Vermont has an annual conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Burlington, the Governor’s Youth Leadership Conference, which is unique as it is a student- run, student-planned, and student-directed conference. Every part of the conference, down to the lunch menu and the conference’s theme, are done by students. The Governor’s Youth Leadership Conference is the state’s largest conference which addresses problems and challenges involving the state’s youth, as well as providing leadership training. Vermont’s Governor always addresses the 600 or so attendees, who come from high schools throughout the state.
What makes this conference successful is that it is totally planned and directed by students, who work for months planning this event. The speakers and topics are effective because they are chosen by teens, not by adults. The planners have been meeting on Sundays at the Hollow Inn in Barre for months. Some of those who have volunteered their time are Rutland County residents Cameo Bixby-Clemons and Katie McCormack, juniors at Rutland High School who are involved in GMTI, and SADD members Emily Turgeon, a junior at Fair Haven Union High School, Kayla Stewart and Erika Stocker from Stafford Technical Center, and Vicky Stone of Castleton State College.
The planners will also be doing a number of functions at the Governor’s Youth Leadership Conference- some students will be presenting workshops, others will be facilitating workshops, students will man registration and information booths, and others will manage the conference. Some of the topics that the students chose were bullying and cyberbullying, sexting (sending sexually provocative messages on your cell phone), driving while intexicated (driving while texting), underage drinking and its consequences, teen suicide, and many more. The keynote address will be given by Leon Quan, from Phoenix, Arizona, a motivational speaker who speaks about how he overcame adversity.
This conference is its 23rd year, only because every year, students like these have volunteered their time to make it work.
