During the 2008 One D Dropout Prevention Summit, we conviened groups to focus on the youth engagement into the turnaround effort.    During those sessions we wanted to answer the following questions:

1.  What are some of the challenges to getting youth involved?

• engage the bullies in the process as they are leaders of a different kind
• if they have the power, why not rechannel the negative power to a positive power?
• develop mentoring programs.

2.  What are some ways we can get youth involved?

• have field trips that are non-traditional (i.e.  take the kids to college when they are small)

3.  What processes do we need to keep kids on the right track?

• we need to involve children in the design of their environment
• we need to get ther feedback and perspective
• kids typically know what they want,  not always easy from an adult perspective
• school is for kids, they need to have a feeling of ownership
• the perception today is that school is a place for adults, not kids.