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Thursday, November 4, 1999
The Southern Cross, Page 11
Veterans Day
November 11
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1712 East Oglethorpe Blvd
(next to Garganos East)
Albany, GA
organization helps
teens help teens
By Misti Turnbull
Columbus
A s random acts of violence and degeneration
in America’s schools continue to sweep
across the nation and make headlines, the gov
ernment and parents seem to be at a loss. But, in
cities across America, it’s teenagers who are
standing up, binding together and making a
change.
Merritt Burgin is just one of the many Teen
Advisors in high schools around the country who
are teaching by example that drugs, alcohol, vio
lence and premarital sex can kill and destroy.
“I like Teen Advisors because it allows me to
meet other teens that have taken the same stand
that I have,” says Burgin. “I got involved in the
Teen Advisors organization because I saw the
difference it made in my friends lives and my
own.”
Teen Advisors began in Columbus, Georgia as
an idea from a mother sitting in a sandbox one
day, frustrated by the horrors of teen pressures in
today’s schools. Dee Dee and Richard Stephens,
co-founders of Teen Advisors, started with just a
few high school kids at Pacelli Catholic High
School in Columbus.
“I felt sure something could be done that
would send the snowball of peer pressure rolling
in a positive direction,” says Stephens.
Slowly, over the next few months, a plan began
to unfold: Stephens believed that if several high
school students would take a stand against drink
ing, drugs, violence and premarital sex, others
would follow. They could then serve as positive
role models for younger kids—impressionable
freshmen and junior high students, who would
readily listen to upperclassmen.
“I figured that if freshmen watched and often
emulated the older students in negative ways,
this relationship should work just as powerfully
in positive areas,” explains Stephens.
What began with four high school juniors and
seniors taking anonymous questions on 3-by-5
cards from underclassmen has turned into a pro
gram spreading across the nation. Teen Advisors
is currently in 24 cities and has impacted thou
sands of Teen Advisors just like Merritt Burgin.
“Teen Advisors has been one of the most posi
tive things in my life,” says Burgin. “It’s f
kept me on the ‘right’ path of being drug
free and remaining a positive influence in
the lives of others.”
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The Southern Cross
and
The American Legion
pay tribute to
those who served,
and who still serve,
in our nation’s
armed forces.
E-mail a virtual
Veterans Day
musical
greeting card
to an
on-line veteran.
It’s free at
The American Legion’s
World Wide Web
site.
“Still Serving America”
Bishop iiolanu .elebrates
fO years oi priesthood j
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