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EDEN — The Holmes Middle School students who climbed aboard the Choice Bus on Thursday morning heard what it was like to be in prison.

“Everything is taken away — video games, cell phones, MP3 players,” Lynn Smelley, program director for the Choice Bus, told the students.

Then Smelley pulled back a black curtain and revealed a makeshift prison cell.

The Choice Bus is a project of the nonprofit Mattie C. Stewart Foundation, which provides schools with tools to reduce the dropout rate.

One such tool is the Choice Bus. Painted half yellow and half white, it looks like a school bus on the inside and out, save for the prison cell that includes a toilet, sink and bed.

After viewing a short video featuring prisoners who dropped out of school before turning to a life of crime, Smelley allowed each of the students to tour the cramped cell.

Len Kallam said prison “is a bad place to go to.”

“I never thought about going there,” the 14-year-old said after climbing off the bus.

The Choice Bus is making the rounds this week in Rockingham County Schools. By today, it will have visited all the traditional middle and high schools, as well as the alternative school.

The bus targets mainly middle school students with its message, said Phil Christian, executive director of the foundation.

“It is such a critical time for young people,” he said.

This is the second year the bus has come to Rockingham County Schools. Spokeswoman Karen Hyler said it had such an impact on students and principals last year that district officials wanted it to return.

Shelley Stewart started the Alabama-based foundation in 2007. Stewart, who was homeless at age 7, overcame childhood tragedies to become a successful businessman. He credits a teacher for encouraging him in school.

Christian said the Choice Bus has visited schools in seven states and is becoming increasingly popular.

“This bus is booked through the entire school year,” he said.

The foundation has two buses and is in the process of customizing 10, Christian said.

Contact Jonnelle Davis at 627-4881, Ext. 126, or jonnelle.davis@news-record.com