Brookhaven, NY - April 2, 2014 - More than 300 of Long Island’s best high school students will convene at Dowling College on April 4 to take part in the 5th Annual Long Island Youth Summit.
The Summit is a public-private partnership between Dowling College, North Shore LIJ Health System, the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Vision Long Island and many Long Island school districts.
Students from 26 districts submitted original research, art and video projects to the Summit Winner Selection Committee. Participants present possible solutions to a variety of Long Island problems ranging from the protection of water and open space to racial and economic inequality to teenage abuse of prescription drugs and bullying in high schools. Students who were selected as finalists will attend the half-day Summit where they will work with top experts to explore solutions to Summit topic issues. On the day of the conference, winners will be awarded prizes in every Summit topic category and an overall top winner of the Summit will be selected.
“We anticipate having a great day where the current generation of leaders will work together with the future generation of leaders. The purpose of the Summit is to work with the brightest high school students to further their analytical and leadership abilities for the benefit of Long Island’s future. Our Summit partners, which include high school teachers from many public schools and organizations such as North Shore-LIJ Health System, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Vision Long Island, and others, work hard to make this private-public partnership a success,” said Dr. Nathalia Rogers, Steering Committee co-chair and director of the American Communities Institute at Dowling College.
This year’s Summit will feature a keynote address by Adam Aponte, director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion for the North Shore-LIJ Health System. Dr. Aponte will be speaking about the inequalities of access to healthcare on Long Island and in the U.S. and provide ideas on how to address these inequalities.
Students will also participate in nine workshops that cover environmental, socio-medical and community issues.
This year’s socio-medical workshop topics include: Bullying, Cyber Bullying and Social Networking; Teens and Abuse of Prescription Drugs; and Teen Mental Health, Self-Esteem and Well Being. These workshops will be run by experts from the North Shore-LIJ Health System and New York State Office of Children and Family Services.
The 2014 slate of environmental workshops will include: Protection of Water and Open Space, and Renewable Energy. These panels feature Citizens Campaign for the Environment Executive Director Adrienne Esposito and PSEG-LI Economic Development Manager John Keating.
The community issues workshop topics will include Living on Long Island: Economic Development, Community, and Housing; Race, Class, Education and Economy; the Impact of Hurricane Sandy; and Leadership. The Sandy workshop will involve Friends of Long Island members Jon Siebert and Kim Skillen, who led teams of volunteers in rebuilding their neighbors’ homes and communities in the devastating wake of Sandy. Other moderators for these community Issues workshops are slated to include local government officials from the Town of Islip, representatives from Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office and Smart Growth nonprofit Vision Long Island.
Students from the following school districts were selected to participate as finalists in the Summit: Bay Shore, Bellmore-Merrick, Nassau BOCES, Comsewogue, East Islip, Eastport-South Manor, Farmingdale, Kings Park, Levittown, Longwood, Manhasset, Massapequa, Smithtown, Three Village, West Islip and Wyandanch.
For more information about the event, click here or call Dr. Rogers at 631-759-6715.