I wouldn't be here." Read the full article, "Student's Work with NYC Organization Impacts Future Plans," from Penn State Live on former Abbe Clubhouse and ISP member, Cody Reid.
Published: Monday, December 19, 2011
by: Marissa Carney, at Penn State Live
Founded in 1876, the Boys Club of New York’s primary goal was to get inner-city boys off the streets of the Lower East Side and into a place where they would be “safe, learn better manners and engage in more productive activities.” Today, the organization is thriving, with three locations in New York City. It also has redefined its mission to be an organization that 
Cody Reid spins some tunes at a Penn State Altoona student event.boys to reach their full potential.“encourages boys and young men to seek the highest standards of scholarship, moral development and physical achievement” while offering hope for a better future and challenging
If one is to use Cody Reid as a measuring stick for success, one would find The Boys' Club to be meeting, if not exceeding, its goals." A senior communications major at Penn State Altoona, Reid got involved with The Boys' Club of New York at its Queens location in seventh grade, staying involved through high school graduation.
“I grew up with The Boys' Club,” said Reid. “They helped me tremendously with getting into college, with my applications and SAT prep courses. If it wasn’t for The Boys' Club, I wouldn’t be here.”
Reid entered Penn State Altoona with plans to transfer to the University Park campus as an agricultural business major after two years, but just couldn’t leave Altoona. “There’s just something about Penn State Altoona,” he said. “The classrooms are smaller and I get a personal relationship with my professors. And I was already established here and I didn’t want to start all over again after transferring.”
So Reid changed his major to communications and hasn’t looked back.
Known on campus as “DJ C-Papa,” Reid often is the voice behind the music at many campus events. In addition to his duties as a DJ, Reid is a resident assistant and is involved with campus ministries, as well as with the student organizations SALT and Faith in Action.
When it came time to choose an internship for his communications major, Reid didn’t even have to think about it. “The Boys Club of New York helped me out so much that I wanted to go back and help them and the kids for the summer,” Reid said. “They made such an impact; everyone there was so concerned about us, and even when we didn’t feel like studying, they told us ‘listen, you need to get into higher education.’”
Reid returned to New York for the summer of 2011 and worked at the BCNY [Gerry] clubhouse, working with a mixture of seventh and eighth graders who were trying to get into prep schools. Among other media-related duties, Reid taught a course on newswriting for the boys, going over the basics such as how to write a newspaper article, and how to interview and report a story. He even taught them how to do an online newsletter and a podcast.
Reid himself was surprised at how much he enjoyed the teaching aspect of his internship. “I didn’t know they were going to have me teach a class, but I felt really comfortable doing it because of my experiences as a resident assistant. It was a really great experience because I got to share what I learned here at Penn State Altoona -- and I was kind of teaching myself at the same time.”
The internship with The Boys' Club has helped Reid solidify his post-graduation plans. He will attend graduate school with the hope of becoming an entrepreneur --creating something similar to The Boys' Club for college-age students. “The Boys' Club helped me, and it worked,” Reid said. “I want to do that for others.”
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Click here to download the PDF verision of the story: Penn_State_Live_-_Students_work_with_New_York_City_organization_impacts_fut.pdf
