'Colors' changes teens' lives

Daniel Miller was caught joyriding in a stolen car. The juvenile courts sentenced him to the Colors for Success program at West High School.

"I broke my grandma's heart," Miller told Colors case manager Brent Robinson. "I've got to turn this around."

Now the teen who once sluffed 27 days out of the month has improved his grade point average from a 1.9 to a 3.0. He will go back to court with Robinson at his side.

"I'm trying to keep it together until then — and then afterwards, too," said Miller, now 18.

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Celina Chavez was a West High freshman who missed an average of 14 days of school a month.

Early in the year she'd been hanging in the halls with girls who said it would be easy to miss class now and make it up in the end of high school.

The Colors staff brought in some seniors who had heard the same thing and were now flunking. They talked to Chavez, and she changed her tune.

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Durael Spight is a big kid. Tough. Intimidating. West High School administrators referred the 17-year-old to the Colors program because of drugs, alcohol, gang involvement and a bad attitude.

"For the first few days, everything was 'F — this,' 'F — that' and 'I don't care,' " Robinson said. "Now he's in my office, 'I'm graduating! I'm graduating!' He is so happy."

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The teens on his caseload call him "B." They phone him at 2 a.m., 3 a.m., if they are in trouble or need help. Robinson's wife calls these her husband's "other kids."

Robinson and Kim Russo are case managers for the Colors of Success program. They work full time at West High School helping the kids like Spight, Chavez and Miller — students nobody else really has the time to give any extra attention.

Teens come to Colors through the school because of academics, attendance or other "at-risk" behavior, or they might be referred by a juvenile court judge. Sometimes they come on their own, knowing they need a little extra support

Whatever the reason, more West High students attend every year. In 2002, 52 students worked with the counselors. The next year it was 70 students. This year it's more than 90.

It's May and 28 students are gathered in a classroom for a life skills class, and some of them make good fun of a Deseret Morning News informal survey meant to examine teenage behaviors and issues.