STUDENTS GENERATE IDEAS TO PREVENT SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Twelve-year-old Annie Gould is confident she will be able to resist
drugs and alcohol, thanks to strategies she and other students
developed yesterday at the Putnam County Youth Bureau's first
Communities That Care Youth Summit.

"Lots of kids get into high school and they're not ready for it
because lots of people can pressure you," said Annie, a
seventh-grader in Carmel's George Fischer Middle School. "I think it
will really help us in the future."

Held at the Putnam National Golf Club in Mahopac and supported by
numerous county agencies and local organizations, the summit brought
together about 80 Carmel and Mahopac students in grades seven through
12.

The six-hour event was the latest piece of the Communities That Care
initiative, which started in the spring of 2005 with a drug and
alcohol survey going out to more than 5,100 children. The survey,
supported by the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse
Services, is meant to be conducted every three years.

Results showed, among other things, that 72 percent of students said
they had used alcohol, 38 percent said they had smoked cigarettes,
and 33 percent said they had smoked marijuana.

A series of focus groups reviewed and discussed the
results.

Janeen Cunningham, deputy director of the Youth Bureau, said she
hopes the summit will become an annual event. She credited Carmel
Schools Superintendent Marilyn Terranova and Mahopac Schools
Superintendent Robert Reidy with helping make this year's summit a
success, and said she hopes to bring more schools together next year.

In groups of about 15, students brainstormed ways that schools,
families and communities could create opportunities and rewards for
children to keep away from drugs and alcohol.

Adults stayed out of the discussions, leaving upperclassmen to take
the lead. The groups then presented their ideas to the larger audience.

One group wanted the schools to alternate hosting family dinner
nights. Another wanted community service to be rewarded with free
movie tickets or passes to amusement parks. A third group wanted the
community to build a recreation center complete with an arcade, a
swimming pool, computers and miniature golf.

The goal is to take the ideas generated at the summit and make them a
reality.

"We want them to tell us what they want," Cunningham said. "As
adults, enough is enough. We need to start listening to the kids."

"It's not a school problem, it's not a parent problem, it's not a kid
problem," added Naura Slivinsky, associate director of community
relations for Arms Acres, a Carmel treatment center for chemical
dependency. "We all have to pull together to address substance abuse."

In addition to talking about preventing substance abuse, the summit
also served to unite students who have a history of a fierce and
sometimes violent rivalry. Students said it was another step toward
alleviating the hostilities between the two districts.

"I think, little by little, tensions are starting to decrease and
things are getting better," said Steve Guigliano, 17, a Carmel High
School senior.

"It doesn't make sense that we even would have this rivalry," added
Patty Daley, 17, a Mahopac High School junior. "We're all the same."