The adventure of learning
Programs teach youths trust, give a second chance
Jim Smith, owner of Kokopelli Adventures, works extensively with kids on juvenile probation to help teach them confidence, team building and trust through activities like rock climbing, hiking and canoeing. [photo by Brian Leddy / Independent]

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GALLUP — Today Mikko Calico is clean, having thrown of the choking yoke of drugs, and hopes to return to high school this fall, after being kicked out two years ago.

He listens to his parents, is more responsible and trustworthy, his mother says, and he says he thinks he has a future in music, both producing and singing.

Calico said he would not be in this position today if it were not for the work of McKinley County Case Management counselors and specifically one other man in Gallup, Jim Smith, of Kokopelli Adventures.

“I kept screwing up, getting into trouble, not listening to my parents and was kicked out of school,” Calico said. “That was all due to drug use.”

“I am clean today and I have found that the things I want to do are pretty easily accomplished if I set my mind to it,” he said.

He said Smith talked with him and showed him the right way to do things.

Calico said he graduated from the program a year ago and started thinking about the things that were said and showed to him and realized he wanted to do something with his life instead of spiraling downward into a life of drugs and possibly prison.

Annie Villanueva, a counselor at McKinley County Case Management, an organization that tries to keep juveniles from getting into serious trouble in the courts, said Smith’s ability to talk to and listen and work with juveniles is startling.

“He takes these juveniles into a five-week program, where he spends at least one day a week with them, and show them they can learn to be trusting and trustworthy,” she said.

Smith said a lot of young people have problems at home and get into trouble.

Villanueva said Smith worked for other organizations, and when Case Management was formed just a few years ago, Smith was approached and asked to become a subcontractor with the state.

“I do get paid for working with these kids, but I volunteer a lot of my time with them as well,” Smith said.

He said he often takes the kids on canoeing trips to Bluewater Lake, Ramah Lake and hiking and climbing on trails and hills locally.

“I teach them to trust each other through rock climbing,” he said.

A person is at the end of the rope and has the other climbers secured through ropes and a safety type harness and does not allow them to hit the ground if they slip and release the rope while climbing.

The youths at both ends of the ropes learn about trust, he said.

Smith has been a volunteer firefighter and a volunteer wildlife search and rescue member for years, he said.

He said he teaches team-building and confidence concepts to the juveniles in his program and certifies many in CPR and first aid.

Smith is working with the Wolf Sanctuary in Fence Lake to allow some of the juveniles to observe and work on some projects there, with the end result being the youth then are allowed to work with and feed the wolves, he said.

“We do a lot of community service,” Smith said.

At the Relay for Life this year, about 16-18 youths in the program with Smith worked to help set up stations, canopies, gathered and took trash away all night long, he said.

At times, when he needs workers to help with his company, he hires some of the youth to work with him, and that has become a regular occurrence.

“There are young people who need a pat on the back, they need to know the community stands behind them,” Villanueva said.

Information: Case Management, (505) 863-1423; Smith, (505) 863-9941.