The Story of Mr. Demetrius Shaw

The Story of Mr. Demetrius Shaw

Photo Credit: Sam Hayward

Mr. Shaw is the Associate Recreation Director for the Boys and Girls Club, Mt. Airy.

Early Life

I was not the best child. What I do today is because of the past that I lived. I grew up in the inner city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, very tough neighborhood, very tough school systems with violence and drugs. I was getting into trouble all the time. I was missing school, I was getting into fights, I was just not doing my homework. I was really ready to quit school in 6th and 7th grade. If I look back at myself in 6th or 7th grade, I would never thought college was possible.

It was right when I changed to this different school when I was in 8th grade I found the school that I really like. It accepted me for who I was. That's when I found that sports program, and since then I was just I was A-1. I see a lot of kids fail and just drop out. For least I failed and stayed with it. That is my life adversity. I feel like going through that adversity it kind of made me the person I am today. And that's why I wanna be in the club cause that's how I found myself succeeding through that stuff. Through sports and growing up.

The Journey

It's a long story. I went to school in Wisconsin for college my first two years, moving here in 2009 It was still a little different and a little new and I was all on my own, but after I worked that summer {for a summer camp}. I was like okay Minnesota is not my thing imma go back to Milwaukee for a year.  I worked at the boys and girls club there, but I worked at a site that was like closing down, so I was going to get transferred. The summer camp was like ‘hey would you like to come back and work during the summer? A leadership position is open and it is one that is you're running; you're the program coordinator’. I was like I'll take that challenge and do it. So I worked two summers, 2010 and 2011.

After the 2011 summer there were local scholarships that were available for employees, so I was like ‘hey if you apply for this scholarship and you get it you know they're going to make you stay and work here.’  I took the risk of like applying for the scholarship which I did get at the University of Phoenix. I started there in September of 2011, then I was offered a part time job here {Boys and Girls Club.Mt. Airy}.  I've been here ever since. I was part time for I think 3 months, and then after 3 months of me working here, around New Years 2012, I became full-time, just grinding. I still have the scholarship at the University of Phoenix, just doing one class at a time, chipping away at my bachelor’s. It was the moment that brought me here to Mt Airy was that organization after that last summer; I think that's how the Twin Cities captured me.

Belonging

I think it was after the 2nd or 3rd year. I just feel like it was around then where there was the opportunity of ‘are you going to apply for this other gym job. I know you have a smaller gym here and this isn't the biggest size there is, while a bigger size that would let you work there then once you be a program coordinator here you wanna apply for that?’ I like doing sports at the rec, that's just my passion.  Doing sports and sports leagues and teaching them {sports to kids}. I feel like after the 2nd or 3rd year I wouldn't say I got comfortable I would say that I really got motivated and felt like I was the backbone of the sports program here. I'm going to stay here and run the gym and be the face of this site in my area. So I just felt like I didn't want to go anywhere after the 2nd and 3rd year of being here. I feel like I found my nook.

I feel like we got a couple staffs that comes in and out and like ‘I'm gonna do things my way, I don't like how the boys and girls club is run’ or I ‘hate these kids.’ I feel like 90 percent of the coworkers I work with, or staffs that I been with in the past, really enjoy what they do. It is just that 10 percent. They be like, ‘I'm just here I'm just working and youth development is not my field, I'm just working cause it is a job.’ So I have seen some people do that. Those people didn't really last long. It is not like I had to deal with them long. They had to figure it out that it wasn't for them, but for me, this is where I need to be. I have my strong fit here.

A Different Definition of “Calling”

Calling is a strong word. I feel like life brings you to different areas at certain times of your life, and brings certain people at certain points of your life,  but I feel like this {his position at the Boys and Girls club} is just the good phase of my career, as I farther my youth experience and expand on the development of my career path.

I also have a second job where I work at a juvenile detention center. And I do that just over nights and weekends, and I'm on call. I used to be a part time staff, so I remember working like 7 days a week here, then going to the juvenile detention center. I feel like part of what I'm doing here is building up my career, and building up my resume. I branch off to do the juvenile stuff as a ‘hey let's add some more stuff I can do to gain experience.” I feel like if I wanna move on, I will need to have more development stuff like this. I learn every day in this job, so It's very rewarding.

 Photo Credit: Mt. Airy Boys and Girls Club, official Facebook page

These are the front doors of the building Mr. Shaw enters everyday; the Boys and Girls Club; Mt. Airy Branch