Youth Summit

When entering the conference room on March 12, 2008, all one saw were the eyes of everyone else in the room glancing at them. Those eyes were wondering who they were and from what school they came from. In actuality, we were all there for the same reason: Marquette University held a Youth Summit with different public and private schools attending.

This year’s Youth Summit was provided by Multicultural Urban Suburban Emerging Leaders, (M.U.S.E.L.) a group that wants to change our community and world. Two of Messmer’s juniors, Danielle Brooks and Sable Harris, are M.U.S.E.L. participants.

At this summit, we all participated in group discussions, at first everything started off perfect; everyone was sitting in different groups. But when it came down to answering certain questions like: “On a 1 to 10 scale, how would you rate your schools education system?” “Do you think public or private schools are better?” and “What stereotypes do you see in your school and/ or community?”

In all of these topics, one common school we all know was constantly being bashed, Messmer High School. Sophomore, Arica Wolfe commented, “Just because we as students take pride in our school, get along with the teachers, and seek more attention from our teachers; does not mean we disapprove of public schools.” According to senior Ivory Morehouse, “Throughout the day, its like the other schools were throwing flame at us, to the point were we started to act and respond like them!”

But at the end of the day, the Youth Summit was a learning experience. From the debates, to taking a step back to realize how different schools have the same issues, to encouraging word from the guest speaker.

Special thanks goes out to, Ms. Val Moore, Ms. Maripat Wilkinson, and Mrs. Rhonda Moore for allowing twenty students to have this experience. We all left with different views and attitudes.