McCain instills hope in area youth

Tuesday, November 22, 2022
RT McCain with one of the many Poplar Bluff graduates he has mentored.
photo provided

“I’m thankful for my family, my village, my community and the support they give. They have helped me a lot throughout the years,” said Mark Twain School teacher, outreach coordinator and mentor, RT McCain.

McCain is also involved in a grass roots program to start a new mentoring program W.E. Outreach, which stands for “Without Excuse.”

“I am also thankful for my co-workers, my team ­— my peers and the people I work with for helping me any way they can and trusting me with their kids,” he continued.

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When he first started coaching, it was with fourth and fifth grade students.

“We overcame a whole bunch of stuff in that season. And I actually have two of my students now that are getting ready to graduate high school that were part of that fourth-grade team,” said McCain, “so grandma and grandpa still know me, they still reach out to me.”

McCain currently spends his days working with and mentoring troubled youth in the area. The students he works with may need a little extra guidance or assistance and he says the role just came naturally to him.

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“I’ve had so many good mentors and people who helped me that it’s almost natural. It just flows out of me to these kids. I just can’t help but to give them some type of knowledge to help them out, get them back on their square and back on the right path,” he said.

McCain said coaching sports was what he feels “really got me connected and really took it deeper from then on and I want to say thanks to all the teachers, administrators and people in the school district that just told me, ‘RT — you’re meant for this.”’

“So, I would like to say I picked this, but I think it might have picked me,” said McCain, “I kind of found myself helping some family members, my nephews and my nieces, that led to some of their friends and that led to some of their cousins and brothers and sisters. It was just a need that was there. I think there can never be too many outreach programs. There can never be too many people reaching out and helping.”

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McCain also expressed his appreciation for the parents of the students he mentors.

“They really work well with us and specifically myself. They really trust me with their kids and work with me to help them. I can’t tell you how many parents I talked to on a daily basis,” he said.

McCain’s work does not stop when the school day comes to a close.

W.E. Outreach is a program McCain has helped start to further help youth in the community. He and his team of mentors will be using the acronym to promote their upcoming outreach program.

“We’re still trying to do more. We’re still trying to open up our program in the community and help bridge the gap between the school system and home,” he explained. “We’re pretty much knocking on the door of launching this program, but we’re outreaching to the youth and the community.”

The goal is to have different locations where mentors meet with kids.

“We’ll meet the kids, take them out to lunch or just kind of talk with them, but we plan on working with many different organizations like we pretty much already do,” said McCain, who has been involved in ongoing efforts to help youth in the community.

“We’re gonna boost everything they’re doing and give the kids another avenue to get involved with all these programs, just to make sure nobody’s getting left out,” McCain said. “Maybe they don’t feel confident enough to go and join some of these programs. We can kind of assist them in that and maybe the parents also.”

He went on to explain the group plans to meet for this mentorship wherever they have space available. “I have a buddy who has a church with a gym. We’ve had kids there, but usually we find ourselves out in the community, but I have kids at my house, kids of course here (at the school) — kind of wherever they’re at. We want to try our best to go to them.

“We’re excited just to start mentoring kids. We’re excited to just put a stamp on this thing and get the system rolling to where we can help kids, whether we’re directly helping them or not, we are wanting to create a system where a lot of mentors can come and have opportunity to help kids in need,” said McCain.

“We’re trying to get these guys ready to do life without us, you know ­— It’s a journey and it’s an adventure.”

This year, Giving Tuesday will be recognized on Nov. 29, offering a chance for “generosity to change the world,” as it has already done in our community through organizations such as this.

Giving Tuesday was started in 2012 and has since become a global movement to inspire and celebrate generosity, according to supporters of the annual effort. Anyone looking to take part in or assist in the mentoring program can reach out to McCain at Mark Twain School at 573-712-2180.

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