THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 19, 1996 TAG: 9604190060
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: FUN TIMES
SOURCE: BY ALICIA LUMA, TEENOLOGY ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
THERE'S A GOOD chance that the average teenager on this planet is sick and tired of having all of his decisions made for him. Parents impose curfews and enforce rules, the government makes you go to school and society tries to dictate everything else.
I'm not on this soapbox to preach anarchy, though; I'm here to inform you of a step being made on our behalf. Two up-and-running programs - one in Chesapeake and the other in Virginia Beach - were designed to give teen-agers a say in the kinds of activities that the parks and recreation departments plan for them.
Now, we all know that with freedom comes responsibility, so this isn't just a drop-off or mail-in suggestion box. These teen councils have elected officers, set meeting times and, in Chesapeake, a phat blue book with the creed, goals, duties and responsibilities of each member of the council. (Virginia Beach's book will be finished in the next few weeks.)
There is also a parental consent form, although most parents have been totally into the concept because their kids are doing something positive.
The relatively new Virginia Beach council is modeled after the Chesapeake program, which has been around since 1994.
Meetings in Chesapeake usually draw about 18 to 25 kids from schools around the city. ``It's knocked down the walls on this community rivalry stuff,'' said Kenny Stuart of the Chesapeake Parks and Recreation Department.
Basically, the Chesapeake program encourages council members to come up with ideas they would like to try, and then helps facilitate their efforts. Their biggest project to date has been the production of a videotape about teen life that is now distributed nationally. The end of the tape even includes bloopers that happened during the 10 months of filming.
The group also selects guest speakers, and Stuart and his staff make the necessary arrangements. For example, the head of school transportation in Chesapeake recently came in to answer questions about why school buses don't have seatbelts.
The Virginia Beach council has about 18 members and a similar program. The group has raised money for charity and for fun trips, like this winter when they went skiing in Massanutten . . . without parents. In the future, they want to develop a program that reaches out to high school dropouts.
The Chesapeake council meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at the Deep Creek Recreation Center. The Virginia Beach council meets the first and third Tuesday of every month from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Kempsville Recreation Center.
The best way to get involved is to show up at a meeting, where you will be given all the info you could ever hope for.
For more info, contact Shannon Moore or Michele Hunter at 471-5884 in Virginia Beach or Kenny Stuart in Chesapeake 436-8467. MEMO: Alicia Luma's column appears twice a month in Teenology. If you'd like
to let her know what's going on, call Infoline at 640-5555 and enter
category 8989.
ILLUSTRATION: Alicia Luma is a home-schooled high school senior.
by CNB