On Saturday and Sunday, November 19 and 20, several hundred students from District 50 put their fall break on hold to educate themselves about the pressures of society. The focus on this 16th Annual District 50 Youth Conference was about alcohol abuse.
The beginning of the conference has always resembled a rock concert. There is plenty of dancing and cheering and displays of outrageous costumes. And that consists of the performance of the adult counselors. But the message is perfectly clear. The unofficial name has always been the District 50 Just Say No Conference.
This year’s conference boasted 392 middle school and high school students, 22 of them from outside District 50. While two-thirds of them are middle school students, the workshops and large group activities send clear signals to the participants about the obstacles placed before them in regards to drug and alcohol use and peer pressure.
The two day conference included a parent talk on Saturday evening while the studence were enjoying a dance and arcade games at Ranum High School in Westminster.
Over 100 volunteers dedicated many hours to create this annual event. 74 volunteer staff members volunteered as facilitators, including adult community members, teachers and counselors from schools, and numerous adults who attended the conference as student participants over the years.