A longtime drill team in Poughkeepsie is working to expand an after-school program that promotes discipline in children.

The Poughkeepsie Tighten Ups started in 1968 as a grassroots group to help kids stay out of trouble. Dazell Green, Sr., who now serves as commander, was among the first to join the drill team in 1969 as a high school student.

“It has made a major difference in my life,” Green said. “It has taught me to want to give back, to want to be a part and to bring all the things that I’ve learned along the way, to bring all those things in and use them right here in this group.”

Through drill routines and a family-like support system, Green said kids can learn self-discipline and structure.

“There's a problem in the schools with bullying. We hear that all the time,” Green said. “A lot of bullies, bullies here, bullies there. So, we're teaching basic concepts to all these youth that are involved in this program to steer away from what we call the negative chain. The negative chain of peer pressure, trying to coax them into doing things that would be detrimental to them.”

J’Anna Campbell, a fourth grader, joined the Tighten Ups about two months ago. She said she wanted to learn the drums and start marching, but it’s become so much more.

“If you're going around somewhere, and you don't have any discipline, you're going to start messing stuff up. Everybody's going to be mean to you. They're going to talk bad about you, so it's important to have discipline,” Campbell said.

The group meets after school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Saturday mornings. They’re learning marching steps and how to respond to commands.

On this day, the children got to see if they could carry and play a drum.

“If you start at the roots, and you start instilling, planting seeds now, certainly tomorrow, those seeds will come up, will grow up, and we're trying to produce roses,” Green said.

Organizers plan to have the group perform in parades, nursing homes, hospitals and anywhere they can lift spirits in Poughkeepsie.