RHS Students Lead Workshop at Youth Leadership Summit

(October 2007--Riverhead, NY) Ten RHS students attended the 12th Annual Suffolk County East End Youth Leadership Summit, sponsored by Suffolk County Executive, Steve Levy, the Suffolk County Youth Bureau, and the Southampton Youth Bureau. The Summit took place on Friday, October 26, 2007 at the Riverhead Campus of Suffolk Community College.

Strong Island Sound kicked off the event, which featured three workshops, including “The Warrior’s Way: T’ai Chi Push hands and the Art of Leadership” presented by the Water Tiger School of T’ai Chi Ch’uan, “Council For Unity Kids” presented by Riverhead Council For Unity Students, and “Long Island Teen Institute’s Drug & Alcohol Prevention Program” presented by H.U.G.S. The day concluded with Salsa Dancing performed by Oscar Gonzales.

The Youth Leadership Summit was established to bring together youth, community leaders, law enforcement representatives, and role models for a day of unity, decision-making, and community awareness through the exploration of relations between cultures, genders, ages, and other communities. The 150 middle and high school age participants are students from each of the East End’s fourteen schools.

Ten presenters on the Council for Unity program from Riverhead High School shared the origin, history and personal impact of the Council for Unity in Riverhead and responded to questions from students who attended their workshop.

Skye Owens, who gave the overview of the origin and history of the Council for Unity at RHS, shared her reactions to Council for Unity and her part in the Summit. "Council has really helped me become a better leader and become more confident about speaking in front of people," she shared. "It has also made me braver about reaching out to kids in school who seem to need someone to be their friend. I probably wouldn't have done that before I became a Council member. The Summit was a good experience, too. The students who attended our workshop seemed really interested. A student from Southampton High School has already called to inquire about starting a Council of their own, and I made a couple of new friends from other schools there. When people ask me what Council for Unity is, I tell them it's about making your school and your community a safer place to live and learn."

For more information on the Youth Summit or other East End youth events, please contact the Town of Southampton Youth Bureau at 631-702-2428.

 

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