There are 12 brand new reasons why kids want to spend their afternoons at the Boys Club of Leflore County.
That many computers were donated to the after-school and summer program by Gateway of Jackson.
Now, along with the cracking of pool balls and the sound of basketballs bouncing, the steady, concentrated whisper of key strokes can be heard inside the Boys Club building on Carrollton Avenue.
The kids "run in here every day and want to get on them," said Letesha King, a Mississippi Valley State University senior who volunteers at the club in the afternoons. "It's the first thing they do when they get here."
That excitement has boosted the club's attendance to about 45 on afternoons and sometimes close to 60 on weekends, says Melvin Harris, the club's director. The club, which offers tutoring as well as sports and other activities, gives children something to do in the afternoon while their parents are still at work.
"My computer room is jam-packed all afternoons," he said. "Because of the computers' arrival, our numbers have increased."
Most of the boys in the computer room Tuesday were hooked on the entertainment aspects of the devices. Hubert Williams, a Davis Elementary third-grader who was driving a delivery truck around simulated city streets, said all he does is play games. Christopher Dennis, 12, was looking up information about his favorite rap artists.
The club installed software to block any indecent material that the kids might run into.
Soon, their afternoons will involve more than just surfing the Internet. Jack Flagg, another Valley senior who is volunteering, said the Boys' Club is going to integrate the computers into its after-school tutoring sessions.
"We're going to get them into word processing, introduce them to spreadsheets and get into PowerPoint presentations," said Flagg, 22, a public relations major.
Harris is searching for more volunteers who can donate their time and energy to the program as mentors and tutors.
