Schools

Connecticut Youth Have Their Own Forum

Ellington High School will host the Connecticut YOUTH Forum meeting on Tuesday for the first time in the organization's 18 year history.

Teens need a place where they feel comfortable to talk freely about troubling issues. They need a venue where they can be confident that their opinions matter and where they will not be shunned for expressing their points of view.

The Connecticut YOUTH Forum, a Hartford-based nonprofit organization, will provide such a place on Tuesday when 200 students from nearly 40 high school across the state converge on Ellington High School to exchange ideas and connect on an issue that many teenagers are struggling with today: stereotyping.

“It’s focused around the idea that we not only stereotype on race and gender and so many things that we can see on the outside, but things such as goths or the cliques that you have,” YOUTH Forum Associate Danielle Joseph said.

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“We’re just going to try to tear down those walls and get at the root of why we label people,” she said.

“It’s really a free-flowing conversation,” Executive Director Doris Sugarman said. “Immediately the kids recognize this safe and respectful environment."

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The YOUTH Forum is part of a larger group called The Connecticut Forum, which is a nonprofit group that encourages "the free and active exchange of ideas," according to its Web site.

Sugarman said that students who participate in the YOUTH Forum do so from September through May, depending on their availability. The group takes on the responsibility of developing topics of interest for monthly meetings, establishing a leadership network and even coordinating cultural field trips and college visits.

“It’s kids that come together who otherwise wouldn’t necessarily come together in a meaningful way,” Sugarman said.

“It’s just a great group of kids and they’ve told us that the YOUTH Forum really, truly, changes their lives,” she said.

The event will be held Tuesday, March 15 at 3:30 p.m. at the high school on Maple Street in Ellington.

The following schools will be represented:

  • American School for the Deaf
  • Avon High School
  • Bacon Academy High School
  • Big Picture High School
  • Bloomfield High School
  • Bolton High School
  • Bulkeley High School
  • Capital Community Preparatory School
  • Cheney Tech.
  • Cheshire Academy
  • Conard High School
  • Connecticut IB Academy
  • Cromwell High School
  • East Granby High School
  • East Hampton High School
  • East Hartford High School
  • The Ethel Walker School
  • Glastonbury High School
  • Granby High School
  • Hall High School
  • Hartford Job Corps
  • Hartford Public High School
  • High School, Inc.
  • Loomis Chaffee School
  • Lyman Memorial High School
  • New Britain High School
  • Northwest Catholic
  • Pathways to Technology High School
  • Plainville High School
  • RHAM (Hebron, Andover, Marlborough)
  • Simsbury High School
  • Sports and Medical Sciences Academy
  • Stafford High School
  • Thomaston High School
  • Weaver High School

The CT YOUTH Forum is open to all high school aged youth in Connecticut. If you have questions or would like to get involved, contact Danielle Joseph at Djoseph@ctforum.org or 860-509-0909 Ext. 13 or visit www.ctforum.org.


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