Jason Randle, Monkia Bridges and April Elaster, from left, gather to talk about the city’s CAP program.It’s not easy to admit you need a little help, especially if you’re a teenager like Hixson High School students April Elaster and Monkia Bridges. High school life brings a lot of pressure. Boys, friends, drama. Drugs, sex, alcohol. Things like college and a bright future seem far off and covered up by the hype of teenage life.
But newly signed as CAP, or Chattanooga Ambassador Program, members, the duo will join 23 other teenage girls from across the city in a nearly yearlong mentoring program. The city of Chattanooga program will help them every step of the way, to see what life is like outside of school.
For the juniors, that life is only a year away, and balancing those expectations with the desire to still be a kid is hard, Elaster said.
“We’re teenagers. We’re going to make mistakes. I don’t want to grow up just yet, but I’m almost 18,” she said. “I still want to be with my friends but I have to act like an adult; get a job. You know…”
She and Bridges volunteer at the East Chattanooga Recreation Center during the week after school. When they aren’t studying for the impending ACTs, they’re trying to help other youth navigate life. But sometimes it’s hard to handle their own challenges.
“We’ll be there with their [CAP] mentor to help them, and in turn they will continue mentoring others,” said Gary Rudolph, leader of the CAP program. “They’ll be active in the community, volunteering and working in community service opportunities to show them how to be a leader.”
Nearly a week after signing day, the two are preparing for their first leadership training class where they will hear from, and choose, a nonprofit to work with throughout their 48 weeks with CAP.
Fellow CAP member and Brainerd High School student Jason Randle will be there throughout that time to talk to them both about what to expect from the program.
Before Randle was in CAP, he said he would fight anyone who came across him the wrong way. He was aggressive, confused and failing in school. Swayed by gangs, drugs and money, he was falling into a trap, he said. He was going the wrong way, throwing away his future.
But then Randle’s pastor and family asked if he wanted to be in CAP and convinced him that it was a good idea. Apart from all of the tangible improvements to his life – his improved grades, his positive and smiling attitude – Randle said the program and fellowship have changed him entirely.
“I started caring about other people and about myself,” he said. “Before, I didn’t want to do anything. I didn’t want to be anybody. But now I see there are people who care about me. They are like family.”
As Elaster and Bridges listened to Randle, whose already spent nearly six months in the program, they smiled.
“I’m excited. I’m ready. I want to see the world and I don’t want to just be stuck here in one place,” Elaster said. “I want to see more to life.”