Future Heroes visit elderly; Teen Heroes host party at Children's Home

A Future Hero presents a card and gift to a nursing home resident last year. The event was popular with boys and residents alike.

Future Heroes get a tour of the Shockers locker room at Wichita State.

Hero Greg Williams and the WSU Men's basketball office arranged for the boys of Future Heroes to attend a men's basketball practice. The Shocker men won national acclaim and a Sports Illustrated cover when they competed in the NCAA's Final Four earlier this year. Coach Gregg Marshall said he wanted the team to partner with a local mentoring group to help kids in the community stay on the right path. In addition to telling the boys to find their life's passion, Coach Marshall spoke to the boys about the importance of hard work -- "not just with sports but especially academics," said Buddy Shannon, RMRH board president. "Coach Marshall told the boys to be appreciative of the adults (mentors) that were investing in their future; he said,  'It's because they care about you.' "  

WSU Coach Gregg Marshall speaks to the boys of Future Heroes.

Teen Heroes with RMRH Board President Buddy Shannon after the school board appearance.

Billboards like this one on display at 37th and Oliver are used to create excitement about the Teen Heroes among school children.

 This year's group of Teen Heroes were recognized in October during the "Good News" portion of the Wichita School Board meeting. Board members praised the teens for providing good role models to younger students through their visits to school classrooms and assemblies. You can read the feature story about the Teen Heroes on the school district website here.   So far this year, the Teen Heroes have visited Gordon Parks Academy (K-8), Stanley Elementary and Ortiz Elementary. The Teen Heroes have up-coming appearances scheduled at Hadley Middle School and Jefferson and Lawrence elementaries. 

Teen Heroes pose with students of Ortiz Elementary during a recent visit.

Activity part of larger effort to encourage science among minority youth

Future Heroes construct marble roller coasters as part of WSU engineering outreach program. .

In November, Future Heroes made a Saturday vist to Wichita State University's SEEDS program

WSU student Roy Moye (black T-shirt) explains the physics behind a successful roller coaster.

(Science and Engineering Educational Development for Students) operated by the WSU College of Engineering. Engineering students, including Roy Moye, an African American aerospace engineering major, used roller coaster kits to demonstrate engineering principles of design along with physics principles of potential and kinetic energy. Moye is a member of the National Society of Black Engineers, which plans to do similar science activities afterschool with a group of African American boys at Coleman Middle School next semester. Moye will be working with Taylor Countee, another NSBE member and WSU student who is majoring in information sciences. For their work with young people, Moye and Countee are being nominated as provisional members of Real Men, Real Heroes. Adding Moye and Countee to the roster of Heroes will assist RMRH in its goal of providing more mentors from STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields.