'El Joven Noble' Program at Citrus Middle School guides boys through character-building lessons

ORANGE COVE, Calif. (KFSN) -- Seventh and eighth-grade boys at Citrus Middle School gather around a table, begin by saying hello and then move into an activity that carries deeper meaning than it might first appear.

On the day of a recent visit, the table was covered in yarn. The activity was not part of an arts and crafts class, but a lesson tied to El Joven Noble, an extracurricular program focused on character development and becoming an honorable man.

"We're learning about how each color represents someone that made an impact on your life, and this has taught me how like to be a new man," student Christopher Gonzalez said.

The group is led by Student Transition Program Liaison Everardo Alvarez Jr., who works with students selected for their leadership qualities and potential.

"We look for students that have good leadership, quality skills, students that do good job, but might just need a little bit more push, a little bit more support," Alvarez said.

El Joven Noble is a 10-week program built around a culturally based curriculum from the National Compadres Network. Participants meet once a week, either after school or during lunch, for lessons that explore personal growth and social responsibility.

"The lessons range from things of how to become an honorable man, and these lessons all cover things of stereotypes and how to break harmful stereotypes in our community and within our circle, our own family circle," Alvarez said.

The small-group setting helps students form close connections with one another. Gonzalez said the environment has helped him feel at ease.

"I feel very comfortable around these guys. Very funny, very gentle, very caring," he said.

The program also aims to serve as a rite of passage for young men, similar to traditional quinceañera celebrations often held for young women. Central to the lessons is the concept of "palabra," a value emphasized throughout the curriculum.

"So palabra is kind of an umbrella term we use, right? The curriculum uses, and what it basically means is first keeping your word right, not bringing harm to yourself into your others, refusing any type of abuse to ourselves, to our peers and to our elderly as well, right," Alvarez said.

At the conclusion of the 10 weeks, students participate in a final celebratory walk symbolizing their transition into manhood. Alvarez said he hopes the lessons extend beyond the program itself.

"The impact, for sure, is them themselves. Understand the values of becoming an honorable man and everything that comes with it. And if they can understand that, they can show their family, their inner circle, their loved one, their siblings, their cousins, right? And now we can start a wave," Alvarez said.

After each session ends, there is about a two-week break before the next group begins. Each year, three cohorts complete the El Joven Noble program.

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