Pubdate: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 Source: Daily Herald (IL) Copyright: 2005 The Daily Herald Company Contact: http://www.dailyherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/107 Author: Tara Malone, Daily Herald Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) ELGIN HIGH STUDENTS GET TIPS ON MAKING CHOICES Natalie Toomey's heard it all before. Don't drink. Don't smoke. Steer clear of trouble. And just say no. Yet when confronted Friday with former gang members, the realities of teen pregnancy and pitfalls of drug use, such cliched cautions gained new meaning. "It kind of gives you a reality check," the 17-year-old Elgin High School junior said. "When you're reminded of the effects and you see what's happening to people your age, you see things in a whole different light." And that, organizers said, was the whole point. Called Making Smart Choices, the daylong seminar attended by some 150 Elgin High students covered everything from club drugs to dating violence, from gangs to sexually transmitted diseases. The warnings may not be new, but organizers said they hope teens walked away thinking about how they may skirt such pitfalls and encourage others to do the same. "It's a prevention conference," said Fernando Villeda, who directs Elgin High's Head Start program and partnered with the Renz Counseling Center of Elgin to orchestrate the seminar. "It's the problems we have in the community that we want to prevent. ... They are wonderful kids, but they are exposed to so many things." Toomey and her friend, 16-year-old Kelly Schneider, sit on the school's student council. Janet Santos and Elizabeth Rojas, both 17-year-old juniors, belong to the Hispanic Club. Others came as class representatives, members of Students Against Violence Everywhere and other such clubs. "We are targeting leaders," Villeda said, "so they will send a message back to their peers." It's a task Rojas takes seriously. A soft-spoken girl, Rojas attended workshops on teen pregnancy, club drugs and a lecture from Drug Enforcement Agency Special Agent Mark Warpness. "I will tell my parents what I learned and I will tell my younger sister," the Elgin teen said. "It's good to know what to say, what excuses to say when they ask if you want drugs." Suburban outposts - be they Elgin, Huntley or Schaumburg - are not exempt from the scourge of drugs, Warpness said. "It is a suburban issue. It's a huge issue...it's a mistake to think they are not here," Warpness said. "What we're trying to do is educate them to the reality. There is no such thing as experimental or recreational drug use." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek