THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 12, 1994 TAG: 9408120069
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HOLLY WESTER, CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
THEY DON'T like the state of the world. They are scared. They don't know what to expect from the future.
But when a group of six young people who participated in this summer's ``Learning Bridge'' program at Norfolk Academy had some ideas when they answered the question, ``If you could fix one world problem tomorrow, what would it be?''
Death was the cornerstone of their thinking.
``Kids are dying because they don't know the proper things they should,'' said Summer Stephenson, 11, a rising seventh-grader at Lake Taylor Middle School, who wants to cure AIDS.
``If you want your teenagers to enjoy their lives, somebody should find a cure,'' she added. ``Then they could live.'' Summer recently lost a 2-year-old cousin to AIDS.
Saving the animals from a toxic Earth is why 11-year-old Crystal Sweeney said she would clean up the environment.
``I don't want the animals to die,'' said Crystal, a rising seventh-grader at Lake Taylor Middle School.
``That needs to stop,'' agreed Summer. ``The animals haven't done anything to us.''
Demonstrations and clean-up days are ways 12-year-old Brent Gardner, a rising seventh-grader at Rosemont Middle, would fix the environment.
``This is our Earth,'' he said. ``Where are we going to go if the Earth becomes non-usable?''
Twelve-year-old Paul Clark, a rising seventh-grader at Ruffner Middle School, said he would stop child abuse.
Crystal agreed, adding that abuse is a cycle. ``If they were raised like that, they might raise their children like that and there would be more child abuse,'' she said.
Racial discrimination is another ``killer'' the group wanted to conquer.
``Racism leads to killing, hate, rape and other bad things,'' said Sunny Tsang, 12, a rising eighth-grader at Azalea Garden Middle School.
``I just plain hate it,'' said Holly Bojalad, 10, a rising sixth-grader at Lake Taylor Middle School. ``Who started racism anyway?''
But they all agreed racial discrimination would be the toughest problem to solve. ``The hardest thing to do is to change a person's mind,'' Brent said, shaking his head.
Keeping guns out of the wrong hands was Brent's main interest.
``I think it's sad people have to settle things with guns,'' Brent said. ``It doesn't make sense. People don't think before they act.''
Before leaving the Norfolk Academy classroom, Brent doodled ``Gun control - stop'' across the chalkboard. He added, ``It's really sad that people don't care about their lives.'' MEMO: [Related color photos appeared on Page E1 of the Daily Break section on
the same date.]
ILLUSTRATION: Photos
``I would want to stop racial discrimination. Racism makes people
say things about each other that they don't mean to say, which leads
to gunshots or beating each other up.''
Sunny Tsang, 12, rising eighth-grader at Azalea Garden Middle
School
``I would stop pollution. I want to have a clean world.''
Crystal Sweeney, 11, rising seventh-grader at Lake Taylor Middle
School
YOUR TURN
If you could fix one world problem tomorrow, what would it be?
To speak out, call INFOLINE at 640-5555 and enter category 7553.
Selected comments will appear in next Friday's Daily Break.
You must have a Touch Tone phone. Calls are toll-free except west
of Suffolk, on the Eastern Shore, the Peninsula and in North
Carolina.
by CNB