When Deputy Gary Vargas finished his first six months as director of the Walnut Youth Activities League center in June 2005, he was surprised at the end of the school year to find several Walnut YAL kids, crying.
“It was the last day of school,” Vargas recalled. “Some of my kids were out there crying, and I found out that several of them had failed fourth and fifth grade. That was so foreign to me. You don’t think of kids failing the fourth grade.”
The problem was simple, but troubling: They didn’t understand their homework, and there was no one at home helping them with it.
“It sounds crazy but it’s true, at the elementary school level there are a lot of parents who can’t help their kids with homework,” Vargas said. “Some of the parents lack an education of their own, or they may be predominantly Spanish-speaking and unable to overcome that language barrier to help their kids with school. And, some parents just don’t view it as their responsibility — they believe it’s the school’s job.”
Vargas quickly decided he needed to do something to shift the focus of his YAL’s after-school programs to place greater emphasis on homework and grades.
Thus was born the A Team.
“I decided, ‘Well, I’ve got to give these kids incentive to continue coming to the program,’” Vargas said. He drew the conclusion that it couldn’t be only about the homework — there needed to be something fun in the mix, too. The result is a program as remarkable for its simplicity as for its success: Vargas offered prizes to the kids who earned the most A grades on tests and quizzes in any of the main academic subjects.
Any time a YAL kid earns an A on a test or quiz, he or she brings it to Vargas, who makes a photocopy and adds it to the stack. Kids who earn at least 10 As become members of the A Team, and at the end of the school year, those with the highest tallies win prizes.
That first year, Vargas bought the prizes himself — a Playstation game console and some Disneyland tickets — and since then he has found sponsors to help out by donating prizes, which have included laptop computers, Xbox game consoles and more. One year, the grand prize was a Hummer limousine three-hour ride with nine friends.
The program has grown from year to year, and the kids can often be heard at the YAL talking about the competition, which is split into two divisions, one for elementary school and one for junior high and high school.
“That first year we had approximately 180 A's turned in,” Vargas said. “This year, we had 22 kids participate and almost 500 A's.
This year, the Foundation-sponsored prizes included two touchscreen iPod Nanos, and each child who participated received two movie tickets in recognition of their efforts.
“For this past year, we are still tabulating and getting ready to announce the winners, but the grand prize winner is going to have approximately 65 As turned in. That’s almost averaging two A's a week,” Vargas said. “It’s simple, but it’s effective. I really want them to push and try their best.”
The best part? Thanks to the A Team concept, Vargas never again arrived at the YAL to find kids crying about being held back in school.
“Since summer of 2005, no Walnut YAL student has ever failed again — they have all been promoted on to the next grade,” Vargas said. “We’re proud of that, and I am proud of my kids.”
--Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
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