BY MIKE HELENTHAL
Commercial-News
DANVILLE —
Nearly 200 area high-school juniors are set to attend Friday’s 2nd Annual X-Treme Leadership Youth Summit at Danville Area Community College’s Bremer Conference Theater.
The event, planned by a group of 15 area teens, is the culmination of their eight weeks of leadership training under the Vermilion Advantage program this summer. Training started in July with a week-long “boot camp.”
“They spent the summer identifying three topic areas that are important to teens,” said Kim Kuchenbrod, program leader. “The whole thing this year is choices.”
This year’s theme will center on the importance of thinking beyond a high-school education, and focus on teen self-esteem and the importance of forming healthy relationships.
X-Treme leaders will make presentations that include research they’ve done on the selected topics.
“They’re going to be comparing the students who drop out,” Kuchenbrod said, “against the impact of staying in school.”
X-Treme Leadership class members plan all aspects of the event, which will feature a specially written program by Imagination Theater, a Chicago performance company that uses interactive theater to address social issues.
She said today’s teens face more choices — and at a faster pace — than ever due to the changing global economic landscape.
“They will have to ask themselves, ‘Will a high-school diploma be sufficient enough?’”
For information contact Kim Kuchenbrod, 28 W. North Street, Danville, IL 61832, 442-6201 or kkuchenbrod@vermilionadvantage.com.
