THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 9, 1995 TAG: 9508080089
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
It was C (for conference day) minus 7 and counting, and the small group of teens who are spending the summer working as program developmental assistants for the city's Comprehensive Substance Abuse Program (CSAP) were getting a little anxious. They were worried about the project on which they had spent the better part of eight hours a day for the past month.
In a few days they would come face to face with the well-known keynote speaker, the dozen or more local professionals who would present programs and the nearly 300 participants who would show up for ``Youth United to Work - Inspiring Young Minds,'' a daylong, 14-workshop conference taking place Friday at First Colonial High School.
It's a conference for which these summer youth employees with the Southeastern Job Training Program have taken complete responsibility.
And that, they are quick to admit, is scary stuff.
For Courtney Spence, a Bayside High School senior, the problem has been butterflies. In her stomach.
``I think I'm going to have to introduce the keynote speaker and I keep worrying about what I'll say,'' Spence admitted.
Introducing Dr. Jawanza Kunfuju, an educational consultant, president of African American Images, author of 13 books and sometime guest of Oprah, Sally Jesse and Tony Brown's Journal, was not what she had expected to be doing as part of her summer job experience.
``Most of the people (in the program) are working in places like schools and libraries and rec centers,'' she said. ``I never thought I would be doing something like this.''
According to Jo Chambers, an educator with the CSAP program, giving the summer youth workers the responsibility for the conference was one of those things that just sort of happened.
``We had planned to put on this kind of a workshop for young people,'' Chambers said, ``and someone said, `Wouldn't it be nice if we had the kids plan it themselves?' ''
From there on, the teens, working under the supervision of Chambers and CSAP staffers Sabrina Pugh and Samantha Hartley, took over the work.
The object, as it is for any summer job training program, is to give the youngsters the chance to learn both skills and good work habits.
The job of planning a conference has given the eight youngsters in the planning group ample opportunity to do both.
Working from a posted task matrix with headings listing jobs to be done, persons assigned to do them and progress made, the students have worked through everything from producing fliers and programs to assigning workshops and staffing the registration table.
So what have they learned from the experience?
A whole lot, according to both the students and their supervisors.
Some, like Kateeva Johnson, a sophomore at the Career Development Center, got the most satisfaction from the overall experience.
``We learned how to organize a whole program,'' she said with obvious pride.
``Two days after we got here in July they said we were going to do that,'' Edrita Mills, a Bayside sophomore, chimed in. Asked what was the most memorable part of the job for her, she was quick to respond, ``Coming up with titles for all of the workshops''
Mills and Bayside junior Andrew Wilson, working together on one task, learned one particularly painful lesson.
``We made 400 copies upside down,'' Mills said of the lengthy two-sided copying job needed to produce the conference brochures. Asked if she knew about running a single test copy of the second side before programming the copier for the whole run, she responded with a grin, ``I do now.''
If learning the pitfalls, as well as the methods, of working with business machines has been an important part of the experience for all of the students, it's also something that has greatly pleased their parents.
``My mom thinks it's wonderful that I'm getting all these skills,'' said Princess Anne junior Adrienne Phillips, who was putting the finishing touches on computer-generated banners for the conference.
As many problems as they had with copying brochures, they found distributing them in this summer's unending heat was an even more demanding task.
``We went to all of the schools,'' said Amelia Olds, another Princess Anne junior. ``We handed the brochures out to each person and then we had to explain to them what we were doing. We were at these places all day long.''
One of the most important things the teens will take away from their summer experience is the ability to function in a productive work group. Even, if like Wilson, you're a gender minority of one.
``There are some down sides to working with all of these females,'' he said with a grin, then quickly admitted to having learned a lot that will help him later on.
``I want to go to school for quite a few years for marriage and family counseling. This office experience will help a lot.''
In the meantime, all of the summer youth workers are looking forward with a mixture of enthusiasm and concern to Friday's conference.
``I think it's going to go well because we've put so much work into it,'' Ocean Lakes sophomore Everdna Baker said as she carefully checked names on workshop lists.
``I know it will,'' Tallwood freshman April Fulton added, ``because we put this whole thing together and we've got a lot of pride in it.''
CSAP educator Chambers agreed. ``I think they're going to be very proud on Friday when they see what they've done,'' she said of her summer workers. MEMO: ``Youth United to Work _ Inspiring Young Minds'' will be presented at
First Colonial High School Friday from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. Call
437-5782. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Jo Chambers, second from left, and summer youth employees Amelia
Olde, left, Courtney Spence, April Fulton, Adrienne Phillips and
Kateeva Johnson make plans for a conference on issues affecting
low-income youths. The teens are working at the Virginia Beach
Substance Abuse Office.
by CNB