Why SGC Partners with The Crossing #2

Rob Staley (shown on the far left) is the guy who started The Crossing. He was a high school principal for almost 20 years. Before that he was a guy trying to get through college so he could teach and help kids. Before that he was a struggling youth with a 'wild streak' and an attitude. He was 'trouble' and he was troubled! He experienced a major life change when he was a senior in high school and found a new life in Jesus Christ. That was the genesis of his calling to make a difference.

Fast forward to 2003. Rob by then was a seasoned principal known for his no-nonsense discipline approach to learning which means if a student doesn't cooperate, he/she is out....suspended, expelled. That's life in the public school where the responsibility of the leader is to make sure that the educational components are well-oiled and functioning while ensuring people who are distractions and obstacles to the learning environment are dealt with. Understood. But where does this kid go? You know....the kid who cussed out the teacher...the kid who retaliated an insult with a left jab to the eye....the chronic truant...the kid with 'special needs.' That is the question that got under Rob's skin and into his heart. He had to do something about this.

So rather than being the guy who sent the troubled youth away from the school, he would reposition himself to be the one who would greet them on their way out the door. He became the solution to his own problem; his personal problem as a troubled youth from days past and his professional problem as an educator. Basically, he couldn't bear to watch one more kid slip through the cracks only to be eaten up by the streets, drugs, a life of crime and possibly death. That's when The Crossing began. It began in one man's heart. Next post I will share what has happened since that time.