Teacher creates “Gentleman’s Club” to mentor boys without role models at home.

A teacher in South Carolina went beyond the line of duty and decided to mentor boys who don’t have role models at home or even school to look up to.

This is after realising how difficult it was for these kids to figure things out on their own, which often ends up with them making a lot of mistakes and bad decisions that could hurt them in the long run.

Raymond Nelson, a student support specialist at Memminger Elementary in Downtown Charleston, knew part of being a teacher was helping children learn about life and opted to help young boys in his community become young gentlemen.

He started “The Gentlemen's Club” whose motto is: "Look good, feel good, do good", now with nearly 60 students.

Every Wednesday, dozens of first through fifth graders walk into class in their Sunday's best and learn things like how to make proper eye contact, what a good handshake is, how to show respect to elders and how to open doors for other people. If students don’t have the proper dress wear for the club, Nelson has extra jackets, ties and vests from community donors.

The Gentleman's Club has been so successful at Memminger that Charleston County School District officials say they want other local schools to begin Gentleman's programs in their schools.

Making sure young children have positive male role models is essential to their growth. This male role model doesn’t necessarily have to be a father, but should mentor the child in a father-like way. Father-child interaction actually promotes better perceptual ability and competency in children.

The better children are able to think on their own, the better decisions they will make later in life and what children do early on can drastically affect the course of their lives.

If they get involved with the wrong friends or rely on the wrong coping mechanisms, it will change who they become as adults.

Making sure that children have the right role models at home and at school is so important in keeping statistics like that from becoming the new reality for many children.