Story of Kennett: Promising futures
I've been worried about our young people, especially the boys. The top 10% of almost any class is about 60% women and 40% men. The bottom 10% will be about 60% men. But my pessimism is for the Gen Z kids (1995-2009). They have had the pandemic take a couple years out of their formative development. And this doesn't include the cultural focus on everything but boys.
The Democratic Platform this fall mentions all the cohorts it supports, except men. Republican Senator Josh Hawley wrote a book; "Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs" but wouldn't he vote for the infrastructure bill that did more for the working man than anything else the government has done in a decade.
The doubling of information every year is making the world a lot more complex, including fake facts coming from the internet. Baby Boomers are passing on climate change without doing enough, then there is the war in Europe and the middle east. And the great sadness that young women don't have the personal freedom to deal with their own reproductive health that their mothers had.
The 20-somethings are more anxious and lonelier than any other generation in the US and 29% of them experience depression.
This past week I met two Kennett high school boys, that gave me new optimism that we are going to be alright. They were entrepreneurs, wrestlers, competitors for a spot in top colleges, male model handsome, all-around nice persons and part of the Gen-Z generation. Blake Boyer, a rising junior and Kane Lengel a rising senior detailed my car.
They are at the tail end of Gen Z, and they still have the friends that they grew up with support from family and a school district that knows and cares about them. They are not as bad off as the older Gen-Zs who have been out of the nest for the past five years and don't have any of these support mechanisms.
Detailing is the thorough cleaning and reconditioning of both the interior and exterior of a car. They referred to this as their side hustle, because their life was caught up with school, and wrestling and they needed a job to make extra spending money that they could do at odd hours. They learned how to do it by watching YouTube videos and they have been doing it for a year now, making thousands of dollars.
They are both wrestlers, one of the fastest growing high school sports. On the boys' side, the US wrestling has gone from 259,431-291,874 and the girls have doubled to 64,257. Blake's Dad is a teacher at Greenwood elementary and is also a wrestling coach where he teaches the next generation of wrestlers. It seems these two boys are pretty good wrestlers with both having the goal of winning, if not the whole thing, at least hardware at State's this coming season.
I have a great deal of respect for wrestlers. You have to make weight, create stronger muscles, and learn the moves. Remember 74% of American adults are overweight or obese. There are pockets of great wresting in the US, and Pennsylvania. But not so much around southeastern Pennsylvania. The Kennett Blue Demons must go away for tournaments for the athletes to be really challenged during the season, knowing they will have to wrestle the "big dogs" at states.
Speaking of being impressed, women are just now entering the wrestling world and Kennett is on the cutting edge. Haylie Jaffe who graduated from Kennett last year after 3 years of competing, took second in the states at 136 lbs. and won nationals in Texas. She will be wrestling in college. In the video of her interview after winning Nationals, she gave a shout out to Coach Boyer, Blake's dad.
Yes, we are going to be OK with this next generation if they are anything like these kids. I'm a big fan of side hustles. They are at the heart of America's success in creating wealth. When I went to Kennett High School, I had three side hustles, mowing lawns, baby sitting (hard to compete with girls on that one) and my favorite, making apple cider.
My story of the apple cider hustle started with a local teacher, Bill Boucher, who was the sponsor of the Sadie Hawkins Dance at Mount Pleasant High School and needed a couple dozen gallons of apple cider each year. He gave me the address of a cider press near West Chester, and I knew where there were a bunch of apple trees that just let the apples fall on the ground. I filled up the back of my mom's station wagon with apples, then cider, and sold as many gallons of cider as I could make. It was great money, though I didn't include the cost of replacing the shocks on the family station wagon when I went off to college.
We are in good shape with Blake, Kane and Haylie as examples of this new generation. I asked about the coming political election, and the boys can't vote so they don't feel they have a dog in that fight. It seems their parents are trying to get them interested but it isn't important to them now. Let's just hope that when they can vote, and it comes up on their radar, they will handle it as well as they handle the rest of their life decisions in becoming the best version of themselves.
