
DATE: Tuesday, October 14, 1997             TAG: 9710140275

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NIA NGINA MEEKS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   84 lines

YOUNG MINDS TACKLE OLD PROBLEMS LOCAL YOUTH SUMMIT GENERATES ENTHUSIASM IN SEARCH OF PLANS

The Pilot chronicled the Youth Celebration Summit through the eyes of one of its participants. This is the second of two stories.

By 11 a.m., Wendell Patrick Jr. had wriggled into the navy blue T-shirt that read, ``Youth Celebration Summit,'' and joined groups trekking to various classrooms to meet with college students.

He canvassed the Virginia Wesleyan College campus with some 400 South Hampton Roads students who got the day off from school to brainstorm the basics for making life better for their peers.

Wendell hadn't found much information on Monday's activities the day before, when he worked at a pre-summit cleanup. So he showed up with plenty of questions about improving his community and its environment.

The summit was designed to give him answers.

It was a project devised by the people who traveled to Philadelphia last spring to represent South Hampton Roads at the Presidents' Summit for America's Future. There, retired Gen. Colin Powell charged delegates to return home and energize their communities and renew their sense of involvement. The local delegation, led by Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf, set out to do that by holding a mini-version of the Philadelphia summit in February, sponsored by the area's five mayors.

They did, however, want to avoid what they saw as a glaring mistake made in April: excluding young people from the planning and solution process. Hence, Monday's summit. It was designed to give young people a forum to voice concerns - young people such as Wendell, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Larkspur Middle School.

Most participants, Wendell included, focused on community service, particularly cleanup projects like Sunday's efforts to collect trash and plant trees in the Lake Edward neighborhood. Community service was one of the five ``fundamental resources'' outlined by Powell. The youth summit also addressed the others: giving children healthy starts, caring adults, safe places and marketable skills.

The dozen students and facilitators at Wendell's table kept the conversation lively with suggestions about involving children in community service projects.

Making a lasting difference is hard, especially if people are ungrateful, they said. Besides, a lot of children don't even know what they can do. Support from adults can be hard to get, they said.

``They should go on field trips with parents and chaperones, and make it a school activity,'' Wendell said. ``Take kids out to the shelters to help the poor out, serve food.''

The participants talked a bit more, then headed back to the gym for lunch. Wendell got in the winding line, picked up a ham sandwich, chips and a Pepsi. He chatted with a few of his table-mates while the Hampton Marching Elite and the Philippine American Dance Troupe entertained.

By midafternoon, the students found themselves in another set of sessions. This time, the goal was to make individual pledges toward change. Sure, most had scribbled personal pledges on one or more of the five signs that hung on the gymnasium walls, one sign for each city. But those pledges were very general, including promises to love, make the community better, keep peace, help others, recycle.

That's a nice start, but not enough, Adolph Brown III, summit co-chairman, insisted. Brown said the event's planners will create a database of all the participants and call to check on their progress.

``We need an individual commitment, not just mouth,'' Brown said. ``Young people have brilliant ideas. What they need is adult guidance on how to put them in place, a plan of action, not just a thought.''

Wendell was unsure what his plan of action would be when he left for the day.

Maybe he would talk to his principal about starting a community service day where students and teachers would take a field trip to do some good.

Maybe he would just continue doing what he has been doing, volunteering with seniors, helping younger children, picking up trash.

Maybe, he said, the mayors would take action on the things he and his colleagues said. ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot

Wendell Patrick Jr. listens to opening remarks at Virginia Wesleyan

College on Monday at the Youth Celebration Summit.

The participants gathered into groups to discuss how to involve

themselves and others in community service. Support from adults is

important, they said.