'The best thing going ...'

Mark Millican

CHATSWORTH — At 6-foot-3 and weighing 250 pounds, some might consider Tony Causby an imposing figure. But not the kids who are filling the new Boys and Girls Club at Bagley Middle School. In fact, they jump and run toward the unit director when he walks into a room.

Besides, it was only a few years ago that Causby was a student at Bagley Middle, although it was in a different location. He appears at home around children of any age.

“Working with kids is a passion of mine,” Causby said a week after the after-school program opened. “Boys and Girls Clubs is a great organization to work for, and I like the programs they offer. You can see all the good they do in the community.”

Although the new club — which will eventually include kids from kindergarten through eighth grade — has only a few kids in its second week of existence, around 100 are expected when the program gets up to speed by drawing from the elementary schools at Northwest, Eton and Woodlawn, and Bagley Middle. A membership drive is under way and free registration is available for a limited time.

Causby was at Bagley from 1997 to 2000, and graduated Murray County High in 2004. He is working on his bachelor’s degree in secondary education at Dalton State College. He started working at Boys and Girls Clubs in Dalton as a program aide in 2005, then became the area teen director in 2007.

The Bagley program follows on the heels of the Boys and Girls Clubs unit at Gladden Middle, which kicked off in the summer of 2007. Both are under the Boys and Girls Clubs of Gordon, Murray and Whitfield Counties.

The Gladden unit is now in its second year as an after-school program. Gladden unit director Dianne Whitt said between 65 and 70 kids had an 89.5 grade point average during the first nine weeks of the current school year.

“I like it that we get to go into the (class) rooms and play, like different kinds of games,” said Bagley kindergartner Gavin Williams, 5. “We get to have snacks, too.”

“It’s fun,” chimed in McKenzie Morgan, 7. “We get to play games like kickball and football.”

Bagley’s program will be similar to Gladden’s with an initial “Power Hour” of nothing but homework and mentoring for those who need it, the “Smart Moves” drug and alcohol awareness program — broken up into age-appropriate groups — plus sports and recreational activities, and arts and crafts. Older kids, once they realize they will “not have to be around the little kids” and begin to join, said Causby, will take part in a career launch program. The ratio of child-to-adult supervision is 20-to-1, he said.

“I believe the most crucial time in a young person’s life is between 3 and 8 p.m. in the afternoon,” Causby said. “I believe Boys and Girls Clubs is the best thing going to fill that time.”

The Bagley effort was funded primarily through a $25,000 donation from the Office of Justice Programs, part of the U.S Justice Department. Funds also came through a grant from the National Football League, with the three counties — Gordon, Murray and Whitfield — splitting $2,500.

“We’re excited about having the program,” said Bagley principal Spencer Gazaway. “It’s not just play time, but it builds character by having an adult influence in a kid’s life. I could tell the difference in the classroom when I was at Dalton Middle School, from someone who attended Boys and Girls Clubs and someone who didn’t.”

“Our success at Gladden Middle School has allowed us to open at Bagley Middle, as well as the waiting list for the summer program at Gladden,” said Robbie Slocumb, chief professional officer for the three-county organization. “To continue our growth in Boys and Girls Clubs it will take continued community support. Having a good, strong board of education in Murray County is allowing us to do that.”

For more information about Boys and Girls Clubs or to register a child for the Bagley club, call (706) 529-5032. The Web site is www.bgcgmw.org.