CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — More and more social scientists believe a lack of male influence is leading to lost teens who make the wrong choices.
There's a program being started by Corpus Christi schools to help male teens get some guidance.
Kenneth Iyescas has volunteered to be a mentor to a teenage boy a half hour each week through the end of school. He said he realized how hard it is for teens nowadays.
"With social media being around, everybody sharing everything, your choice can no longer be swept under the rug like 30 years ago," he said. "Everybody knows."
Kenneth is volunteering for a program set to begin next month, which pairs an adult with a high-school male to interact with.
Maria Iyescas is in charge of mental-health services for CCISD, and says it's long overdue.
"What we're seeing with this population of kiddos is, we're seeing gang involvement increasing," she said. "We're seeing truancy increasing as well. Threats of harm to self. Threats of harm to others. Fights have increased on our campuses. And so we're looking at these numbers and of course we're seeing this with our young ladies as well."
The mentoring is similar to Majesty Outdoors, who bring volunteers together with "fatherless" homes to provide some guidance. In fact, the district has approved a new program with Majesty Outdoors that will start in middle schools next month.
Dave Cotham, the executive director of Majesty Outdoors is excited to be bringing the program to public schools.
"Our pilot program will start at Cunningham Middle School (at South Park) on January the 22nd," he said. "And we'll start there and hopefully expand to all of the middle schools."
It's hoped the program can provide new directions for young men who don't have a male role model.
For more information on volunteering for the CCISD programs, call (361) 878-2680, ext. 30670 or email maria.iyescas@ccisd.us