Alternative school uses chess to help kids

No pawns here in this game of life at Anderson Alternative School
Alternative school uses chess to help kids deal with patience, discipline, thinking skills
By Liz Carey
Monday, March 30, 2009
Anderson Independent Mail – Anderson, SC, USA

ANDERSON COUNTY — Preston Hill, 14, leans over the cafeteria table, his energy focused on the board in front of him.

Dressed in camouflage pants and a green T-shirt, the uniform of the Anderson Alternative School, the dirty blond, crew-cut-headed boy studies the pieces in front of him, planning his next move. With quick and sure movements, he picks up the queen, moves her into position and hits the clock. It’s checkmate. He’s won again.

This is not something you would expect from a kid who was expelled from Wren High School in Piedmont for fighting.

Hill is part of the Anderson Alternative School’s Chess Club. The alternative school provides a learning environment for students referred to the school by the county’s five school districts or by the court system. Known for its military-style boot camp program, the school focuses on turning around students who have been discipline problems. Chess, said Alternative School Principal Randolph Dillingham, is a part of that now.

“Chess is about thinking about what you’re doing,” he said. “A lot of these kids have problems with impulse control. This has taught them how to stop and think before they act, to think about the consequences of what they are doing.”

The club, now in its second year, is a joint effort between the school, the Sertoma Club of Anderson and volunteers. Here in the cafeteria, during hour-long sessions Friday afternoons, some 40 students learn the fundamentals of chess and how to apply it to their lives.

Here is the full article.