DATE: Thursday, April 10, 1997              TAG: 9704090179

SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS         PAGE: 03   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY KATHRYN DARLING, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  102 lines

GOVERNMENT CONFERENCE IN D.C. IS AN EYE-OPENER FOR STUDENTS

CHERYL YAHNE, 16, wanted to be the first woman president of the United States until she spent a day wearing those shoes.

Earlier this semester, Yahne and four other Norfolk high school students participated in the National Young Leaders Conference in Washington.

The organization, a non-profit, non-partisan agency, hosts 20 conferences a year to introduce high school honor students to politics in the nation's capital.

At the conferences, students participate in simulations of each branch of government. They play the roles of president and his advisers, Supreme Court justices deciding a landmark case and members of Congress working to attach amendments to a bill.

The 350 students at each conference break into smaller groups for the executive and judicial simulations.

Yahne, a junior at Lake Taylor High School, volunteered when her group leader asked who wanted to be president. But it wasn't the fun experience Yahne thought it would be.

Her peers, acting as advisers in the Cabinet, didn't like Yahne's decisions.

When the Cabinet members switched roles and became members of the press, they went after her and her opinions, she said.

The experience changed her ambitions.

The president is the final decision-maker, and he has to be able to stand up against other people who disagree with his decisions, Yahne said.

``It was really scary.''

But Yahne, who wants to study law, didn't completely ditch her plans, she just modified them.

``I fell in love with the Supreme Court,'' she said.

``I always wanted to be in law, and that's the highest thing you can go for. And that's where I want to go.''

But Yahne has a bit of the realist in her. Few people are appointed to the Supreme Court and there are far more opportunities to serve as a senator, she said.

And as a senator, ``you get to work in some sort of law field, but you speak for your state and you get to help your state out,'' she said.

Carol Baker, a senior at Norfolk Collegiate and a resident of Norfolk, had different reasons for attending the conference.

``I just wanted to learn more about the government,'' she said.

``I have more respect for politicians, well, kinda. I have respect for their jobs,'' said Baker, who served as vice president in her group.

The conference program is tough. It is offered only to students who have a 3.5 average and are in honors courses or are leaders in their community. The students have homework each night.

Baker said more than an hour of homework each night on top of the full schedule of activities was the one negative in the program.

Tajuane Taylor, public affairs coordinator for the Congressional Youth and Leadership Council, which organizes the conferences, explained that the program is designed to further skills the students already have. Participants are given reading assignments on the topics to be discussed and they have to be prepared to answer with an assigned opinion on the subjects, even if the opinion is different from their own.

It's part of the plan, she said.

It ``teaches them to look at things from the other side and to see how other peers look at things.''

The students are treated to breakfast at the National Press Club and have a question-and-answer session with some of the nation's most prominent journalists. They visit the offices of their congressional representatives and an embassy, and listen to a lecture by a congressman before Congress goes into session.

``They get to sit in the seats of the people who run our country,'' Taylor said.

The conference draws a number of big names as speakers, such as former President George Bush, former Vice President Dan Quayle, Chief Justice William Rehnquist, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, U.S. Rep. Patricia Schroeder and even the Rev. Jesse Jackson, president of National Rainbow Coalition.

Brian Coffing, a junior at Maury High School, liked meeting the speakers and the members of the press.

``We got more of an inside look into how our government works and how difficult it is to run it,'' said Coffing, whose role was vice president.

The simulations showed ``it's not as easy as it seems. Politicians are working harder than most citizens think.''

Jason de la Cruz, a junior at Norfolk Collegiate and a resident of Suffolk, also attended the conference. (His picture was not available at press time.)

During the presidential simulation, he acted as president of Ukraine, and was in conflict with Europe and the U.S.

``The mock Congress was the best part of the program - we did a lot of work individually and in groups. I learned a lot of leadership skills,'' he said.

Jay Hudgins, a junior at Norfolk Collegiate and a resident of Norfolk, went to the conference considering a political career.

During the executive simulation, he also acted as president. Although he liked the power of supervising the whole group, the experience helped change his mind about his future.

``I learned that I'm not cut out for politics, but I learned how to be a better leader of groups of people,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by VICKI CRONIS

Cheryl Yahne, who acted as president at the conference, has decided

she would rather run for Congress or be a Supreme Court judge.

Photos

Carol Baker

Brian Coffing

Jay Hudgins

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