, an award-winning artist who has been photographed for Tattoo and International Tattoo magazines.

Maintaining a sterile environment is important to Art Ambush and Eastham.

“I don’t let anybody come and touch my paper towels. I’m very cautious,” Eastham said.

Tattoos are permanent, so if you want to make sure that your tattoo artist is a skilled professional, or you might be visiting Eastham for a cover-up.

“Sometimes I’m worried when people ask if I want to see their tattoo. There’s a lot of house tattoos. I’ve done a lot of cover-ups. It’s not easy,” Eastham said.

Cover-ups aren’t always possible, though.

Sometimes Eastham has to suggest laser removal of the tattoo, but not very often.

“I just tell people to please check out portfolio and make sure their work is good, make sure it’s not their first tattoo and make sure they’re clean,” Eastham said.

Eastham works 50-60 hours a week and stays busy at the shop six days a week.

“I’m only one person. I can’t give everyone tattoos. I’ve got to pay my bills, but I’m not in it for the money. I just want you to have a good tattoo. When you’re here, I know I can personally treat you like I’m tattooing my sister,” Eastham said.

It seems that some people would be reluctant to get a tattoo from a tattoo artist with no tattoos. “Some people say to never trust a skinny chef. Are you going to judge me by the art that I have on me, or the art that I produce and put on you? Plastic surgeons don’t always get plastic surgery,” Eastham said.

According to Eastham, having confidence is important to being a tattoo artist, because people are trusting you with their skin.

“Especially with tattooing, you learn to stay humble. You’ve got to be confident, but you don’t want to get arrogant. I’m always getting better,” Eastham said.

If you were to pay Art Ambush a visit, Amber Hardin, 21, of Waco would be the first friendly face you would see. Hardin has been working the front desk at Art Ambush for four years.

“I love what I do. This is a positive environment to be in,” Hardin said.

Hardin’s favorite tattoo is a portrait of her deceased grandparents.

Keagan completes the finishing touches on a design for a regular client.

17 Fall 2012 Focus Magazine

“It’s really special to me, because I don’t have them,” said Hardin.

Hardin said that her passion is being a good mother to her soon to be 3-year-old son.

Eastham’s tattoos aren’t the only attraction at Art Ambush.

Summer Aker, 22, of Lawton, Okla., is the resident piercer.

“I like people being able to express themselves in a different way, and piercing is one of them. It makes people feel better about themselves,” said Aker.

Aker has been piercing at Art Ambush for nearly three years. “It’s really special to me, because I don’t have them,” said Hardin.

Hardin said that her passion is being a good mother to her soon to be 3-yearold son.

“I like seeing the reactions on the people’s faces once they see the piece of jewelry in their body, the big huge smiles,” Aker said.

Aker also feels like when her clients leave, they take a piece of her art with them.

“I feel like this is my art. I feel like when someone walks out with a piercing that I’ve done, I feel like that’s my interpretation of art,” Aker said.

Aker also started at Art Ambush as an apprentice, but now she has an apprentice of her own, Phylisity.

“When she first started, I was a little nervous. I didn’t want to teach her something and it be wrong,” Aker said.

Aker and Phylisity annually attend Association of Professional Piercers conventions in Las Vegas. Aker does a lot research on what is best for her clients.

Pain is inherently associated with piercing, but to many clients, the piercing itself is not that bad. Clamps are often used to hold the skin in place before it is pierced.

“Most people say that the clamps are the worst part, and that the piercing wasn’t as bad as they thought it was going to be,” Aker said.

Many people get nauseated after they get a piercing.

18 Focus Magazine Fall 2012

“It’s actually a lot more common than people think,” Aker said.

Aker advises that you make sure you have eaten before getting pierced, in order to avoid nausea.

Along with piercing, Aker has found another creative outlet that is available at Art Ambush, Almost Edible Soaps and Things. Her brand of handmade goat’s milk soap and candles was introduced in March and has been a hot seller at Art Ambush.

Aker’s handmade products are not only therapeutic for her customers, but for her as well. Aker said that making her products is a stress reliever for her.

Gabriel Colbert of Dallas is co-owner of Art Ambush with Lindsey Ebert.

Colbert attended Temple College and University of Mary-Hardin Baylor but now resides in Waco.

Colbert’s artistic contribution to Art Ambush is music, specifically production. Colbert has been touring with bands for about 12 years and got the band Flyleaf signed, among others.

Ebert and Colbert are best friends and opened the business together. Art Ambush used to have on-site live music shows, but it is currently renovating its venue.

“Now we are shooting for early next year. We added more bathrooms and exits. When it was open, we hosted more than 250 concerts,” Colbert said.

The people at Art Ambush all seem to be passionate about what they do, and Colbert is no exception.

Colbert spoke about another uniquely gifted artist employed by Art Ambush named Kerry Harris. Harris is the graffiti artist that painted the mural on the side of Art Ambush, and has also found work at other local businesses.

“He did the mural on Pro-Quick Lube on Valley Mills. He’s about to do a few other places. He’s a graffiti artist that is amazing.

Instead of doing it illegally, he’s doing it to make a living,” said Colbert.

“We love live music, clothes, art, and tattoos and body piercings

From left to right: Examples of Keagan’s sketches and work on previous clients. Photos provided by Keagan Eastham.

because it is a form of art. A lot of people don’t realize that. It’s selfexpression,” Colbert said.

Tattoos, while gradually becoming more accepted, are considered taboo in many aspects of our society. Some young people are quick to get a visible tattoo on their hand or neck.

Colbert knows that tattoos are not accepted everywhere, and that is why his tattoos are not visible.

“Think about your profession and what you want in life. Even as the owner of Art Ambush, I don’t have any visible tattoos,” Colbert said.

Colbert and Ebert did not anticipate Art Ambush growing as much as it has. The original plan was to have Ebert do tattoos, Colbert orchestrate the music, and have someone doing piercings.

“We never wanted to rush into an apprentice. And when Keagan came up and decided to present his art to Lindsey and myself, it was easy to see that he had quality in all different

TATTOO FACTS: • When receiving a tattoo, your skin is pricked between 50 and 3,000 times per minute by a needle in the tattoo machine.

mediums,” Colbert said.

Colbert and Ebert decided they would make an exception and hire Eastham on as an apprentice.

“He’s a quality tattoo artist that’s succeeded. For someone that has only been tattooing for two years, his work speaks very loud for itself,” Colbert said.

Going to a tattoo shop can be an intimidating experience for some, but the culture at Art Ambush is friendly, cohesive and positive.

Colbert shares his vision for the future of Art Ambush,“If we can expand our art, positive quality of living, then I feel like it’s going to reach others out there,” Colbert said.

As for Eastham and his tattoo, only time will tell.

“My tattoo and I guess where I am in my life, I feel like that’s in a drawer that I can’t reach yet. My ladder’s not high enough to get that,” Eastham said.

Keagan’s workspace during a tattoo session one Thursday evening.

• The Guinness world record for the longest tattooing session is 48 hours and 16 minutes.

• In 2006, 36% of people in the United States between the ages of 18 and 25 had at least one tattoo, while 40% of people between 26 and 40 had at least one tattoo.

*Discovery Fit & Health

19 Fall 2012 Focus Magazine

Story by Kasey McMillian

Photos by Colin Surguine

You can’t sugarcoat real life. And drinking two gallons of milk every day was not going to prepare Zavier for how strong he was going to have to be.

Zavier Strother was 12 years old when he first met his father. There was no denying that Zavier was his son—he mirrored his father from head to toe.

But Zavier’s father has nearly 30 children, all from different mothers. So like all his other siblings, their father was never a part of their lives. His father had gone to jail on multiple accounts and is now in jail for his sixth felony for credit card theft and selling drugs.

Zavier had to rely on relatives and coaches to be the father figure he never had.

One of those coaches is the Coach Ken Carter, made famous through the 2005 film Coach Carter based on his coaching career.

Zavier went to football camp in Marlin where Carter was able to give Zavier pointers and teach him

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Focus Magazine Fall 2012 Focus Magazine Fall 2012

life lessons. The camp brings low-privilege but talented athletes from Marlin and surrounding areas for sports training and character develop. Here, athletes are given the chance to shine, but Zavier stood out from the rest.

“Zavier actually means brightness and star in Arabic, something that is going to shine and Zavier basically lived up to his name,” Zavier’s mother, Sophia Strother, said.

Zavier received a leadership award and the best linebacker award, along with several other honors during his time at camp.

“He’s a very talented kid. He’s absolutely a phenomenal athlete; I think he is a phenomenal person,” Carter said.

According to Zavier, Carter has always been honest

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Fall 2012 Focus Magazine Fall 2012 Focus Magazine

“I’ve seen a lot of athletes but that kid is special.

Sometimes people were meant to do certain things—he’s meant to be a football player.”

with him regarding the statistic that only one in every 500,000 kids gets to play some type of a professional sport. Zavier felt like he could be that one athlete.

“Coach Carter is really hard on me. He doesn’t sugarcoat anything,” Zavier said. “He is going to be right up front. He’s going to hold me accountable and I respect him for that.”

Strother said that when Zavier found his fame at Midway Middle School, he was the dominant running back and middle linebacker on the field.

“I’ve seen a lot of athletes, but that kid is special, “Carter said.

“Sometimes people were meant to do certain things—he’s meant to be a football player.

Football was like a second nature for Zavier, it came so naturally. Strother said that it was like he had been put on Earth to play on the field.

“Sport was it, that’s all he wanted to do,” Strother said.

Zavier lead his school to their first undefeated season two years in a row, 80 touchdowns and more than 5,000 rushing yards.

Strother said coaches predicted that at the rate he was going, he would make it to the NFL. “He had two colleges scouting him at that point and he was only in the eighth grade, so there were very high hopes for him going into Midway High School,” Strother said.

Zavier was interested in going to play college ball for Clemson, Boise State, Oklahoma, LSU, but mainly West Virginia.

“West Virginia was looking at me when I was in the eighth grade. That’s the school that I want to go to. I was only in middle school and when they told me a college scout was looking at me and I wasn’t even in high school yet, I was happy,” he said.

His life was consumed with thoughts about football until he had to do something no brother should ever have to do. Zavier buried his 9-year-old sister two days before Christmas.

Zavier’s sister, Kela, always wore a pacemaker because of a congenital heart defect and was restricted on the things she could do, he said.

“She wanted to cheerlead, she wanted to run track, she wanted to play basketball, but she couldn’t do anything.”

Zavier said the death of his sister was the hardest thing he had ever had to deal with and he was bitter because he felt like he didn’t have enough time with her.

“I didn’t want to deal with nobody. It was a lot of crying for me. It was so hard.”

During this time, Zavier was always late to school, neglected his homework, and was always in in-school suspension. He would skip practice. He even skipped a game.

Zavier had promised Kela he would always play since she was never able to participate in sports. After a long time of grieving, he decided to honor her by playing.

“I just wanted to keep playing because that’s what my sister, Kela, wanted me to do.”

But big dreams for football would soon come to a halt on July 17, 2010, when simple horseplay with his best friend would become serious.

22 Focus Magazine Fall 2012

Zavier and JD Dawkins decided to go shoot some hoops at Hewitt Elementary. The one on one soon turned into wrestling, with JD stuck in a headlock. His friend tried to throw Zavier off by holding him in a “front bear hug” and grabbing his neck.

Suddenly, Zavier’s head hit the concrete.

Zavier felt a pinch in his neck and the pain enveloped his entire body seconds later. Having never broken a bone, Zavier was in shock and had a rush of adrenaline, which allowed him to jump up and walk home. But these moments are now hazy in his memory.

When he made it home, Zavier began crying from the excruciating throbs and aches. ”I remember him saying, ‘Mom I think I’m going to die, I’m so sorry I don’t know what this is but I think I’m going to die,’” Strother said.

Strother said she knew she had to hold back the tears and panic because she needed to get Zavier to the hospital.

“I went into coach mode. I told him, ‘I need you in the game, I need you to suck it up and get it together so we can go from point A to point B.’” Strother said, “I actually talked to him like I was a football coach.”

Strother rushed to Providence Hospital in Temple, where the doctors quickly ordered Zavier to the back for CAT scans and x-rays. He was transferred to Scott and White Pediatric ICU to confirm the diagnosis: a broken neck.

Doctors didn’t know if Zavier would be able to walk again, much less play football.

“I never even asked if I was going to survive,” Zavier said. “I just asked if I’d ever be able to play football again.”

Zavier went into surgery.

Afterward, the doctor said he was stronger than they had anticipated but that Zavier would never be able to play contact sports again and should invest in other hobbies.

“But Zavier didn’t care what the doctor said, he was determined,” Strother said.

For five months, Zavier worked out every single day with the trainers at Midway High School, praying for the miracle of getting back on the field.

Strother said he even did exercises at home, went to rehab before and after school and gained 40 pounds in the weight room, hoping that all his hard work and dedication would pay off. And in April after rehabbing all of his ninth grade season, it finally did.

“They rehabbed him back to 100 percent capacity after five months,” Strother said.

The doctors cleared Zavier from rehab and told Strother that his bones were actually stronger than before his injury.

Strother said that since Zavier was little he would

always drink two gallons of milk every day. This is where that finally paid off.

And just like any mother, Strother had a difficult time allowing him to play. “I was mortified. I didn’t want him to, but then there’s a piece of me that knows he needs it. He needs to know he can do it.”

Zavier was entering his sophomore year, getting ready for his first game against Round Rock, when he received the news that his uncle had died in a motorcycle accident.

His uncle was the man he always looked up to.

Once he lost that, he felt a big piece of his heart being ripped out.

“I felt betrayed, I felt left and I felt like everybody was leaving me.”

Still, Zavier said he knew his uncle was “watching down on him.”

After Zavier scored his first

touchdown of the game, he pointed up at his uncle toward the heavens, honoring him.

However, in the second game of the season, after Zavier made a 60-yard touchdown, an opponent illegally clipped him on defense, tearing his ACL. “That injury was worse than breaking his neck. It emotionally took a toll on him,” Strother said.

“I grieved like it was me being hurt because I knew how much sports actually kept him on a straight path.”

Zavier said he kept thinking that no one would ever want to pick him up after he broke his neck and tore his ACL and that he would have to sit out another year. That’s not what he wanted to do.

“He would have been one of the top 100 recruited athletes in the country, hands down,” Carter said.

In the days that followed, Zavier became rebellious and made unwise decisions from November through March of his sophomore year. Zavier said that he would “just walk around mad at the world.”

“As bad as I was back then, thankfully they didn’t send me to alternative school. I would blame everybody but myself. I was just mad.”

“I think he felt like ‘What else?’” Strother said.

When Zavier didn’t think anything else could make matters worse, he found out his grandmother was diagnosed with a brain disease. Later, at age 16, he found out he was going to be a father.

And that’s when Zavier packed up and moved out of the house.

There was much tension with his mother during that time, so he moved in with a friend.

“It was just a lot in one period of time,” Zavier said.

He said he knew life was going to get difficult and he would have many more responsibilities with a baby. So after completing his sophomore year, Zavier dropped out of school and got a job at Taco Casa to help raise his son, Zadin Zavier Strother.

“I wanted my son to have something I never had, which was a father,” Zavier said.

He was also got scholarship to help pay for the application fees to earn a GED. Zavier said he is also looking at all his options to re-enter into school because he wants to get an education to be a teacher/coach and eventually return to football.

“I’m going to graduate, I’m going to do it,” Zavier said. “I want to show everyone I’m not a low-life.

Carter and Strother still believe in Zavier and know he is going to do extraordinary things in life.

“If he played in two games, just two games of high school sports next year, he’ll end up getting a scholarship,” Carter said. “He’s got more colleges interested then anybody they got on the field.”

To some people football is just a sport, but for Zavier it helped him get through life and was his escape for the tragedy in his life.

“I will never lose my passion for football ever,” Zavier said.

So that’s the goal now, for Zavier to keep pushing forward and do everything he can to get back on the field.

“I always tell people life is like a season,” Carter said. “Even though winter comes, since the beginning of time spring has always followed winter. So Zavier is just in the winter of his life right now but spring is going to come for him again. Spring is coming.”

23 Fall 2012 Focus Magazine

Story by Krista Pirtle Photos by Matt Hellman

Off the court

into the t

O

n the hardwood, leadership is thought of by how many people wear your number on a T-shirt or how many points you have in a game. But leadership on a basketball team truly encompasses the virtues of selflessness and teamwork: making the assist to the open player when you’ve been hot all night or running decoy off a pick and roll so the post will be wide open for a bucket down low.

Sacrifice in basketball is hardly ever pretty and rarely do those players receive any credit.

The Baylor men’s basketball team learned a new form of sacrifice at the end of September by taking a trip down to Fort Hood for some leadership training. Their time as wranglers would be wrapped up by welcoming home soldiers stationed in Afghanistan.

“Words cannot describe the emotion, especially for those of us that have kids and thinking about not seeing your family and kids for a year. That’ll get anyone teary-eyed,” head coach Scott Drew said. “They put on a great show and you can tell how much it touched these guys.”

24 Focus Magazine Fall 2012

trenches

The team wasn’t completely into the idea when they were told they had to be at the Ferrell Center at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday.

“We were all a little bummed we were coming down here at first,” senior guard A.J. Walton said. “We had to wake up at 7 in the morning on Saturday and we were like ‘C’mon, Coach.’”

But, what started out as an unwelcome early Saturday morning ended up a memorable experience. Upon arriving at the Ferrell Center, the team had no clue as to its destination or to why fatigues and boots were being passed out.

“We knew we had a team event but didn’t know what it was or any of the circumstances,” junior guard Brady Heslip said. “We didn’t know this. This was a surprise. It’s definitely a cool experience anytime you get to do something like this, especially with your team and get dressed up and have fun, you know. It’s nice to see all the guys embracing it and using it to just come together. ” 25 Fall 2012 Focus Magazine

After a ride in a school bus that could only go a speedy 55 miles per hour, the team arrived at its destination: Fort Hood for Baylor basketball’s Weekend as a Wrangler.

“Fort Hood is the largest military installation in the United States,” Col. Mark Simerly, Commander of the 4th Sustainment Brigade, said in his opening charge to his “new soldiers” from Baylor. “We’re going to put them through some physical challenges but also things that cause them to develop leadership skills and interact as a team and promote some discipline within those events.”

Drew called six weeks prior to

Afghanistan veterans of the 96th Trans returned to Fort Hood Sunday afternoon and were reunited with their families for the first time this year.

Page 24: No. 22 Guard A.J. Walton crawls through sand under barbed wire during individual course training with his teammates cheering him on Sunday Sept. 23.

26 Focus Magazine Fall 2012

plan a leadership weekend for his team.

In recent years, Baylor has hosted groups from nearby Fort Hood at football and basketball games. Men’s basketball coach Scott Drew took the growing relationship a step further last weekend, leading his team through a weekend on the military base, complete with hand-to-hand combat training and sharpshooting exercises.

“For one, we wanted to come down here and do something as a team, but more importantly, we wanted to come down and say thank you to the soldiers and all they do for us,” Drew said.

From the first step off the buses Saturday morning, Baylor’s players and coaches were given a taste of a soldier’s daily life—following the orders of their superiors and living in a regimented fashion.

Drill sergeants greeted the team, leaving no doubt that they were not there to mess around.

“Sit in the front row. Look straight ahead. You don’t need to be talking. Why are you smiling?” barked the drill sergeants.

For some of the players, the strict orders were a bit unsettling.

“A lot us had just woke up, so we didn’t know what we were getting into,” senior point guard Pierre Jackson said.

“Once they came off of the bus, it’s all about how you feel, so they feed off of you,” said Sgt. Shanita Henderson, one of the drill sergeants, who realized she was dealing with players who weren’t really excited to be there from the start. “So if you’re motivated, they’re going to be motivated. They’re young, and I could tell that they’re young, but they were very motivated.

It’s just like training privates. I enjoyed it.”

The team was broken into two groups, as were faculty and staff.

“They’ll break into small groups and they’ll have to work their way through some problem solving and some obstacles and develop their leadership skills as they do that,” Simerly said.

The first group had to take three poles, a barrel and a rope to the other side of two walls without touching the red paint or standing on the walls because that would blow everything up.

Throwing one of the poles over the walls, the team placed the other two over the top and used each other and the barrel to set atop the two to crawl across.

They completed it within the time frame and celebrated the victory after.

“Brady stepped in, Rico Gathers stepped in, Deuce Bello, everybody had a specific part,” junior Cory Jefferson said.

“It’s a different feeling. We had a goal to accomplish and we accomplished it so we just felt good about it.”

Their next task, however, did not end so well.

The challenge was to get four boxes across an area enclosed by barbed wire by going across planks of wood the teams would set up themselves.

Nothing could touch the ground or else everything would explode.

It took all of 54 seconds before a dropped plank went boom.

“The second one we messed up, but our sergeant just told us to forget about it and move on. We’re in it together as a team,” Heslip said.

Next up on the schedule was a gun simulation in a room with a giant screen full of enemy targets and guns full of air to offer the correct weight and kick and lights to hit the targets.

One side of room was equipped with machine guns while the other had M-4s and a pair of 50-cals. The simulation used light sensors rather than bullets.

Assistant coach Grant McCasland beat out the three-point assassins Freshman Isaiah Austin had to accommodate for his height by his of Heslip and senior Pierre Jackson with 35 kills of his own. hand placement on the rope.

“It’s only a simulation,” McCasland said. “But when you’re sitting in Prince ended up landing backwards. it, it feels real. And it’s a blast. Our guys are all competitive. So anytime The final obstacle was perhaps the easiest of the six, jumping atop a we do anything together, it’s going to be competition.” bunker and sliding down it.

Later that night, the Baylor players coached four Army teams.

“From the obstacle course this morning, you really saw people “It’s a blast,” assistant coach Jerome Tang said of watching his players stepping up,” Drew said. “A lot of guys are scared of heights, and guys coach. “Because they repeat what you’re telling them, so now you know were out there encouraging others and doing things they probably they’re listening.” didn’t think they could do.”

In the first game featuring the Red and Blue teams, the point guard Even the sergeants could see the improvements. for the red team, who happened to be the only woman playing in the “As athletes, I think that even though they’re fit, this is a totally tournament, crossed her defender over, causing him to fall and then different thing than what they’re used to,” Sgt. First class Amando Luna proceeded to swish her elbow jumper. said. “They’ve done a good job, a lot better than I expected. It’s been “Wrangler A” point guard Cpl. Lana Dineyazhe, the lone female exciting. I talked to my wife last night, and we’re definitely going to Soldier competing, drew quite a reaction. catch some Baylor games this year.”

“I dribble down,” she said. “And I noticed the guy kind of trying to Physically fit, the Baylor teams were whipped by the warmscare me, by adding pressure – he would come in and out. As soon as up they had to perform in the combative training portion of the he came out, I went forward, pushing it. Then I pulled off a cross over weekend. and saw my defender reach for the ball, so I dribbled behind my back.”

“We hope the visiting team does those warm-ups because they’ll Basically, she left her defender in the dust. be tapped out by game time,” Drew said. “You never realized what “He went the other way, and I just shot it,” she said. physical training our soldiers go through and how physically fit The gym erupted with Baylor they are, and it’s amazing. Our players hooting, hollering and players are elite college athletes, “For One, We wanted to come down and I know they were tapped. running all over the floor.

“She made somebody fall,” here and do something as a team, The warm-up was an issue.”

Jackson said. “I haven’t done that athletes and coaches but more importantly, we wanted to wereThethen in a while, and she made the shot. coached on some It was real exciting. They had to come down and say thank you to the combative moves by Sgt. Billy shut down the game.” soldiers and all that they do for us. Speedy.

That wasn’t the only time the “My favorite part had to be coaches were all over the floor the warm-ups,” Speedy said. as the Baylor players found it “These guys were loud, and they scott drew, men’s head hard to stay in the coaching box, were struggling. They didn’t basketball coach namely Heslip and Walton. quite understand the warm-up “I think some of them would but hey, they were trying. They have gotten technicals the way they were out of the box,” Drew said wanted us to know they were trying. Seeing these guys come in, smiling. “I liked seeing our guys coach with the soldiers and how really give it their all and be excited to be here.” excited the soldiers were to win the tournament and how excited our While the motivation behind the trip was to bond the team guys were to help them win the tournament. and promote leadership attributes, Drew left seeing character The Bears got a break before hitting the obstacle course at 8:30 from his players.

Sunday morning to tackle the challenges.

“Why we’ve been successful in because we’ve not only had Due to safety precautions, Baylor was only allowed to participate in talented players but most importantly, we’ve had good Baylor six of them. men, and they have really good hearts. No one’s perfect. We all The first one involved climbing a ladder to the top of a tower and mess up, but at the end of the day, these are the type of people that lowering yourself down the rope with your ankles hooked around it you would be proud to represent your school.” and your hands lowering your body down, all headfirst. If you fall, a Later that day, the team welcomed soldiers returning home net is there to catch you and you roll the rest of the way down. from Afghanistan.

Senior J’Mison Morgan experienced the roll and as he dismounted As the chaos cleared from families running to their soldiers, he couldn’t walk straight to the next obstacle. one soldier walked over to the side of the gym. His family was not “I’m so dizzy,” he said. able to make it.

The next challenge was crawling under barbed wire.

Jackson noticed this and instantly invited him over to be a part Safety was maintained throughout the event as hands were wrapped of the Baylor family. for blisters, especially after the next station, where the players walked “Just coming in here, we had attitudes, but then it got a whole lot across beams and then went across monkey bars. better,” Jackson said. “They made it fun. You saw a couple tears from As far as being harder than it looks, the next to last obstacle was that a couple teammates. They’re all happy for the families getting their statement to a tee. soldiers back. I know I’m extremely happy. Being away from home for The Bears had to grab a rope, swing up to the top of a log beam, and a couple months, and I can’t wait to see them. To be away from home maintain balance standing on top of it and then dismount. for that much longer is crazy. I’m just happy and excited for all the Jackson thought he had it in the bag before he missed the log soldiers and their families.” all together. ## 27 Fall2012 2012Focus Magazine Fall

Filled with

28 Focus Magazine Fall 2012

Loren Lee, owner of Mirth, shows her personality as she welcomes customers into her gourmet take-out restaurant.

A

juicy tenderloin herb crusted and doused in au jus. Creamy twice-baked potatoes sprinkled with cheddar cheese. A tangy lemon curd and moist lemon sponge cake married together to make a light lemon caketop mousse.

Imagine all of this prepared as a perfect home-cooked meal meant for family members to enjoy around the dinner table. That is the dream of Loren Lee, owner and founder of Mirth.

Mirth, a gourmet take-out restaurant and delicacy shop located near Wooded Acres Drive, has served the Waco community since 2003. For Lee, starting Mirth not only brought her happiness through her passion for food, but it also brought “principled cooking,” as she likes to call it, to the community of Waco.

“I wanted to bring some creative and fresh food, meaning if you want to make green beans, go actually buy the green beans.” Lee said. “Waco desperately needed some gourmet food.”

Lee showed a passion for fine cuisine since childhood. She found comfort in the peaceful busyness of kitchen life and loved spending time with her mother and grandmother while they cooked. “My grandmother just seemed to be so excited about recipes,” Lee said. “She used to have books and books of them and let me cook with them at her house. It was a stress reliever.”

Story by Taylor Rexrode Photos by Anna Alfora and Becca Armagost

29 Fall 2012 Focus Magazine

obsessive about it. But cooking…you just have to Lee grew up loving food, but she took a do it, right then. That was appealing to me after long journey to reconnect with her unrivaled living in my head for so long. After pursuing such enthusiasm for cooking. She grew up in Waco intellectual things, I just had to work with my and attended high school at Vanguard College hands.”

Preparatory School near Mount Carmel, the area While at the California Culinary Academy, she made infamous by the Branch Davidian religious realized that there was a whole world of possibilities group. She attended Baylor for a short time after graduating high school but decided to go her own that she had never experienced. “I thought, ‘Wow, we aren’t cooking with Campbell’s soup!’ There were way. ingredients I had never heard of,” she said.

She always loved spending time with her Lee learned every aspect of being in the food family and has considered herself a homebody, industry –from making an artful plate of food to but she decided to make her own destiny by busting tables in one of the school’s three fullleaving the town where she grew up. time restaurants.

“I realized I needed to have an adult Lee’s hardest skill to learn in culinary school was experience and not be able to just turn to not mastering the precise techniques of tournee home anytime,” she said. So Lee left Waco for cuts with a bird’s beak knife or how to properly Winston-Salem, N.C., where she earned her bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Wake Forest eviscerate fish in butchery class—it was working with hostile people in a fast-paced environment.

University in 1988. Lee enjoyed the challenge “How do you deal with people screaming at of elevated thinking in philosophy, so she took you? It made me not want to pursue that path the 1,400-mile journey back home to Waco and where you go and find the best chef and deal with joined the Baylor community as a philosophy it to get ahead,” Lee said. graduate student.

Lee wanted to combine her love of cooking However, Lee soon realized that she was and her interest in the television-film industry, destined for a different path. When she should have been writing her thesis, Lee was taking a screenwriting class I love the word Mirth. I like the noisy, joyful under Robert Darden. happiness. When you have something really “She had taken the class on a great to eat, it can produce that effect. You whim. When the first pages came can feel inspired. in, her four or five pages were great.

I really urged her to continue and so she went all the way to New York to work for by the end of the semester. I knew she was special,” the Food Network in 1999. She worked as a test said Darden, associate professor in the journalism, kitchen chef or “food stylist” for Sara Moulton public relations and new media department. who, at the time, was Executive Chef for Gourmet So special, in fact, that Lee applied to the magazine and host of “Cooking Live.” Many prestigious American Film Institute in Los famous people were on the show, like Florence Angeles and was accepted. In 1994, she earned Henderson of “The Brady Bunch,” and Lee her Master’s of Fine Arts in screenwriting from encountered many famous chefs who were in the top film school in the world. and out of the studio, like Masaharu Murimoto, Still, Lee knew something was missing.

Japan’s Iron Chef.

Thinking back to her passion for food, she took Lee loved the idea of bringing fresh ideas to the a leap of faith by applying to the California Food Network but, in the end, realized that her true Culinary Academy in San Francisco. passion came from building relationships with people.

“I loved writing but there was always “I definitely prefer this because of the something to change and do and you never interaction. It’s really fulfilling to see the reaction knew when you were done. You can get kind of

“

30 Focus Magazine Fall 2012

”

Lee prepares the food and decorates the restaurant all by herself. Just as her savory dishes are filled with flavor, the place is filled with personality, and she is filled with mirth.

and have some kind of give and take between you and the person eating the food,” she said.

Repeat customers at Mirth agree that Lee has an infectious personality and refreshing attention to detail that is unparalleled in Waco. Kimberley Nielsen and her family have been customers at Mirth since it opened as a restaurant. Nielsen’s children, Katie Lou, Maggie and Lane, all enjoy Lee’s delicious, homemade sweets, but they also love talking to her.

“She does have a passion for food, people and uniqueness. That is what sets her apart from other restaurants in town,” Nielsen said.

Between 2003 and 2007, Mirth functioned as a full-time gourmet restaurant with weekly menus.

It reopened as a gourmet take-out shop in 2010.

This gave Lee time to invent new recipes, like her pumpkin citrus soup. Other popular dishes include her lavender crème brulee, homemade whoopie pies and zinfandel-poached pears.

When it comes to passion, Lee does not fit the stereotype of a person full of zeal. She shies away from compliments and loves to talk about others over herself.

“There is this stereotype that you have to be this Mike Singletary middle linebacker, focused and sweating and obsessive, to be great at something. Maybe it’s because Loren is so bright that she makes it look so easy. You underestimate Loren at your own risk because she can do whatever she sets her mind to,” Darden said.

But Lee knows herself. She knows that her long journey has brought her to a place where she feels truly happy.

“I love the word Mirth. I like the noisy, joyful happiness. When you have something really great to eat, it can produce that effect. I have cried over food. It’s a very emotional thing. You can feel inspired.”

31 Fall 2012 Focus Magazine

HE R

E FIGHT 32 Focus Magazine Fall 2012

Story by Kayla Reeves Photos by Monica Lake

I

n the late 1990s, Waco lawyers Susan and Alan Nelson, along with their nine-year-old son, began considering adoption. They made the final decision when two of their friends coincidentally showed them the same article from Baptist Standard, a Texas religious magazine. It was about an adoption company that was trying to find homes for Russian children, and it showed the picture of a little girl named Yulia. “We both had the same reaction,” Susan said. “This one is mine.”

The next week, the couple went to a meeting in Dallas and learned that six other families wanted to adopt the girl from the magazine. Still, they started the adoption process, had a home visit with a social worker and eventually were matched with the girl, whom they called Julia, the English equivalent of her name.

The Nelsons were ecstatic and hoped to have their new child before her seventh birthday. Soon after, a Russian law changed and Julia was no longer available for adoption. “The previous law allowed courts to terminate parental rights for children in state care whose parents had not been in contact,” Susan said. “The new law required that all parents be served and given an opportunity to oppose the termination.” Julia’s father had to be served in Belarus, where he is from, and there was a chance that he could refuse to give up parenthood.

The family worked with their adoption company for about a year trying to fix the problem, and finally it worked. Julia flew into Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in August of 1999, with an interpreter, a social worker and a temporary visa. Even with a huge language barrier, their first meeting was incredible, Susan said.

Julia started first grade a few weeks later, and was speaking English by Halloween. “You scary me!’ was her Halloween refrain,” Susan said. After Thanksgiving, the family flew to Russia to finalize the adoption. They saw the dismal children’s home where their daughter had lived, and gained a sense of what she had been through.

Julia, who is now twenty, said that at the time of the adoption she did not know much about what was

33 Fall 2012 Focus Magazine

Robert* is a young immigrant living in Waco whose family is working with immigration lawyer Susan Nelson. He hopes to gain legal status someday.

At right: Nelson assists an immigrant with paperwork at a clinic at the Baylor School of Law that assists young immigrants who are eligible for relief from immediate deportation.

happening, except that there were people trying to adopt her.

Every once in a while, she would receive little presents like candy or a teddy bear from them.

The experience made Susan Nelson want to help people with her newfound knowledge of immigration laws. Working with immigration can be complicated and confusing. “My husband and I are both lawyers, and we had to get help,” she said. “We went into [the adoption process] thinking we can do this, but we were wrong.”

After the adoption, Nelson began getting calls from other lawyers or people in the community who knew she had experience with the system because there were no immigration lawyers in Waco. She worked immigration cases pro bono until 2003, and has had several thousand cases since then.

Nelson now represents people who hope to obtain legal status from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or who are in deportation proceedings to be sent back to their country of origin.

She recently represented the first immigrant in the Waco area to benefit from President Obama’s DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) act. This new act allows some young immigrants who have gone to school in America to finish their education and begin on the path to permanent residency and eventually citizenship, which is a huge relief for many families, especially in Texas where immigration is prevalent.

Police discovered Nelson’s client Daniel Perez when he witnessed a fight in Coolidge, Texas. Even though all charges against him were dropped, he was put into deportation hearings because he was in the country without documentation. But thanks to deferred action for DREAMers, Nelson was able to help Perez stay in the United States as long as he meets the criteria. He must have come into the country before the age of 16, have finished 34 Focus Magazine Fall 2012

high school here or currently be enrolled and have no criminal record, just to name a few of the qualifications.

Nelson takes pride in cases like Perez’s. “I really like being able to help families stay together,” she said. “So much of what lawyers do is picking up the pieces when families fall apart. It’s heartbreaking when you’re working with a family that wants desperately to be together, but the law of the U.S. is separating children from their parents.”

One of her other clients, Robert*, cannot qualify for the deferred action for DREAM act, but hopes to be able to stay in the United States anyway. Robert was born in Mexico and moved to Texas without documentation when he was 2 years old. He went to school from kindergarten through 12th grade at Bosqueville, was on honor roll and involved in extracurricular activities, and had a fairly normal life. Public schools allow illegal residents to enroll because it is American law that everyone must attend school until a certain age. In Texas, it is required that students attend school from age 6 to 18. Robert’s family filled out all the forms, but left the Social Security number blank. In high school, sports liability forms are different because only legal citizens can receive certain insurance benefits. He also had to pass on senior trips and vacations because if he left the country, he would not be able to return.

Other than those few details, he felt like any other citizen, Robert said. It only became difficult when he got older. He had to travel to New Mexico to get a driver’s license because Texas denied his application, but he needed a license to work. He also could not attend college to study architecture because it is impossible to get a loan without a Social Security number. He decided to settle in Waco and earn a degree in environmental health and safety from Texas State Technical College. After that, finding a job that would

hire someone without legal status was a struggle.

Last December, Robert was convicted for driving while intoxicated and was put in deportation proceedings. He was in jail for eight days while his parents contacted lawyers from all over the state, looking for someone who could help them. Robert told the story of a man he met in jail who had beaten his wife, but was able to pay his fine one hour later and be released, while Robert was stuck for more than a week because of his status. Eventually, his parents found Nelson, who said she might have a way to help.

After the worst eight days ever, Susan was finally able to get me out,” he said. “We talked to the head people of immigration, who are in San Antonio, and they gave me another chance.”

They looked over his case and read letters written by family, co-workers, teachers and friends of Robert’s family. They reviewed all of his school records showing good grades and no trouble.

After some deliberation, they decided to let him stay as an undocumented resident.

If he had been deported because of that arrest, he would have been forced to return to Mexico alone and stay with family he had not seen since he was a toddler.

“I was scared that I had to go and start over somewhere that’s strange to me. It’s a foreign land to me,” he said, “but I realized I made a mistake and have to pay for it, maybe worse than other people.”

Robert is still not a legal resident, but he hopes to become one someday. He hopes to eventually marry his girlfriend, who is a citizen, and then have the right to apply for citizenship through her, and in turn, his immediate family could apply through him.

“I feel privileged that they made an exception for me,” he said. “I want to be a good asset to the community, keep showing them that they have a good resident here in their country.”

Nelson is also working with Robert’s brother, helping him navigate through the DREAM act. Robert said he is grateful that Nelson has been with them through the entire process.

Nelson plans to continue helping people stay in the United States with their families and hopes the laws will be altered to accommodate immigration. She referenced a Texas Monthly cover from November 2010, which had a picture of the border with a “no trespassing” sign and a “help wanted” sign. “It’s funny because it’s really true. People don’t come here to free-load; they’re not eligible for any kind of benefits,” she said. “They’re coming to work.”

She believes it will be difficult to change voters’ minds about immigration, because so many people shot down President Bush’s ideas of legalization, calling it “amnesty”. Nelson said she wishes that people who have been in America for a certain amount of time, who had worked, paid taxes, established families and community connections here would be able to

become permanent residents and even citizens.

Most of the illegal immigrants are not illegal because they want to be, Nelson said. There are some who come in across the river or the desert with no intention of going through immigration, but many of them entered the country with a work visa or on a parent’s visa that has since expired. Many of them have had a petition filed for them and think they are now allowed to stay, when there was actually a 20-year wait, and do not know that facet of the law until they become embroiled in a deportation situation. And, she added, there are many who have been trying to get on good standing for years, but the laws are just too confusing.

For Robert’s family, dealing with this long and complex legal process was not an option. They wanted to do what they believed would be best for their children, which was coming to America despite the risks.

[My parents] knew if they stayed in Mexico, they wouldn’t have the opportunity to provide my brother and me the things we have here like education, even some luxuries, a more secure life,” he said. “To do it legally you have to pay for a work visa and then wait a certain time. If you’re a single mom and there’s no work in Mexico and your kids are starving, you have to do something.”

He said the laws should help those who have proven to be a good asset through their schooling and career.

They are striving for success and should have the same opportunities as other people, he said.

There are about 150,000 young people in Texas who could benefit from deferred action, not including immigrants like Robert who are able to stay for other reasons, and Nelson plans to continue helping them for as long as she can. In addition to her regular law practice, she just finished working with Professor Laura Hernandez at Baylor School of Law on a clinic for deferred action applicants. She is hoping to establish a permanent clinic where law students would work for credit hours by helping with different types of immigration cases, not just with DREAMers. One of Nelson’s big goals is to continue working with the law school and help make that clinic a reality.

Her daughter Julia said she can tell her mother is passionate about her job. After working full time at the law firm, she goes straight to Baylor to help out there, Julia said, and someone who is not passionate would not do so much extra work. She is honored to be the reason that her mother started working in this field.

“I feel like I connect a lot better with some of those people because I understand what they’re going through,” she said, “like the emotional state of having a family torn apart and when someone’s trying to put it together. I don’t think I’ve ever realized how much she’s done for these people until recently when I’ve gotten older.”

*Names have been changed

35 Fall 2012 Focus Magazine

FROM PEANUT BUTTER PATTIES TO PRISONS In Girl Scouts, every girl learns how to survive in the wilderness. The girls of Waco Troop 9500 are in the ultimate wilderness. They are learning to survive life without a mother.

When a mother is sent to prison, she is not the only one who pays the price for her crime. Her children also bear the burden, not only of life without her, but also of becoming dangerously at risk to be incarcerated themselves someday.

Only an intervention can help break the cycle of crime, and Girl Scouts Beyond Bars is that intervention.

Story by Jennifer Philen Photos by Matt Hellman

10-year-old Yuvia draws what she wants to learn how to do this year as a member of Girl Scouts of America’s Troop 9500 while at their first meeting of the year in the Bluebonnet Program Center.

36 Focus Magazine Fall 2012

As members of Troop 9500 of Girl Scouts of America, 10-year-old Yuvia and her younger sister, Brista, hold a picture of their mother who was sent to jail when Yuvia was 6-years-old.

37 Fall 2012 Focus Magazine

A Troop 9500 patch representing that the troop is part of Girl Scouts of America’s Girl Scouts Beyond Bars program is sewn into Yuvia’s uniform.

Girl Scouts Beyond Bars is a national outreach program that takes all the benefits of Scouting to young girls who have been traumatized by a dysfunctional home life and whose mothers are now serving prison sentences in the McLennan County or Falls County areas of Texas. The program adds an important “point of emotional contact” each month as the girls not only visit with their mothers, but participate in an actual troop meeting led by the mothers themselves.

As they walk through the prison gates, the girls run to hug their moms. Dressed in all white, the mothers greet their daughters with tears running down their faces. The girls immediately want to sit on their moms’ laps and tell them everything that has been going on in their lives. For the first few minutes everyone is excited and joyful, but as emotions start to take a toll, so do the tears.

Reality sets in and the girls realize that once they leave it will be another month until they can see their mom again.

But it is not the girls who are ripped away from their mother in tears that is the saddest reality, but the girls who are not crying because they have accepted this as their only path in life.

Many of the girls in the program currently live with their grandmother. This continues even when their mothers are released, since it is often a more stable environment, at least initially. Some of these girls do not have healthy relationships with their mothers even after their mother is released, so Troop 9500 allows them to stay in the program during this time of transition.

One such 10-year-old Girl Scout in the program, Yuvia, said “When I was 6 years old, my mother had to go to jail and that made me sad and scared that I was going to lose her. Sometimes I still feel that way...I have that fear,” she said. “Girl Scouts has given me a strong group of friends who are about our feelings and rely on one another during hard times.”

Yuvia also talks about how Girls Scouts helps her stay in touch with her mother. She says the songs she learns in Girl Scouts give her and her younger sister Brisa—who is also in the program—the strength to be courageous when they miss their mom.

“Girl Scouts encourages me to do well in school, to be true to myself, and most importantly to have the courage to face my fears every day,” Yuvia said.

The Girl Scouts Beyond Bars program began in 1992 in partnership with the National Institute of Justice. There are 30 Girl Scouts Councils across the country that offer this program. Girl Scouts of Central Texas has probably the most notable program, as the original Girl Scouts Beyond Bars troop in Austin was featured in a documentary titled “Troop 1500,” which aired on PBS. Earind Jackson, who received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Baylor in 2005 and her MDiv from Truett in 2009, was given the task of expanding the Girl Scouts Beyond Bars program to the Waco area.

“Our first Troop 9500 meeting was in October of 2010. Needless to say, this troop has a special place in my heart,” Jackson said.

“This troop gives the girls a safe space to freely be themselves,” she said. Many of them are worried about how others perceive them at school because of the absence of their mother. Even the most ordinary experiences for these girls can be a reminder that their family situation is different from their peers. In this troop, each of the girls has experienced the same thing, and there is a bond between them because of it.”

Jackson, who still works with the program, says, The program has had a greater impact on me than I originally expected.

“First of all, these are the bravest, most resilient girls I’ve ever seen. I’m constantly amazed at their boundless energy, enthusiasm and zest for life despite the situation. I’ve learned so much from them, their guardians, and even the mothers.”

Jackson said. “I believe this program has taught me to be a more compassionate and understanding person. I’m reminded that we are all one bad decision away from a situation that could separate our families.”

Today, Troop 9500 co-operates with the Baylor School of Social Work to help break the cycle of incarceration by giving these girls the opportunity to increase their self-confidence and build character through bimonthly Girl Scout troop meetings, merit badge work, therapeutic interventions, one-on-one mentoring and monthly visits with their mothers.

In order to qualify for the program, a girl’s mother has to be currently incarcerated and have fewer than two years remaining on

“These are the bravest, most resilient girls I’ve ever seen. I’m constantly amazed at their boundless energy, enthusiasm and zest for life despite the situation.”

38 Focus Magazine Fall 2012

her sentence. Most of the mothers in the program are imprisoned for drug charges or forgeries. They either have an addiction, or were desperate for money and illegally obtained it. Girl Scouts Beyond Bars transports the girls to visit their mothers in prison once each month, usually on the third Saturday. Their own mothers lead the Girl Scout meetings during these prison visits, lessening the trauma that comes with their separation and enabling the girls and their mothers to continue to build an important mother-daughter bond.

During the school year, the girls also have regular troop meetings every other Tuesday night at the Baylor School of Social Work so they can participate in the entire range of Girl Scout activities.

Like any other troops, the girls of Troop 9500 attend camp over the summer, earn merit badges and do crafts during their troop meetings.

At the beginning of each meeting, the girls also have a chance to share intimately about their personal lives that week: about their “pows!” (bad things) and “wows!” (good things ) they have experienced.

At this early stage in the troop’s existence, girls of different ages are grouped together, some as old as 17 and as young as 10.

The troop has only been in existence for two years, so and there are not many participants. Girl Scouts is continuing to selectively recruit at-risk girls, but they do not want to take more than 20 because it can quickly become overwhelming for both the girls and the volunteer staff.

This is because each girl is paired with a mentor. Until the program receives more people who want to mentor, they will not be accepting additional girls. Courtney Gilliam, a 2011 Baylor graduate with a degree in education, is the program’s troop leader.

“Being a troop leader has been good,” Gilliam said. “It’s fun to get to know the girls, and it’s fun to be that motherly figure to them when they may not get that at home. It’s fun to be the mama duck looking after the baby ducks and that is something that I think comes naturally to me.”

Gilliam said a number of Baylor students volunteer to one-on-one mentor a girl for four hours every month. The time can be divided up whichever way is convenient for the mentor and the young girl’s schedules. It can be one long afternoon of hanging out once a month, or planned trips to Cameron Park or to the Cameron Park Zoo, or it can be a regular meeting at the same time once each week.

According to the program directors, a program like this is important for a girl’s self-esteem. Not

having a mother figure is hard for girls, especially at this age and this time of life where they do not have a woman to look up to or to talk to consistently about their problems.

Gilliam said how having an older mentor, someone they can talk to, that they can seek counsel from, seek advice from about the little things in their life is important. Consistency is also critically important. Many of these girls come from a dysfunctional home life: homes where they are not getting consistent affirmation or consistent love or even having consistent adults in their life who can create a stable environment for them.

Haven, a 9-year-old girl who is part of the program, was happy to talk about her mentor.

“My mentor is my favorite part about Girl Scouts,” she said. “She took me to get ice cream and took me to the Mayborn Museum. My favorite part was learning science and seeing the bat cave exhibit. “ Girl Scouts has programs for girls like Haven because they know that a girl whose mother is in prison is very likely to end up in prison herself. Girl Scouts Beyond Bars wants to break that cycle of hopelessness, and the way to help do that is to help create a healthy mother-daughter relationship through these prison visits.

“Just to see the look on their faces as they get to see their daughters once a month, those mothers look forward to it like its Christmas every time,” Gilliam said. “They just love it and the girls love it. They are either weeping when they leave or they can’t stop talking about how great it was to see their mom.”

Girl Scouts of America hopes to expand Troop 9500’s program in the future so it can serve at full capacity (between 20 and 25 girls). Additionally, Girl Scouts of America continues to seek the support of the community, both in volunteer service and financial donations. The success of this program and all Girl Scout programs is dependent on their partnership with committed members in every community Girl Scouts of America serves.

Girl Scouts Beyond Bars can make an immeasurable difference in the lives of these girls and their families. These young ladies have many challenges to face, but this program gives them the coping skills needed to develop courage, confidence, and character to make the world—starting with their world—a better place.

Members of Troop 9500 in the Girl Scouts of America’s Girl Scouts Beyond Bars program hold hands with their troop leaders as they sing and chant in a circle before ending the group meeting Sept. 25 in Bluebonnet Program Center.

Fall 2012 Focus Magazine

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