Gary Closs threw his first punch at age 9. He didn't really want to, but it wasn't long before he was hooked. His mother enrolled him in karate class and, after his initial hesitation, he loved it. Now 18, he is a third degree black belt and is giving back to inner-city youth as a volunteer instructor, among other humanitarian efforts throughout his high school career.
Sol Mary Cotto, 15, found herself working for Newark's Broadway House as a part of her high school internship program. She is a junior at Christ the King Prep in Newark, one of 24 schools in the country funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to provide professional job experience for students through a partnership with about 40 area companies.
Cotto knew this was the right high school for her. Although she had some initial reservations about her assignment at Broadway House, it proved to be educational and rewarding. She still stops by to see the residents at the specialized HIV/AIDS nursing care facility.
Both students have experienced great academic successes. Cotto is thriving in her high school internship program and plans to be a teacher. Closs is attending his first year at Penn State and then plans to earn a medical degree that he can bring back to Newark. Volunteering helped to keep both students on track, they said.
"Volunteering has been my driving force," Closs said. "It teaches me responsibility. It impacts me to be a better person. "
Closs learned these principles from his family, he said. He was raised in Newark's South Ward by a mother who consistently promoted education. He also has two older sisters who acted like mothers, making sure he behaved like a proper young man.
"When you're lacking, someone is always there to pick you up," Closs said of his family.
When his mother enrolled him in karate class, he found people at the gym who served as mentors to him. And now at the Eternal Life School of Martial Arts, he hopes to do the same for the young students there.
"I help out because I know there are a lot of chances to get involved in something bad," Closs said. "I had influences and see myself in these kids."
His influences were his karate instructors, he said. While in high school, instead of succumbing to peer pressure as some students did, he hit the gym. Even though he never participated in negative activities, he felt guilty being around it and found karate to be his sanctuary. Karate not only kept him away from trouble, but it taught him discipline, he said.
"When I first met Gary he was a quiet guy, very intelligent," said Master Devin Lewis, owner and instructor at the gym. "He picked up the art very fast. He was very much engulfed in it."
Throughout his years with Closs at the gym, Lewis said the student was like a son to him. "We are a family unit here," he said.
Like a family, it's not always easy working with young kids. Closs, who teaches kids ages 9 and 10, said sometimes he wants to laugh and sometimes he wants to cry. But at the end of the day, he knows the pressure is on him to be a good influence for his students.
"At first it's hard to see" if you are making an impact, he said. "You say are you doing this for nothing? But then you have a kid come up to you and say I look up to you so much. I have to live right for them."
And according to Lewis, he does. "I don't see Gary as an instructor," Lewis said. "I see him as a mentor."
Outside of karate, Closs volunteers for many organizations. A graduate of St. James High School, community service was part of his curriculum, but he said his work at the gym was more than enough to fill his hours. Yet he did more.
For three straight years, he worked with the school to help Habitat for Humanity. As student government president, he helped raise money for breast cancer research through Newark's walk-a-thon. And after completing an internship at the Newark Museum, he decided to stay around to share his love and knowledge of biology with young students, teaching kids at the science drop-in center.
"I get to share what I love with others," Closs said. "It's a greater reward than a job. Instead of a paycheck I get a smile and satisfaction.
Like Closs, Cotto finds satisfaction in seeing people smile. She also enjoys sharing what she loves, which is teaching.
She's a junior at Christ the King Prep, which she chose over Arts High School because of the work experience she receives through the school's internship program. But she wasn't sure if she was ready for her first internship assignment.
She didn't know what the Broadway House was. When she learned it was a residential facility for people with AIDS and HIV, she didn't want to work there.
"Once you hear those words "HIV" you don't want to work there," she said. "My mom didn't want me to work there either."
Cotto initially kept to herself and said she was fearful because she didn't understand the disease. But after talking to residents and hearing their stories, she quickly forgot that they were sick and learned that she had nothing to fear.
"You want someone who is mature enough to understand why you are here," said Sandra Lerner, director of the Corporate Internship Program at Christ the King.
Cotto was one of four students interning at Broadway House that semester. She found herself looking forward to her work and visiting the residents. "I remember one resident in particular was the glow of my day," she said.
She enjoyed her experience so much she worked there the following summer.
"The Broadway House isn't for everyone," said Nestor Beard, assistant director of activities and interns at the facility. "It takes a special person to work here. You need to be caring. These kids are innocent, which is really refreshing for residents. They see their children (in these volunteers)."
Cotto played games with the residents, participated in resident classes, and, most important to her, talked to the residents. "We're playing cards, having fun. I forget that they are sick," she said.
Not only did she help the residents, they helped her as well. She said the experience has broadened her perception of all people.
"I don't look differently at people in the streets," she said. "I look at the world differently because I don't know people's stories. I don't know what people have."
Outside school, Cotto volunteers doing what she loves most: teaching.
"All the women in my family are teachers," she said. "My mom is a preschool teacher. I remember the first time I went to work with her and I noticed how much I liked working with children."
She worked with her mother during summer school programs, but now she gets to teach on her own. She volunteers teaching Sunday school to children ages 3-5 and 6-10 at her church, where she hopes to act not only as a teacher but as a mentor.
"They always say in my school, or anywhere, that I'm a role model," Cotto said. "The kids are the future, and we need to treat them like they are the future."
She will have another opportunity to share her love for teaching this fall because her next Christ the King internship will be at an elementary school, something that she is very much looking forward to starting.
Closs, on the other hand, has to put his work in Newark on hold but plans to serve in his new community in Pennsylvania. After his first semester, he plans to volunteer at a children's hospital and animal shelter, among other places. "At the end of the day, the community is what you make it," he said.