Changing the lives of kids, teens

Juncee St. Cloud is upfront about the impact she wants to have on the residents of the Allendale Association.

The Lake Villa social-service agency is a home and school for youths from troubled backgrounds and pasts. Many of the students and residents who live at Allendale have experienced both physical and sexual abuse.

It’s a daunting challenge for anyone to say they want to go to Allendale and have a positive impact on the lives of the children who live there.

If there is anyone who is up to the challenge, it is St. Cloud.

“I want to see some lives changed,” she said. “I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that lives are going to be changed.”

Changing lives is St. Cloud’s goal, and it is a goal she is meeting.

Allendale is a place full of dedicated teachers and staff members striving to make a difference in the lives of the young people who pass through the school.

But what makes St. Cloud different is that she has been on both sides of the equation. Not only has she lived many of the same experiences as the young people she is trying to impact, but she also is a success story they can look up to.

St. Cloud is living proof that there is life after Allendale, said Don Portzen, vocational education coordinator at Allendale.

"When kids say to her, 'Well, you don't understand. I have this problem.' [She says], 'What do you think I had?" Portzen said.

Sharing her success
St. Cloud, 34, came to Allendale when she was 14. The road that led her to the school is not one for the faint of heart.

When she was 11, her parents got divorced, an experience that proved to be extremely traumatic, St. Cloud said. Ten days later, her mother re-married to a man who beat St. Cloud repeatedly, she said.
By the time she was 14, St. Cloud had been expelled from Chicago Public Schools and was sent to Allendale.

Once she arrived at Allendale, the love she experienced from the teachers and staff members helped her turn her life around, she said.

“That’s the one thing that I had to see when I was here,” she said. “That someone does care about me. That someone does love me enough to see that I am worth something.”

With the education and self-worth she received at Allendale, St. Cloud went on to become a professional stylist and now owns her own salon in Gurnee called Juncee’s Salon.

Knowing the success St. Cloud has experienced since she left Allendale, Portzen invited St. Cloud to come back and speak with some of the current students at Allendale.

St. Cloud exemplifies what Allendale staff members try to instill in students, Portzen said, that if you work hard, you can make your own success story.

St. Cloud knew she wanted to work in cosmetology, and she made it happen, he said.
"Nothing just happens; you make it happen," Portzen said. "And you can't make it happen unless you know where you're going. [St. Cloud] knew what she wanted to do."

Digging deep for change
One year ago, St. Could became a part-time staff member at Allendale, and she even has her own salon on campus, which she uses to teach students the skills they need for a career in cosmetology. She also works twice a week in a self-imaging class taught by Allendale teacher Renita Simmons.

Since St. Cloud started working with the self-imaging class, student growth has been tremendous, Simmons said.

Knowing that St. Cloud has been where they are and has shared many of the same trials that they have experienced makes all the difference, she said.

“She can relate to them in ways and terms I can’t,” Simmons said.

But what is it exactly that makes St. Cloud effective in reaching Allendale students?

For one, she digs deep and tries to get to know the students on a personal level, said a 16-year-old who has been attending Allendale for six months.

"She prys," he said. "She told me she was going to pry, and I said, 'No, you won't because you won't get nowhere with me.' But after awhile, she started showing us that she's really legit."
St. Cloud made it tough to stay clammed up, the 16-year-old said.

“Most people, they are a lot easier to shy away from ... because they don’t pry,” he said.

Many of the students at Allendale find it difficult to locate someone that they feel comfortable venting their frustrations to, St. Cloud said, adding that she is happy to be that person and uses such opportunities to help make the changes that she wants to see in the students.

“I’m bold,” St. Cloud said. “I will get in their face and say, ‘I am going to get all in your business because I want to see you change.’”

Being open with the students about her own past helps in the process of breaking through, St. Cloud said.

"Any question they ask, I'm transparent," she said. "I think that's the key, that they see the honesty."
There are times, St. Cloud added, when she can see herself in the students at Allendale. If they can learn to see themselves in her, success is likely to follow.

“When they really feel the self-worth, that’s the key,” St. Cloud said. “To know that you are worth something. That I love myself enough to know that I am going to make it past this.”

Getting to know ... Juncee St. Cloud

Occupation: Salon owner and part-time staff member at Allendale Association
Age: 34
Family: A daughter, Juncel, 15
Village of residence: Gurnee
Education: Graduate of Allendale Association
Hobbies: Watching movies and shopping

Read about the rest of this year's Forefronts winners at http://lakecountyjournals.com/news/forefronts.