"Bright kids" did something stupid

Ignoramus4582 · 2008-11-15T17:52:32+00:00

Accountability a watchword for teensLate-night paddle boat trip turns deadly for 3 studentsBy Lisa Black and Steve SchmadekeTribune reporters10:52 PM CST, November 14, 2008They were smart kids with bright futures and an old-fashioned sense ofbrotherhood: When one messed up, they all paid a price.But early Friday, some of the teens who made up Minority Men, aleadership group at Chicago's North Lawndale College Prep, made amistake from which they could not recover.Three of them drowned in the Fox River in Algonquin after sneaking outof a camp lodge and dragging paddle boats to the frigid, swift-movingwater. The boats, which had been set aside for the winter, had holesin the bottom where drainage plugs had been removed.Two teens couldn't make it to shore when their boat began to sink,officials said. A third jumped in and tried to save them. All of themdied.The tragedy crushed the high school's community, from the group'ssurviving members to the victims' families to all who knew and lovedthe teens."He was always helping," sophomore Datashia Warren said of her friendMelvin Choice III, 17. "When you needed a shoulder he was rightthere."The other victims were Jimmy Avant, 18, and Adrian AlexanderJones, 16.They were among 31 North Lawndale teens who went to YMCA CampAlgonquin last week for an eight-day retreat organized by VisionQuestInternational, an Atlanta organization that trains young people inethical leadership.It was just another trip for Minority Men, a program forhigh-achieving students aiming for success in college andbeyond. Brigette Jones-Cooper, Jones' mother, said the group touredcollege campuses in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina."They get them ready for life as young leaders," she said. "They helpthem with their classwork. They make them well-rounded young men: nogangs, no drugs."All of them were good kids."Accountability was the group's hallmark, said Jones' sister, Chimere."If one has bad grades, they all have to study together," shesaid. "If one . . ....