GED students help out with Lynn community service project

LYNN – Avid basketball fans can thank the GED students from My Turn Inc. in Lynn, who painted lines and installed brand new nets at the city’s basketball courts.For the third consecutive year, My Turn has partnered with the Lynn Department of Public Works on a community service clean-up project, putting students in the non-profit’s GED program to work in the parks many of them grew up in, cleaning up the environment and making the equipment more aesthetically pleasing.From cleaning up graffiti and trash to cutting grass, the volunteers have helped the DPW in every department over the past three summers, but fixing up the basketball courts was a goal the group set early on this season”A lot of these courts are in bad shape. They have had the nets taken down because of all the gang activity at night – that was something that really bothered them,” said Case Manager Eric Smith. “What we try to do here is get them out to do community service and we have them come up with what they want to do.”Throughout the summer, students attend GED courses at My Turn on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, taking a break from their studies on Thursdays to help out in the community.Through the partnership with the DPW, the students are provided with supplies to do the job the right way and support from DPW workers.During the six-week program, the students tackled the basketball courts at nearly a half-dozen parks in the city, including on Bennett and Holyoke streets.With the hot sun beating down, the group took the paint rollers to the Warren Street Playground Thursday, adding a fresh coat of red and white paint to the side-by-side courts.”We actually started on this one last week and we’re really determined to come back and finish. This is the biggest court we have done by far,” said Smith. “They just really like giving back to the community and that is a lot of what we do at My Turn.”Funded through the federal government and private donations, My Turn offers free GED service along with life and career training to 16- to 21-year-old dropouts year-round. Students are able to study for and take the GED and remain with the program for job readiness courses.While many in the city tend to look at dropouts as lost causes or trouble makers, Smith says those stereotypes do not describe the diverse group of young people who make up the program.”The program is for youth that have dropped out and are trying to get back on their feet and find employment,” he said. “The amazing thing is all of their stories are just so different. Every one of them has a different story of how they got here.”The community service is gratifying to the participants, but also brings a smile to the faces of those who use the parks, especially young children.”They do a really good job, a lot of them are real hard workers,” said Clinician Glenn Meunier. “And the community appreciates it, too. We’ve had little kids running up and showing excitement about the work we have done in the parks.”