Kayren Lovett has wanted to work with kids since she was a kid herself, taking courses in childcare at Tampa Bay Tech. But Lovett, now 32, got sidetracked — she walked the stage to accept her high school diploma seven months pregnant beneath her graduation gown.
But thanks to a perceptive family friend, Lovett was able to avoid the traps that sometimes await teen mothers. Now the unit director of the Sulphur Springs branch of the Boys & Girls Club of Tampa Bay, Lovett found a career that allows her to do what she'd always wanted to do.
Lovett got her first exposure to B&GC when she was 10, when she enrolled in a camp program in Sarasota while spending the summer with her grandmother. She later attended the club back in Tampa — she grew up in Central Park Village — but lost interest a few years later as she "fell into teenage woes."
Then, when she was 19, an opportunity opened up. The resident manager of Central Park Village's neighborhood association, Sheila Reed-Palmore, heard about a temporary grant-funded position with B&GC. Remembering that Kayren had studied child care in high school, she recommended her to the position. Kayren fell "in love with the mission," and when the grant expired, was hired by the B&GC full time. "The rest is history. Fun-loving history," Lovett says.
After a stint with B&GC's Riverview Terrace branch in Seminole Heights, Lovett moved to her present position in Sulphur Springs, where she's been for over four and a half years. She and a small staff run prevention and educational programs, while the city's Parks & Recreation Department takes charge of collecting fees and organizing sports. The club, which is housed in the George Bartholomew North Tampa Center, serves 55-65 kids daily.
"The only thing you really hear about this community is the bad stuff going on," Lovett says, but "kids are gonna be kids no matter what."
Lovett gets up every day at 6 a.m. with her family, dropping her 14-year-old son off at Blake High School, her two young girls at the sitters, then to work by 10. During the school year, her morning routine is all about reports, grants and planning; in the afternoon, kids file in for Power Hour study period or other activities.
Summer means more time with the kids: the club is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and serves as a second home to many of the children, some of whom stay until the center closes at 9 pm.
"You can't reach every child," says Lovett, "but if you reach one, that's good for me." Jazmine Durrance, 11, is "definitely that one for me!"
Jazmine, who just finished sixth grade at Sligh Middle School, is the newly elected president of Torch Club, a character and leadership development club Lovett leads during the year. Torch Club is open to all 10- to 12-year-olds who pledge to follow rules and set examples for the younger set.
Currently, the Torch has just five members, and they're all girls. "It's difficult to get kids motivated on certain things," Lovett says. "They automatically turn a blind eye when the word 'leadership' is used."
But not Jazmine, who was recently named Junior Youth of the Year, a county-wide B&GC honor. "It's important to help out because it shows you're responsible," says Jazmine.
During one recent club meeting, Lovett begins with business, introducing the B&GC's partnership with Malaria No More. The girls brainstorm on how to inform their peers on the issue and what they can do within their community to reach out to youth half a world away, one million of whom die of malaria every year.
Torch meetings always end with a game; today it's a trivia game called Baseball. Each correct answer earns a "hit; the players draw from a basket to determine how many bases they earn. Lovett pulls the questions from one of her many prevention manuals.
"Nicotine is the second most commonly used drug in the United States. What's the first?" she asks Jazmine.
Jazmine thinks for a second with one eye closed and guesses, "Chewing tobacco?" The other girls are eager to give her the answer, but refrain. Jazmine misses and Lovett explains: "Chewing tobacco contains nicotine. The answer is alcohol."
Lovett asks another player the next question. "True or False? Cigarettes damage the air sacs into the lungs making it difficult to breathe?" "An easy one!" the player replies, answering "true" and getting to "run" three bases.
Eighty-five percent of the children who show up every day at the club are from Sulphur Springs Elementary, the rest coming in from magnet schools, and a few from middle and high schools. Lovett describes the neighborhood as transient, but says when families move away, "some kids come back, because the families are so happy with the services."
Not that she hears that much feedback. She often has to seek out the family when a child has behavior issues or hasn't shown up in a few days. "Sometimes we have to go to them. It's just part of the job."
Despite her love of the job, though, Kayren doesn't waste any time when it comes to getting off work in the evenings. After all, there are more kids waiting for her at home.
Kayren says she's curious about the life of a single father. She says her husband is a wonderful provider, but "getting him to do anything around the house is like pulling teeth!" She wonders if a single father does everything a single mom has to do. "Do they go to conferences? Is he a soccer dad?" In the next Curiouser, I find out.
This article appears in May 30 – Jun 5, 2007.