Hornets host leadership summit for high schoolers

Written by Brittany Cranston (New Orleans Hornets) | Monday, 12 October 2009 13:23 | Hornets News

NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Hornets announced that they will host their inaugural Hornets Leadership Summit in conjunction with Xavier University on Wednesday, Oct. 14 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Student Center on the campus of Xavier University. The summit will unite nearly 150 high school students from public and private schools in Orleans, Jefferson, St. John and St. Tammany Parishes and give them a voice to discuss issues directly affecting their lives and develop plans that will help solve problems facing local teens.

“There are so many issues facing teens today, and it’s important for the Hornets and other business and community leaders to step up and take action,” said Hornets Owner George Shinn. “Our goal with this initiative is to open up dialogue and find ways to impact the community by reaching out to the needs of local high school students.”

Each of the attending students filled out a survey asking them to answer questions about the positive and negative issues they face on a daily basis. From these responses, the top five topics they felt were most relevant included crime, sex/teenage pregnancy, drugs, peer pressure and family involvement, respectively.

During the welcome session of the summit Xavier President Dr. Norman Francis and Hornets TV Color Analyst Gil McGregor will briefly speak to the students about the importance of leadership and education. The morning break-out sessions will allow the students to form five groups and tackle each of the identified issues, coming up with ideas on how the community can come together to solve each problem. After lunch, the groups will present their ideas to the entire summit. The day will close with an open forum discussion with several community and business leaders.

Directly following the summit, a council of approximately 20 high school students will be created to continue discussions and ensure the community remains involved in the lives of local youth.