Post-Summit Student Exchanges

In order to share their experiences with other students across Illinois, participants from the 2001 Illinois Youth Summit will visit interested schools following the culminating Summit on May 1 in a special pilot project.

Working in cooperation with CRFC, student delegates from Summit classes will visit their peers in Metropolitan Chicago as well as downstate communities. There the delegates will present workshops that recreate components of the Summit by sharing information, strategies, and resources from the program. These teams of delegates will conduct an discuss the Summit survey, compare results to their discussions with policymakers, discuss their service projects, and solicit ideas on what both government and students might do to address the issues. Students at host schools will send their comments and survey results to key policy makers in their area. Host schools will also be covered through the support of a grant from the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority.

This model of student-to-student leadership on key issues of current policy is another example of how the Illinois Youth Summit promotes the skills and opportunities necessary for young people to assume roles of responsiblity in their communities. CRFC plans to formally incorporate this component into the 2002 Illinois Youth Summit.