I met DeAngelo at the end of school with only a few days remaining. He has five brothers, and he is the second oldest and from Chickasha. He was born in April and is closest to one brother who is twelve years old. He is an avid swimmer, loves basketball and football and loves to watch the Thunder and the Rams teams play. He has been involved in sports before and has played basketball for the YMCA, soccer, flag football and was a catcher on a baseball team. His favorite football position is the quarterback, and he likes to toss around a football, on occasion, too. He hopes to become a famous football player someday.
He envisioned someday owning a gold Lamborghini with purple leather seats with a sunroof that could be made into a convertible, and he would prefer a four-door as it is easier getting in and out of the car. I appreciate a child with big ambitions and looked up the current cost for one and they run anywhere from $218,000 to $500,000! DeAngelo does think big!
He prided himself in learning how to grow a garden and was anxious for the crops to mature where he could pick freshly grown strawberries, lettuce, tomatoes and see how large the sunflowers grow. We talked about how they attract hornets, and he promised me he would be particularly vigilant in not getting bitten if he saw them around the flowers. He quietly shared that he had swiped a strawberry from the garden, and it was quite tasty.
DeAngelo enjoyed school and had been a resident of The Genesis Project for the past five months. He informed me that the teacher was nice, and he liked math and science classes the best and especially enjoyed performing experiments with candy. (I told him I never got to do that when I was in school!).
He is an artistic boy and likes to draw people, animals and landscape scenes with pencils but can paint too. His favorite colors were a lengthy list made up of black, white, grey, blue and red
I think DeAngelo would be happy going out to eat at many places as his list of favored food included a Chinese buffet or barbeque and he likes to snack on sunflower seeds (he wondered if their garden would produce edible seeds to eat), hot chips, spicy chicken, ice cream and milk shakes.
He was anxious for school to be out for the summer, and he really enjoyed the company of staff member, Shay. He has driven four-wheelers in the past and was hoping he would have the opportunity to drive them again. He really wanted swimming to be on the agenda every single day and was looking forward to going to Hurricane Harbor the following Saturday with the other boys.
Most people know we are a boys’ home and fill the needs of a community, but I am not sure if people understand that we are a state facility that accepts level E boys for boys, ages 10 to 13. These boys come with a collection of maladaptive and distressing behavior and have emotions and thoughts that are different than typically developing children. Our staff goes to great lengths to show these boys how to have fun, learn something along the way and create modifications to make them a contributing member of society. I hope contributors see their dollars being used in a constructive manner to aid these boys in a positive manner. Who knows? Maybe DeAngelo can become a famous football player!
