CINCINNATI — Every other weekend, students gather at Orion Academy in South Fairmount to hang out, play sports and spend time with mentors.
The gathering is more than just fun. It's a program dedicated to keeping students away from violence.
"I just love coming here every Saturday," Rah'lae Hawkins, an eighth grade student at Orion Academy, said about the Save the Streets Saturday program. "I like seeing everybody enjoying themselves and not being out there doing crime or anything like that, like I'm used to seeing in my neighborhood."
Antonio Smith and Jermaine Drake, Orion's Upper Elementary and Middle School deans, respectively, started the program to give kids a safe environment outside of typical school hours after a summer filled with youth violence.
"We just feel like proud brothers, proud big uncles," Smith said. "And for the most part, we are going to make sure they know there is a positive way out."
WATCH: We spoke directly with the people who created the program
More than 40 students come to the school's gym for three to four hours bi-weekly, doing team building and learning about core values.
"We're like a family, we all come around and Dean Smith, all the adults, talk about respect, integrity, compassion — all of that stuff," Hawkins said.
Frederick Willis, a bus liaison at Orion, said he and other mentors work on connecting with students beyond just lectures.
"Instead of just talking to them about it, showing them ... all of us — we were just like you guys at a point in time," Willis said.
Drake said they understand students go home to "trauma and other different circumstances, which is why each student is filled with guidance and words of affirmation to let them know they are in a safe space away from other problems.
They're hoping the program will expand and help more students maintain a positive mindset.
"As they go out on Sunday and as they go out on Monday, (we hope) they remember some of the positive things we put inside of them," said Smith.
