Denver students graduate from gang-resistance program

So many students and parents packed into the auditorium at Denver’s Munroe Elementary School on Monday for a gang-resistance graduation program that the ceremony had to be split into two rooms.

Some of the fourth- and fifth-graders graduating from the Gang Resistance Education and Training, or G.R.E.A.T., program were already being recruited into gangs or had family members involved in gang activity who were caught in the crossfire, said juvenile probation officer Deborah Garcia-Sandoval, who taught the G.R.E.A.T. program to students.

“We’ve had students report to us at this school that their parents have thrown themselves on top of their kids during shootings or that members of their family have been shot,” she said.

During a surge of Denver gang violence that has killed 12 people this year, Garcia-Sandoval said she is on the front lines trying to prevent this violence from happening.

When the dean of student culture at Munroe Elementary, Amy Shortt, heard about some of the students getting involved in gang activity, she knew the school needed to intervene and introduced the G.R.E.A.T. program to her students.

Fifth-grader Anthony Nguyen, 10, proudly held up his graduation certificate and promised he would never get involved with gang violence.

“I liked having someone teach us what was bad for us,” he said. “I learned how bad gangs are.”

The program teaches students about the dangers of gangs and drugs, techniques to stand up against peer pressure and bullying and life skills such as empathy, respect and being a good citizen, Garcia-Sandoval said.

Some parents were hesitant in having their children speak publicly about gang violence, but Anthony’s mother, Eufemia Nguyen, was proud to say all of her eight children have gone through or are going through G.R.E.A.T. soon.

The program is particularly important to her after losing her oldest son’s father to gang violence, she said.

“I feel a lot safer now because my kids see what gangs can do to you in this program,” she said.

Fifth-grade teacher Fallon Newman said she feels better knowing that her students who live in a neighborhood “full of pressure to do wrong” now have a resource to set them up for success.

“It’s almost like gangs and violence are what they know, so we’re giving them another option and showing them that doesn’t have to be their path,” Newman said.

She said her students tell her about situations where they are already using their training in everyday life.

“They’re crazy into it,” she said. “They looked forward to it every week.”

Elizabeth Hernandez: 303-954-1223, ehernandez@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ehernandez