Middle School Coalitions

The goals for the middle school and high school students are very similar. The first aim is to involve youth in drug prevention efforts within the county. The second objective is to incorporate the 40 Developmental Assets into the schools.

Middle School Coalitions

Within the middle schools, there is an additional emphasis on helping incoming students with transitional activities such as ice cream socials welcoming incoming 7th graders. There is also an annual training for selected middle school students. The event is called the Middle Level Teen Institute (MLTI). The purpose of this event is as follows:

• Educate students how to be alcohol, tobacco, and drug prevention advocates
• Develop team-building skills within the coalition
• Help coalitions get ideas for activities they can do with their school
• Allow a chance for students to meet coalition members from other schools
• Provide tools for leadership development
• Have fun!

High School Coalitions

At the high school level, Youth Network hosts an event called Youth Summit. The Youth Summit is an annual event where approximately 125 student representatives from high schools come together to discuss relevant topics. Policy makers from within the community are invited to serve as panelists and sit in on these discussions. This unique opportunity provides students a direct line of communication with the mayor, state representatives, superintendents, and principals. The Summit concludes with sharing the finding from all the discussions groups. Following the Summit, students begin meeting with their designated school sponsors to implement changes from discussions drawn from the Youth Summit experience.

Some recent discussion topics have included:

• Teens and Community Involvement
• Racial, Ethnic, and GLBT Discrimination
• Binge Drinking
• Bullying and Cliques