Wood County youth gather join others for statewide leadership training

Fifteen Wood County High School Students representing gathered at Kenyon College in Gambier, OH last week with teens from across Ohio. The training, held July 17-21, was part of Ohio Teen Institute, a leadership training program that focuses on development of resistance skills to peer pressure and drug and alcohol abuse.

Student leaders in Wood County meet several times per year to be trained, to train others in these leadership strategies, and to show them ways to have a good time without bringing drugs and alcohol into the picture. Each summer, key student leaders gather at Kenyon College to re-energize, learn more, and prepare for the upcoming year.

Surveys returned by Wood County students after the retreat reported the training made them a better leader.

The majority of students also reported that they would use what they learned to help recruit new members to Teen Institute and help spread the group’s message in their schools.

Students who attended were:

Bowling Green:

Emily Drake

Eastwood:

Carli Kehres

Lake:

Kandie King

Karris Pugh

Daniel Ingle

Breanna Reardon

Amber Studyvin

North Baltimore:

Becka Adkins

Ashley Baisden

Ashlee Quantic

Tessa Reinman

Northwood:

Andrea Howard

Penta:

Jeremy TenEyck

Dustin Bolton

Perrysburg:

Ali Kopp

Additionally, the following students were chosen to serve as youth staff at the Teen Institute event:

Bridget Cushard (Bowling Green High School graduate)
Kaylyn Haynes (Lake High School)

Jeanine Lindquist, a prevention specialist with the Wood County Educational Service Center’s School & Community-Based ATOD (Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug) Prevention Program served as adult staff at the state retreat.

Registration fees for participants were paid by ODADAS (Ohio Department of Alcohol & Drug Addiction Services) and by the Wood County Educational Service Center through a grant from the Wood County ADAMHS (Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services) Board.