What does it take to help young people succeed?

Well, many will tell you the answer is education.

Coming up next On Q will show you how an innovative program called crossroads is working to unlock the potential of local young people.

Also coming up next, get ready for a ride on the NASA designed aircraft known as the Vomit Comet.

We'll tell you why it's earned that particular nickname.

And you may be familiar with Cabela's catalog.

It's the massive hunting and fishing outdoor company.

They are now opening huge retail outlets, and there is one in our area, and Dave and Dave will tour the new store next.

So stay connected.

Welcome to On Q magazine.

I'm Stacy Smith, a local high school football team celebrated a big championship in the past year.

The Central Catholic Vikings won the state title in [unclear] football.

And among the athletes making headlines that night was running back Eugene Jarvis.

Now Jarvis had a tremendous season.

And for a second time was named the Post Gazette' High School Player of the Year.

But this story is not about Jarvis heroics on the football field.

Rather, it's about a unique program that has helped him, along with some of his teammates and hundreds of other students throughout the area, achieve greater academic success.

The program is called Crossroads On Q's.

Tonia Caruso reports in tonight's cover story.

In an undefeated Central Catholic season.

Eugene Jarvis dazzled coaches fans, and just about everyone.

He rushed for more than 2000 yards, scoring 38 touchdowns.

Five of the were in this championship game.

You might think football means everything to Jarvis, but he'll quickly tell you it's not the only thing.

Education.

Education means a lot.

You can't go anywhere in life without education.

It basically factors your whole life.

Eugene and the other young men around this table know academics equals success.

But they also come from families who struggle financially.

And no money can stand in the way.

Some of them will tell you they would not be here and would not be thinking about colleg if it were not for Crossroads.

This unique program was originally started by an anonymous donor more than a decade ago.

Since then, it's helped hundreds of students get a Catholic high school education.

Many of these kids had com through a Catholic grade school, but then couldn't afford to go to Catholic high school.

Crossroads came about because of a demonstrable need to have some of these inner city, at risk youth, be able to go through Catholic high school.

Not necessarily that it's Catholic, but that there is a philosophy of a total commitment of the person to the betterment of themselves and their society.

Crossroads students are young men and women from all races and religious backgrounds.

They come from distressed neighborhoods throughout the city.

They must show a willingness to work hard and their parents must be involved.

It's a big commitment, bu the payoff can be life changing.

Crossroads helps its students in two major ways.

First, based on income, it pays for part of a student's tuition.

But perhaps more importantly and what sets Crossroads apart is it provides a number of outside support services to help student not just get by, but to succeed.

I have say the transition is hard.

When you're coming from grade school to high school, you don't know what to expect.

Your first year is going to be different from grade school to high school because of the academics and the studies and things like that.

And the distractions outside of school.

We have counselors who are on call 24/7.

That's unheard of in education period and in particul Catholic high school education, that you would provide them with a sounding board a person who can understand them that they're not afraid to go to and talk, talk with.

If a student needs anything and I do mean anything, we try to provide that service.

That servic can be anything from tutoring, SAT prep, and college counseling to study skills, self-esteem, leadership, anti-violence workshops, and more.

Crossroads works with the students on every level, from academics to social development.

The students come together and bond sociall because they see that we care.

And after a period of time, you know, they begin to really trust you and move toward doing the kinds of things that they need to do to be successful.

One of the greatest, I'll be the top one.

It'd be maybe three teams in history, One of the people you'll find in the middle of it all is Charles Shealey.

He's a Crossroads student support counselor.

Essay, for college, I need a copy of an essay for college.

I'm involved with every aspect of the program as far as relationship with the kids, relationship with the administration, the teachers, anything behaviora academic, family, anything that goes on.

I'm right there in a mix of everything.

Charles spends his days visiting the 108 students taking part in the program in schools throughout the diocese.

I love my job with a passion.

I love it with a passion, I wake up every day looking forward to coming to work, because I know for a fact that I'm helping kids to better b whatever they want to in life.

How important has Charles been to you in these past three years?

Charles is a smooth guy.

He's a he's like a brother to me because, he can relate to things that I'm going through and things like that.

And, he knows where I'm coming from.

And he's helped when things have been rough.

Where would you say Crossroads helped you most?

Like, where would you rely on help most?

I would say study habits, things like that.

Because when you come to high school, there's, like distractions at a high school.

And if you dont have your study habits down, it's going to be hard.

How are your grades?

My grades are good.

My freshman year I did good.

But sophomore and junior, I kind of struggled a little bit.

But that's when Crosswords came in.

They came and helped me a lot.

And, my senior year, I'm doing real good.

And Eugene's not alone.

Organizers of this now nonprofit group beam with pride at the results.

97% of Crossroad kids graduate from high school, and 95% of them go on to college.

Many times, they're the first in their families to do so.

Once that occurs, it changes the whole expectation of everybody in the equation.

Almost everybody in the family, and we often see, the siblings, you know, if somebody comes to our program, we'll see the turn to their siblings and say, I want you involved in this and I want to see you succeed.

And the expectation starts then to grow within that whole family unit.

So it's not just an impact on that specific student.

It's an impact.

There's a ripple effect that occurs with respect to all of these families.

But Eugene admits at first he wasn't exactly thrilled to join Crossroad or to attend Central Catholic, but his mother, Lela, kept pushing.

And I was like, no, I'm not going to make it that easy for you.

His education, that was more important.

Football was second, education was first, and I wanted him to get a good education, not knowing what school he was going to g to until I met with Crossroads.

Lela says the program has helped Eugene to thrive in all ways.

On the field, several colleges came callin with full athletic scholarships.

But Eugene does not underestimat the importance of the classroom.

Thats all my family stress about is academics.

To be successful you have to have academics under your belt.

And, that's one thing they always stress on me.

No matter what happens in football, academics will alway be there for you, just in case I may suffer injury when I get to college.

Hopefully I don't, but if I do, I have something to fall back on, which is my academics.

Do you ever think about what it would be like if you weren't a member of Crossroads?

If I weren't a member of Crossroads, I think it would be very har for me because, when I was down, I needed help and they were there to help me out.

When you go to the NFL.

Can you get me two tickets man?

Helping Eugene and countless other young peopl to realize their full potential.

Building dreams and giving young people a chance and a future.

I would say it's key t the young people that we serve, because it helps them to see that they are God's greatest gift and they have potential, and we will help them to succeed with that potential.

When we see that, when that happens, that's our success.

And Tonia tells us that Eugene's sister Bianca i also involved in this program.

She is a student at Oakland Catholic.

As far as Crossroads, it is not new.

The program has actually bee in place for the last 16 years during that time.

It has helped more than 400 students right now, 108 students are enrolled in crossroads, which in the beginning was funded by an anonymous donor.

That donor paid for everything from the tuition assistance to the support programs.

Well, the cost of those efforts is today is more than $550,000 a year, and the donor can no longer afford to pay for everything.

So Crossroads is now raising money for the cause.

And if you would like more information, you can go to our website, wqed.org and click the On Q butt Now still to come, we are going to follow a group of Carnegie Mellon students as they take a wild rid on NASA's KC 135 A, an aircraft that is affectionately known as the Vomit Comet.

We're going to show you why.

And then after that, On Q, Dave and Dave will take you on a tour of the new Cabela's Hunting, fishing and Outdoor Megastore in Wheeling, West Virginia.

It is all coming up, so stay connected.

You're watching On Q magazin because these foundations care enough about local programing to help pay for it.

The Howard Heinz endowment.

The Richard King Mellon Foundation, the McCune Foundation, the Pittsburgh Foundation, the Hillman Foundation, the Grable Foundation.

And these corporations also support On Q. PNC grow up great.

Preparin young people for school and life so that an entire generation won't just grow up, they'll grow up great.

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It has been more than 40 years since humans made their first forays into outer space.

Well, today, space travel is more routine, but it still manages to capture our imaginations.

And for the CMU students, you are about to meet, the chance to get a taste of what it's like in space was an opportunit they were not about to pass up.

Now the students were able to experience zero gravity on the KC 135 A it's a NASA aircraft also known as the Vomit Comet.

I have known about the Vomit Com for a long time because I am such an astronaut, nerd, and NASA nerd.

I didn't really know much about the ride itself, about the weightless wonder.

But actually I had heard, like, that's the training facility that's the training airplanes that you use for astronaut.

I said, I've always been really into, aviation, Im actually getting my pilot's license, you know and also space for me as well.

And so I thought it would be a really cool experience.

You know, so few people have experienced zero gravity, and it's such a neat thing, you know.

♪ Look at Earth ♪ ♪ from outer space.

♪ ♪ Everyone must find the place.

In lab, Caroline and I were talking about fun jobs that we wanted to have in life, and I said I wanted to be an astronaut.

And she looked at me and she said, well, that would be a cool job.

And he overheard us.

And so then later on that da was actually just a few minutes after that, he came up to me and asked, hey, do you want to do this project with me?

And I looked at him and said, of course.

So, there's evidence to suggest that both cellular morphology and cytoskeletal morphology is altered in zero gravity.

Here's some footage of u actually doing the experiment.

What we did is we strapped down our apparatus to the ground.

And us to the ground.

That had our cells and our treatment solutions in it, and we just depress the plungers, one at a time.

Obviously, we had to come up with an excuse to go, on the KC 135.

Mission.

Liftoff of Discovery.

Since the late 1960s, they've noticed that, astronauts lose a significant amount of bone density as well as, coming back with immune deficits.

Their immune system doesn't function as well.

Stop.

Alright, nice.

What our thing was trying to do, is trying to find out what exactly in cells is altered in zero gravity, and exactly why that affects the immune system and why that affects, bone formation.

We're doing a two phase fluid flow in zero gravity.

We are blowing bubbles and seeing the flow of the fluid over the surfaces A lot of them were engineering experiments and based on physics and aerospace like, aerodynamics type things.

One group from Michigan, they did an experiment on, a magnesium oxide combustion.

Here's our bubble.

There's our food coloring.

Watch it go.

Other ones Were docking experiments or jet propulsion experiments to, help with, like when when they're docking on the I.S.S, the International Space Station.

It was to simulate that and see what mechanisms are and what mechanics are better, and what could be useful for future NASA flight Got one docked so far.

NASA has a hangar, Ellington Field.

And so we took off from there.

And then we flew over the Gulf Coast, where NASA has airspace there.

Well, it's for 33,000 to 24,000 open air space where they can actually fly the.

Yeah, it's a big like box basically out in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, just in case anything bad happens on the plane that it's in the water and it's not on land, but... It's a little unnerving.

They actually do this, they intentionally do this maneuver over the water.

So, you know, just in case anything goes wrong as well.

If you think about the trajectory they're almost doing a freefall and the engines have to turn back on out of that freefall.

The KC 135 is able to get about 25 to 30s of zero gravity at a time.

And actually the way they do that is, they point to a parabolic trajectory it's called.

It's just as if you threw a ball in the air.

Watch it fall and arc.

And so basically the plane follows that.

And when you're at the top of the arc, that's when you experience the 25 to 30 seconds of zero gravity So we did that actually about 30 times per flight.

So it's definitely like a roller coaster.

You know, For the first couple of seconds, it feels like, you know, when you're in an elevator, it drops out and your stomach goes up.

But after that, that feeling goes away and it just feels gentle.

It just feels like you're.

I mean, it's floating.

Floating, and you're just flying in the air Theres no other way to explain it, you just feel very light.

No, no force on you whatsoever.

You know, just floating around.

See, those are the barf bags.

I actually got sick after coming off the plane, and I was starting to feel sick walking on those steps.

And I was thinking to myself, don't get sick on James, don't get sick on James.

Usually most people get sick towards the end, for some reason I got sick at the very beginning, but I only got sick once and then I was fine for the rest of the flight.

Actually she got to spin later o They spun her around.

It was amazing.

It's just like you could go in any direction and they just.

They just picked you up and they spun, it was like doing flips off of a diving board over and over again and not having, to come back down.

Feet down, coming out.

You okay?

They've been doing this program since the late 1950s, and they didn't have, one flight where nobody got sick until 1995 and 1996.

So it took about you know, a good 30 or 40 years, until there was a flight where they were, nobody got sick on board.

Feet down, coming out It's funny, like when you when everybody's sitting there waiting for the first parabola, you know, everybody has very serious faces.

You know, you're experiencing two G's at that point, so it's pretty heavy.

Carnegie Mellon, this is awesome And then all of a sudden, as soon as it, you get, everybody lightens up and you feel this 0 G, everybody's smiles, an immediate smile.

Immediately everybody burst into a smile.

You can't resist that, you know.

How's it feel?

Great.

Oh, it feels incredible.

It's kind of almost like a little kid.

Like when they experience something new for the first time, all they want to do is again and again.

They want to do that same thing.

And it was just like that.

But, I mean, given that we were limited in that time that we had and that Zero-G, but still, every time we did it, everyone was always crazy and happy, and it just was amazing.

It was just great.

♪ Space.

Everyone ♪ ♪ must find their place.

♪ ♪ Give me time.

♪ ♪ You give me space.

♪ Feet down coming out.

That's a wrap folks!

[Cheering] And as far as what the students are doing now, James Torchia and Candice Speer have graduated.

Sujata Emani and Caroline Chen are now seniors, and Sujata will soon be taking another ride on the KC.

135 A. She is leading a new team whose focus is o cellular mechanics and how cell exerted force change with respect to gravity.

That new team takes flight on the Vomit Comet in June.

We of course, wish them well.

Still to come, a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts, On Qs Dave and Dave tour.

The new Cabela' superstore when On Q continues, so stay connected.

When viewers request we respond, is there an On Q story you think bears repeating one you heard about from friends, or maybe missed the first time around?

Let us know by logging on to our website wqed.org then click On Q to submi your request for an On Q story.

If you hunt, fish, or camp, you have probably heard of Cabela's.

Over the past 40 years, they have provided thousands of outdoor enthusiasts with the gear they need to take on mother nature now.

For years, Cabela's has been known worldwide for their catalog business.

Recently, though, they opened a giant retail store right outside of Pittsburgh in Wheeling, West Virginia.

On Q's Dave and Dave report.

I like to say that it's part retail store, part museum, part restaurant.

It's really a little bit of everything.

It's 175,000 square foot retail facility.

Gentlemen, map of the store so you don't get lost.

It's kind of a, a Disneyland for somebody who likes the outdoors or hunting and fishing.

We opened August 12th.

2004?

Yes.

How many retail stores are there?

This is the 10th retail store.

So only ten?

Yep.

Where are you from?

Oregon.

Half of the folks behind me shopping have driven more than 100 miles just to shop at this store.

And my husband's out here shopping somewhere.

Okay, well, good luck finding him.

In the camo section.

You'll never find him then.

So the average visit is three and a half to four hours.

That's what we have found.

When you consider that someon comes in and goes to the museum, eats in the restaurant, maybe spends 20 minutes in the aquarium.

They haven't even started shopping yet.

When you say in the aquarium, you mean looking at it or actually in there?

Looking at it.

Okay.

So this is the aquarium.

This is the aquarium.

How big are these tanks?

55,000 gallons.

This is a touchscreen that we've created that tells you about every fish in the area.

And then you can learn about their history, habitat, which tank they are, the distribution of that fish, the world record, and conservation efforts.

Where do you get all these fish?

The majority of the fish were caught by our employees.

Is that right?

Absolutely.

So if I'm out on the weekend, I catch a fish.

I can break them down, stick them in your tank.

Hope you would.

Yeah.

Okay, cool.

Something big.

Excellent.

These are the only live animals in the in the whole building?

Correct.

[Music] One o the number one items in fishing, you would think, certainly fishing rod reel.

It's the Barbie fishing reel combination.

She's cool.

She's hip.

She's ready to fish.

The important thing with this item, though, is it gets kids in the outdoors.

And that's what it's about.

Participation.

When you ask me what I remember as a child, I don't remember cleaning my room or mowing the lawn, but I remember fishing with my father and I remember camping with my family.

To me, that's important.

Here we have the archery shooting gallery.

Whenever you buy a new bow or any archery equipment, it's so important that you ge a chance to see if it fits you.

If it works, if it feels right.

So we set up a little ten yard shooting lane that allows folks to try that out.

This is one of the most stunning visual displays in any of our stores.

It's an African diorama highlighting plains animals from Africa.

This display is called the Big Five display, and it's referring to the five most dangerous African game to hunt on safari, in no particular order.

The cape buffalo, the rhinoceros, the elephant.

Hard to miss in the back, the lion and the leopard.

I've watched a lot of jeopardy and I know the most dangerous animal in Africa that kills the most humans is the hippopotamus.

Really?

Yes.

I didn't know that.

That's true.

Hey.

Yeah, you.

Come on in and take your best shot.

Behind me here we have the laser shooting gallery.

Two tokens will get you 25 shots.

What's your most popular item?

What do you sell the most of?

Well, we sell a ton of fudge, believe it or not.

Fudge?

Fudge.

We make fudge on sit in our general store upstairs.

They started making fudge at 6:30 this morning, and that's how much they had.

That's it?

That's it.

It seems like there should be a lot more.

Them there's 6 pounds each.

You guys are slacking off.

Let's go, lets make some fudge.

Delicious.

Now, this place is so big you even have a restaurant?

Yes, we do have a restaurant.

What is it?

Elk stroganoff.

You can get, bison broth.

You can get venison.

You can get elk.

You can get ostrich.

Now, if you're not feeling adventurous, I do have ham sandwiche and chicken noodle soup for you.

Perfect.

But while you're here, wouldn't you rather try venison bratwurst or a buffalo burger?

Or maybe some smoked elk?

We can handle each one of those for you.

I haven't smoked an elk in years.

This is the gun library.

It's a separate area from the normal retail store.

This caters to folks that are into antique, collectible, historic, refined firearms.

Whitetail world.

Whitetail world is a room devoted to whitetail deer.

Are you allowed to photograph your family in front of a deer?

Absolutely.

So they're not breaking any laws?

Not yet.

I tell you what, big bucks like thes were even rare back in my day.

Dave hes more realistic than you.

Is it wrong that I'm a little freaked out by that?

The nicest thing about the store, though, is that everywhere you look, there's something different to grab your eye.

We will be the number one tourist attraction in the state of West Virginia.

Wow.

In every, state that we're in, we are the number one tourist attraction.

Except for Minnesota, becaus they have the Mall of America.

But we're second to Mall of America.

Well, there you have it.

Dave and Dave tell us that Cabela's Wheelin store is open seven days a week, and if you are going, wear some comfortable shoe because there is a lot of ground to cover.

And for more of Dave and Dave's excellent adventures, tune in to their weekly show every Saturday night right at 10:30, right here on WQED TV 13.

Thanks for watching.

We'll see you back here live again at 7:30 tomorrow night.

Stay connected and have a good night.