During the three-day summit held at the U last week, high school and junior high students of diverse backgrounds came together to build leadership skills and volunteer within the community.
More than 170 students attended the 2008 Community of Caring Youth Leadership Summit held at the Heritage Center.
The summit gathered students from Arkansas, New York, Texas and Utah to explore diversity, leadership skills and community service.
“They’re still able to be accepting,” said Katie Lewis, office manager for the Community of Caring. “(The workshop) helps take away a fear of difference, and you don’t want that to continue.”
The summit was organized to help students overcome issues that accompany diversity and build character and leadership.
The students, along with 45 chaperones and 20 mentors, completed six service-learning projects ranging from teaching elementary school-aged children about the environment as they gave them a tour of Red Butte Garden, to visiting Friendship Manor and Sunrise Senior Living center to visit and learn from senior citizens.
Dara Flattes-Ferrer said that high school students like herself don’t value hard work enough. She said the work was worth it when she saw how excited the young children were when they were giving them a tour of Red Butte Garden.
The students also went to Beehive Elementary School and worked with school children on team-building.
Another group of high school students were given a tour of the Capitol in Salt Lake City.
The service projects were hard work, but it was fun and exciting to see the reaction of the people we were helping, said Dara Flattes-Ferrer, a high school student from Granite Peaks High.
As Juan Gutierrez, one of the chaperones, reflected upon the students’ experiences, he said the students were willing to put aside their differences to see the needs of the community.
For some students, attending the summit was the first opportunity to leave their hometown. The students were given the chance to ride in an airplane for the first time, be exposed to people completely different from themselves and were able to see that the world has more to offer than they previously thought, said Alvin Hawkans, West Memphis Middle School counselor.
The U has hosted the Community of Caring Leadership Summit for the past three years.