Crossover Kids Program

Crossover Kids

The Crossover Kids Program will expand 300% because of the Crossover Community Center! We need your help to make this happen!

Pictured above: Keanna Maringa; The Crossover Kids in action!

Relationship Building

by Keanna Maringa

My name is Keanna Maringa, and I work at Oral Roberts University in Development and Alumni Relations. I was placed at Crossover at the beginning of the spring semester of my junior year as a practicum student. Being placed at a faith-based organization that aims to serve the North Tulsa community was the first significant aspect that I found intriguing about the organization. The mission and the intent behind the services offered through the many Crossover branches showed me how intentional and genuine the Crossover community is as a whole. Shadowing Elizabeth Holman, the Crossover Kids Director, and working alongside the college staff and the StreetLeaders at the Crossover Kids After-School Program was a rewarding experience for me as a practicum student. I was able to apply my Social Work knowledge from my classes, which allowed me to become more immersed in the relationships that I built with the staff and the students. Being a part of Crossover has significantly impacted how fellowship and community bring broken and diverse groups together. My first few days shadowing Elizabeth were very memorable for me as I became more aware of the different communities and the needs presented in North Tulsa. Elizabeth took the time with me to walk around the various neighborhoods in North Tulsa, which allowed me to view the areas that Crossover serves with my own eyes. My time studying Social Work has opened my eyes to see meeting and advocating for the needs of underappreciated populations cannot be done successfully just from the outside looking in. I want people to know how genuine and authentic the ministry and mission of Crossover is. Being a part of this organization has been rewarding for me to see how impactful each member and student are as a community interacting with each other. Even though I only served as a practicum student, I always felt immersed and a part of the team every time I stepped foot at the after-school program at Hawthorne Elementary School. I think that I was able to contribute and gain a lot during my time at Crossover. The relationship that I shared with the Crossover Kids and the members of the organization will always be cherished. A great example of a time that I saw the heart behind Crossover’s mission was when I was shadowing Elizabeth Holman engaging with an upset child at the after-school program. The student was having a hard time and was displaying aggressive behaviors towards another student during their free play time, so Elizabeth pulled both students aside to talk with them. Her patience and willingness to sit and hold an open dialogue with the students was something that stood out to me. She was able to put her feelings aside to show the students that they were heard and to find a solution to help the students recognize where they were wrong during the incident that took place. After that moment, Elizabeth and I were able to sit and talk about the Positive Discipline approach and how it could be better implemented with the different mannerisms and behaviors that most of the students display at the program. Seeing how intentional all of the leaders and the staff are at the program allowed me to get to know the ins and outs of the program in an authentic and insightful way which made my time at Crossover Kids so memorable!

Being a part of this organization has been rewarding for me to see how impactful each member and student are as a community interacting with each other.

-Keanna m.

Keanna Maringa is originally from Akron, Ohio, and she is currently a Senior studying Social Work at Oral Roberts University. She decided to attend ORU after her mother and aunts attended ORU in the 1990s. She’s known about ORU all of her life, but it wasn’t until her junior year when she felt the push from God to further her education at Oral Roberts University. When she began studying at ORU her freshman year, she knew that she wanted to go into a field of advocacy and social change on the micro or macro level. Studying Social Work has given her a deeper glimpse into the broken and neglected aspects of society that have been overlooked by the system. Social Work students have two practicum placements in their junior year at ORU, which is how she was granted the wonderful opportunity to serve at Crossover as a practicum student for both her class and her degree program. She will impact the world with her determination to tangibly help individuals in underserved communities like north Tulsa.

To learn more about our STEAM-based After-School and Summer Day Camp at Hawthorne Elementary School, please go to www.crossoverimpact.org/crossover-kids/.