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At Youth Summit, Teens Connect And Take Action
Places for kids to
just hang out; teacher/adult and student
communication; strengthening student government
to advocate for students; the quality of the
food offered at school; and improving class
schedules and the system for scheduling were
all topics for discussion at the Howard County
Youth Summit, held in April at Marriotts Ridge
High School.
The Summit
was a collaborative effort of the Connections
initiative and many local community groups,
including the Columbia Association, Glenelg
Country School, HC DrugFree, the Howard County
Departments of Citizen Services and Recreation
and Parks, Howard County Library, Howard County
NAACP, the Public School System, Leadership
Howard County and Leadership U, Oakland Mills
Revitalization Committee and Vision Howard
County.
The Summit's primary goal was to hear what young people have to say on issues affecting their lives and empower them to take action.
Ten students from each of the county's high schools met for the day, discussed the chosen topics and proposed solutions. Student work groups then created position papers on each of the five issues for which action plans were developed.
Prior to the Summit, a survey asked high school students to list their top concerns. The choice of discussion topics was based on the survey results and reflected the issues of greatest concern to the majority of students.
The Summit was organized by Connections, the groundbreaking Horizon Foundation initiative that seeks to motivate all county residents - about a quarter of a million children, teens, adults and seniors - to join in weaving a stronger, more resilient social fabric.
Connections rests, in part, on a relationship between the Foundation and the Search Institute, a national leader in documenting the building blocks of healthy development and communicating the ways everyone in a community can make a positive difference in the lives o children, youth, families and the community itself.
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| Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity won the Connections Asset Development Award, presented by The Horizon Foundation in June, in recognition of the decade the group has been encouraging the character development and academic growth of male African American high school students. Two hundred young men are currently involved in the Alpha Achievers program at four high schools. |
The Summit's primary goal was to hear what young people have to say on issues affecting their lives and empower them to take action.
Ten students from each of the county's high schools met for the day, discussed the chosen topics and proposed solutions. Student work groups then created position papers on each of the five issues for which action plans were developed.
Prior to the Summit, a survey asked high school students to list their top concerns. The choice of discussion topics was based on the survey results and reflected the issues of greatest concern to the majority of students.
The Summit was organized by Connections, the groundbreaking Horizon Foundation initiative that seeks to motivate all county residents - about a quarter of a million children, teens, adults and seniors - to join in weaving a stronger, more resilient social fabric.
Connections rests, in part, on a relationship between the Foundation and the Search Institute, a national leader in documenting the building blocks of healthy development and communicating the ways everyone in a community can make a positive difference in the lives o children, youth, families and the community itself.