Youth conference to hear students’ concerns

DENVER — Five thousand high school students will voice their opinions about Colorado’s school system at “Uncensored – The Lieutenant Governor’s Conference on Youth Education,” April 8 in Denver at the Ritchie Center on the University of Denver’s main campus.

Lt. Gov. Joe Rogers launched the conference after talking to parents and teens while traveling across Colorado. They convinced him students should have a say about the state’s educational reform.

“Education is the number one priority of this administration. Gov. Bill Owens and I met and decided he would address legislative issues and I would work on a youth conference,” Rogers said. Last September, Rogers announced the conference, attracting more than 300 students to the planning and organizing process. “The conference is planned by students, for students,” he said.

Rogers asked every Colorado high school principal – public, private, home school or other alternative school – to select a cross-section of students to send to the conference. Students in every ethnic and cultural group, in every socio-economic group and with a wide-range of grade-point-averages will be represented.

Students who wanted to come to the event filled out an application describing their ethnic background, taste in music and what they like to do. “Diversity is the key. We wanted different-minded kids, not like-minded kids,” he said. An adult captain from each high school and two student co-captains will provide the transportation and take care of any accommodations needed by the student representatives to the conference.

Rogers said originally he had asked for just juniors and seniors to attend the conference. He thought students in the higher grades would be more mature, but the student leaders planning the event nixed the idea. They wanted sophomores also. In fact, they said that if the principal selected any freshmen to attend, they would be open to that, too.

After attending the opening session at 8 a.m. where Rogers will speak, the student attendees will break out into groups of 15 and meet in different rooms to discuss how to improve five specific areas in schools: reading, writing, mathematics, discipline and the dropout rate. The group discussions will be facilitated by college students at the high school students’ request. Adults invited to come can observe the process.

The results of the breakout sessions will be aggregated into a formal report to the governor and lieutenant governor. A firm recommended by officials at the University of Denver will be used to process the data initially, then about 300 students will gather during the summer to filter the information for the final report. Ultimately, it will be distributed to every school, teacher, administrator, school board member and political leader in the state by the lieutenant governor’s office.

“Ideally the report will include ideas that can be readily implemented as well as long-term goals,” Rogers said. The improvements identified in the report will address both the needs of students preparing for college and the needs of students electing to pursue a vocation after high school.

Rogers said the conference is important to Colorado because it has become the American ideal to leave the next generation better off than the current one. In order to reach this goal, the children themselves should have input in the solutions. “There is nothing more important than our children,” Rogers said. “We form school boards, parent-teacher associations, civic clubs and social clubs. We work within our churches to teach kids right from wrong. We elect officials who promise to adopt and implement policies that will enable our youth to learn, grow and achieve in our society. Yet we are missing the most important element of all: our kids themselves,” he said.

Businesses and the community benefit by taking seriously what high school students have to say, according to Rogers. Young adults will be in the work force in a few years and need our support. We have to know their needs and concerns, he said.

“The important thing is to look at this event as unprecedented,” Rogers said. The people in Colorado will focus for one entire day on the importance of education for our children and how it can be improved. “The day may even be of national importance because it will be covered by the cable network Encore/Starz,” he said.

Youth Conference

Mariann Starkey

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