“We basically walk alongside inner-city youth and help them to reach their fullest potential, help them to reach their goals.”

Carline Adah

Welcome to Navigate STL Schools, a podcast.  

Today’s guest is Carline Adah, LIFT director and youth program director at LOVEtheLOU, an organization committed to uplifting and empowering St. Louis youth to reach their fullest potential. Carline and LOVEtheLOU are taking a holistic approach to mentoring students. In this episode, Carline sits down with Staci to discuss the importance of a quality education and inspiring parents to advocate for their students.

They discuss:

• Carline’s K-12 experience
  • Born and raised just outside St. Louis 
  • Had a good education with great, inspiring and encouraging teachers
  • It was cool to be smart
  • High school years prepared her well for college
• Her work at STL LIFT
  • Uplifting and empowering St. Louis youth to reach their fullest potential
    • Through education, experiences and mentorship
    • Assistance includes resume building, interview skills, life skills, workshops, even taking them to appointments, or get their driver’s license
    • It’s a holistic mentoring approach
• What inspires her to do the work
  • She didn’t have a mentor as a teen
  • Wants to be the mentor for her students that she didn’t get to have
  • Takes pride in her students’ success
• Carline joined initially as a volunteer in 2015
  • She says she never expected to become a full-time staff member
  • She’s grown closer to her students than she expected, too
• What educational challenges do the students face? How LIFT helps support them through those challenges
  • LOVEtheLOU represents students from more than 10 schools
  • The organization liaises with their teachers, counselors
  • Offers tutoring or homework help
  • The organization values education, but understands not every student is going to wind up at a 4-year college
• How the organization helps teens realize their full potential, despite systemic challenges
  • Awareness
    • Some students (and parents) aren’t aware that they’re not getting a good education
    • These organizations are helping making students and parents aware
    • They don’t know how to advocate for better
    • It’s about the disparities in resources and quality of education
    • Once that awareness grows, parents start to ask questions and get involved
• What Carline wishes parents and students knew and considered when selecting a middle or high school
  • There’s not just one thing
  • Average ACT scores
  • Attendance rates
  • School rankings
  • Violence at the school
• What gives her hope for the students
  • Organizations like NavigateSTLSchools
  • Helping bring awareness
  • Students and parents are going to start asking questions, looking at the data
  • The goal is to get students to help change the quality of the schools they’re already going to
    • It’s not fair that there are 12th graders reading at a seventh-grade reading level
    • Students are being robbed of the opportunity to have a quality education
    • Some of the things that are happening are almost hard to believe, an outrage
    • This needs to change – enough is enough
  • Parents are the advocates, theirs are the voices that need to be heard