Our after-school program takes place at Hoke County High School, located in Hoke County,   North Carolina.  It's called HYLIFe.  The name stands for Hoke Youth Life in Focus.  It was started by Mrs. Christina Davis-McCoy who is Executive Director of Blue Springs Community Development Corporation in 1998.  Actually Hoke High is located in Raeford, one of two city's within the county.  The other town is called Red Springs.  Hoke is a rural county located next to Fort Bragg, one of the world's largest military installations and Fayetteville--one of North Carolina's larger city's.

The program has several components--TPPI (pronounced "Tippy" and stands for Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative), Baby Think It Over (in partnership with TPPI) where we, as program participants, use Infant Simulators in our everyday affairs to get an idea of what it means to "really" have to take care of a baby.  We take them everywhere with us--home, to class, to lunch, to the bathroom, shopping.  You name it, and the baby goes too!  They cry, and wet, and want to be fed just like real babies.   All of us have to do it--high schoolers and middle schoolers.  P-leeez!!   As part of the program the guys also have a course called The Male Responsibility Curriculum.  They learn all about their responsibility in having sex.  And the best part of what they learn is not to have it all.  But then again, so do we.  It's called ABSTINENCE.  We also have tutoring sessions to help us in our regular school assignments.  It's a great program and all of the adults really care about us.  We can't get in unless our parents are involved.   Ms. Karen Wright and Mr. Abdul Haneef  (pictures below) have been our instructors every step of the way.

HYLIFe is great.  We've never had a program like it before.  We get to go to events, travel, have cookouts, go to plays, visit area colleges, do community service and service learning.   Service learning is when you do community service and relate what you do as a learning process.  We keep journals and discuss our experience.  We also relate the experience to what we are learning in the classroom.  The community service and service learning helps us understand our role as responsible citizens in the community.   We're learning that everything we do doesn't mean we have to be paid for it.   Just the simple act of picking up a piece of paper and putting it in the trash, if it is trash, is doing the community a service.  Oh, almost forgot.  We have snacks--real food breaks--fruit, juices, the nutritional stuff.

HYLIFe is a group with nice friends and a good opportunity to meet friends and have fun.  It teaches you about things teenagers go through and problems we have and teachers and friends that help us solve them.

We have such a great time in our computer labs, too!   We use two of Hoke High's state of the art labs.  And we've learned quite a bit and really want to test our online skills.  We'd like to share a little 411.  So check us out below and send us some mail.  We're always looking to make new friends.  By the way, we start new sessions of our pregnancy prevention program each semester during the school year.  Let us know about programs for youth in your community.  We're always ready to hear new ideas and share ours.  All of us didn't take pictures and provice information.  But as soon as we get them, we'll put it here.  OK? OK.  Hope to get email and chat online with you soon.   Cool. 

Karen Wright, Program Coord.
kkwright4@aol.com

Abdul Haneef, Male Facilitator 
abdulhaneef@hotmail.com

Lakeisha Rainey

Nickname: Ant
Age:    17
Place of Birth: Waco, Texas
School attending: Hoke High
Favorite class: lunch
Extracurricular Activities:
Hobbies: Collecting sport cards
Awards:
Plans After Graduation: College football
Email:

Nickname: Low
Age: 12
Place of Birth:: Hoke County
School attending: East Hoke Middle
Favorite class:: Chorus, Communication Skills
Extracurricular activities: HYLIFe
Hobbies: Roller Blade, Swimming, Dancing, Singing, Doing hair and nails, Watching BET
Awards:
Plans After Graduation: Cosmetology/College
Email:

Nickname: JG
Age: 12
Place of Birth: Raleigh, NC
School attending: West Hoke Middle
Favorite class: Computer Application
Extracurricular activities: Step-Up, HYLIFe, Football, Basketball, Soccer, Baseball
Organizations: First Baptist Church, Boy Scouts
Hobbies: N/A
Awards: Soccer Trophy, A/B Honor Roll, Perfect Attendance
Plans After High Graduation: Karate Teacher
Email: 

Nickname:
Age: 13
Place of Birth: NC
School attending: East Hoke Middle
Favorite class: Math
Extracurricular activities: HYLIFe
Hobbies: I like to play ball. 
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Quote: "What people are getting out of HYLIFe is that it's helping some of us." 

Nickname:
Age: 12
Place of Birth:
School attending: West Hoke Middle
Favorite class: Math, Band
Extracurricular activities: Basketball, HYLIFe, BBC, Boy Scouts
Hobbies: Collecting Baseball Cards
Awards: Honor Roll
Plans After Graduation:
Email: Stephen_Manness@hotmail.com

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Age: 14
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Nickname: Mr. J
Age: 14
Place of Birth: Sampson County
School attending: West Hoke Middle
Favorite class: Reading
Extracurricular activities: P.R.I.D.E., HYLIFe
Hobbies: Play Sports, Learn about myself
Awards:
Plans After Graduation: UNC-Chapel Hill
Email: josephjernigan@hotmail.com

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Email: Moore_Gillian@hotmail.com

Nickname: Shortie
Age: 15
Place of Birth: Virginia
School attending: Hoke High
Favorite class: Algebra and P.E.
Extracurricular activities: HYLIFe, Cheerleading, Dance, Choir
Hobbies: Talking, Going to movies
Awards:
Plans After Graduation: College/Pediatrician
Email: KVP115@cs.com

Nickname: Toya
Age: 13
Place of Birth: Toledo, OH
School attending: West Hoke Middle
Favorite class: Literature
Extracurricular activities: HYLIFe 
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Nickname: J-Quan
Age: 15
Place of Birth: New York, NY
School attending: Hoke County High School
Favorite class: Algebra
Extracurricular activities: HYLIFe , Football
Hobbies: Basketball
Awards: "A" Honor Roll
Plans After Graduation: Go to college
Email: J_Quan03@yahoo.com

Tonya McDonald

Nickname:
Age: 12
Place of Birth: North Carolina
School attending: West Hoke Middle
Favorite class: Art
Extracurricular activities: HYLIFe 
Hobbies: Basketball
Awards:
Plans After Graduation:
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Chauntay Monique Nolen

Nickname: Boo-Boo
Age: 12
Place of birth: Lumberton N.C.
School Attending:West Hoke Middle School
Favorite Class: Math
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Damon McKenzie

Nickname: Shawn
Age: 16
Place of Birth: Laurinburg, NC
School attending: Hoke High
Favorite class: Weightlifting
Extracurricular activities: HYLIFe, Baseball, Football
Hobbies: Football, Basketball, Baseball
Awards: B Honor Roll
Plans After Graduation: To Play for the Florida State Seminoles
Email: 

Nickname: Tee
Age: 16
Place of Birth: Brookly, NY
School attending: Hoke County High
Favorite class: None
Extracurricular activities: HYLIFe, Basketball
Hobbies:
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Plans After Graduation: Get a job
Email: rockytyrone@hotmail.com

Alvita McCoy

Nickname: Vita or Carmel
Age: 14
Place of Birth: Brooklyn
School attending: West Hoke Middle
Favorite class: Reading
Extracurricular activities: A lot 
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Email: babybrl696979@hotmail.com
             smartgrl447@aol.com

Tashara Ross

Nickname: Shara
Age: 14
Place of Birth: Fayetteville, NC
School attending:
Favorite class:
Extracurricular activities: HYLIFe, NAACP, Marching Band
Hobbies: Talking on phone, going to movies, eating, shopping
Awards:
Plans After Graduation: Becoming a pediatrician/pharmacist, staying drug-free 
Email:

Nickname: Keisha
Age: 14
Place of Birth: Jersey City, NJ
School attending: Hoke County High
Favorite class:
Extracurricular activities: Teen Court, HYLIFe 
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Plans After Graduation: Army
Email:

Nickname: Tweety
Age: 12
Place of Birth:   Ohio
School attending: West Hoke Middle
Favorite class:
Extracurricular activities:   HYLIFe, NAACP Youth
Hobbies:  Everything I love to do
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Plans After Graduation:   Ohio State
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Nickname: Nu Nu
Age: 13
Place of Birth: Brooklyn, NY
School attending: West Hoke Middle
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Email: Nique200069@hotmail.com

Nickname: Sha
Age: 14
Place of Birth: Germany
School attending: West Hoke Middle
Favorite class: Band, English
Extracurricular activities: Band, Color Guard, HYLIFe
Hobbies: Watching videos, using phone, going places 
Awards:
Plans After Graduation: Interpreter
Email: ammlion2g@hotmail.com