FORT DODGE, Iowa — In 2023 Fort Dodge had several shooting incidents which led to young people losing their lives. Frustrated, the group NextGen stepped up to do events to help young people focus on positive endeavors.
On Thursday, a room full of middle school students gathered in the early morning to focus on starting a Fellowship of Christian Athletes. The leader of the FCA at the Middle School, Dalton Summers, works with students at the Fort Dodge Middle School and was active in NextGen.
“I realize that sometimes in life everything is gonna hit you at once and I realize that in this town that’s what happened to us,” said Summers. “Everything hit us at once and we all came together as a group, we weren’t just gonna talk about it, we’re gonna be something bigger.”
“When I see even one of my friends do one bad decision it like makes me nervous for them because I know one bad thing can lead to many others,” said Brooklyn Lamoureux, a Fort Dodge Middle School Student and FCA member.
“Even when things are going bad, all you have to do is talk to God,” said Middle School student Jerry Crockett. “Because with every bad thing, a good thing comes after.”
Another angle to working with youth is Southside Martial Arts gym, where Nik Myers works with all sorts of kids. He teaches not just self defense skills, but also confidence.
“Way too many kids in this community don’t have a role model at all,” said Myers. “You know, they don’t have a dad, they don’t have grandpa, like there’s a lot of kids that don’t have a mom or anything, so I really want to try to be a positive influence.”
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