Teen Summit takes place at WSRC

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The Partners for Prevention of Teen Drinking, a Randolph County community anti-drug abuse coalition, recently hosted a teen summit engaging 13 high school students and four adult sponsors from Chester, Coulterville, Red Bud and Sparta.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Steeleville students could not attend because of a scheduling issue. &#160;Plans are being made to involve them the future.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The students and their sponsors participated in thoughtful discussions and fun team builders at the World Shooting and Recreational Complex. Red Bud Police Chief John Brittingham shared examples of teen drinking causing serious consequences other than drinking and driving crashes.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Shea Haury, Human Service Center executive director, discussed the work of the coalition and noted that about 150 people have contributed to coalition efforts since January 2016.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Darin Williams, of the YMCA, led challenging and fun team-building activities. Also, a generous donation from Air Methods/Arch Air was presented by Maureen Nordike for the cost of food and refreshments. &#160;</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"This was a big step in our efforts to engage young people," said Human Service Center Youth Prevention Coordinator Dennis Trask in a news release. "While local teen alcohol use rates are high, 65 percent of local teens do not use alcohol monthly, according to the Illinois Student Survey.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">"The coalition is planning to launch research-based strategies sometime this fall to reduce the 35 percent of teens who do use alcohol monthly. " </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">According to Trask, people are responding well. For example, one of the school sponsors wrote on their Summit evaluation that, "I'm looking forward to seeing what these teens can do! &#160;They are leaders and I believe they can make a change."</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">One of the teens was also very positive about the event saying, "I recommend this to everyone"</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">For more information, contact Dennis at d.trask@humanservicegroup.com or 618-954-0552.</span>

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