STUDENTS DISCUSS HEALTHY LIFESTYLES

PHELPS -- Midlakes students hosted a healthy lifestyles conference last
weekend, drawing nearly 200 middle school and high school students from as
far away as Buffalo.

The district's Youth-To-Youth Club and the Ontario County Reality Check
chapter co-sponsored the overnight conference, in which students discussed
the dangers of drugs, alcohol, AIDS and other health issues.

"We hope they came away with a positive message," said Kristin Wrobbel, a
school social counselor at the Midlakes middle and high schools.

The conference was organized and attended by 68 local students after being
rescheduled from April 5 to 6, the weekend of the ice storm. Events
included a movie, a dance, workshops and two speakers: girls and boys slept
Saturday night in separate areas of the gymnasium.

Former comedian Sky Sands, of Rochester, spoke about overcoming obstacles
and adopting a positive outlook. Christopher Lloyd, a former television
producer who said he grew disenchanted with the media, told students how to
read and interpret media messages.

Lloyd, who spoke at Midlakes and several other local districts last year,
again showed business and public information commercials, including one
about a 32-year-old Massachusetts man who suddenly dropped dead at his desk
from congestive heart failure. Although he was fit and had no history of
heart problems, smoking had made his blood vessels so sticky that fatty
deposits built up on them until the vessels were completely blocked.

In the commercial, a person in surgical garb squeezed the man's aorta --
and about two tablespoons of fatty deposits oozed out. "Youth-to-Youth
isn't only about drugs. It's about positive life-styles," said club
president Ben Weidman, a 16-year-old junior from Clifton Springs.

Weidman said the conference was important for reassuring students that
there are alternatives to drugs and alcohol, and that many teens are
choosing those alternatives.

Weidman is also one of two youth board members from Ontario County Reality
Check, a national anti-tobacco organization spawned by the national tobacco
settlement. The group, organized regionally, falls under the supervision of
Prevention Partners in Monroe County. Ontario County students meet in
Canandaigua.

"Any program that we do that focuses kids on being drug-free and
substance-free is of great value to kids, and this is an organization that
is focused on bringing positive students together with positive values and
it's a benefit to our school," said Superintendent Mike Ford.