The Peace Center, based in Langhorne, Pa., hosts a youth talent show.
By: Jodi Thompson
Why can’t they be like we were, perfect in every way? What’s the matter with kids today?"
If this refrain from the musical Bye-Bye, Birdie echoes through your head, then make a point to attend the Youth Empowerment Project’s Talent Show Jan. 11 at The Peace Center, a Langhorne, Pa.-based organization dedicated to peaceful conflict resolution. The theme, "Celebrating Unity: Face-2-Face, Heart-2-Heart," should help put to rest any preconceived notions of today’s kids.
This is the first event of the newly formed Youth Empowerment Project. YEP branched out from the Leadership Program the Peace Center has run in schools for years. The young people involved in local schools wanted to meet students in other schools and widen their horizons.
Oona Gilles-Weil and Holly Williams, peace educators at the center, decided to run a program similar to the one held the schools but not limited by district borders or academic calendars.
"We decided to hold a program like ‘Leadership’ here and open it up to all the area schools," Ms. Gilles-Weil says, "and really give young people an opportunity to get involved in their community in a positive way, to have an impact, to have a voice in their community."
The two educators planned to begin YEP this month, but world events stepped up the need and the timetable. After the Sept. 11 tragedy, Ms. Gilles-Weil and Ms. Williams decided the need for young people to express their concerns was greater than the need to wait for grant money. They threw together flyers with meeting dates and times.
Their first gathering, held Sept. 24, drew just four teens, but word-of-mouth has increased attendance. The young people, ages 13-18, decided to hold an event to raise awareness of their existence as well as to raise funds for charity.
Donations collected at the door will benefit the Lower Bucks County Red Cross Homeless Shelter.
"The talent show is a chance for young people to express themselves about what had happened Sept. 11," Ms. Gilles-Weil says. "That kind of evolved into a celebration of unity and all the ways we are the same instead of focusing on how we are different. And one of the ways we are unified is through the arts.
"They wanted to have an evening of celebrating our unity through music, theater and rap songs and whatever the young people wanted to do."
Presentations planned for the evening are violin and acoustic guitar performances and rap pieces. A local teen-age singer/songwriter will perform. Ms. Gilles-Weil is as impressed with the talent as she is with the enthusiasm for YEP.
She is justifiably proud of the group’s desire to raise money for children in need at the shelter. She is equally satisfied with the progress the students have made in the program.
The peace educators were surprised by the amount of skill building required by the teens. For many young people, simply making a phone call to an adult was a difficult task. Ms. Gilles-Weil and Ms. Williams encourage the young people to build effective communication skills with peers and others. Simple respect is another valuable lesson learned within the workings of the group.
"YEP is a place for young people to come together and hear other’s thoughts and take it one step further," Ms. Gilles-Weil says.
The teen-agers had to decide on a talent show and its theme. The teens made the important phone calls to the homeless shelter to arrange the contribution. They planned the decorations and made up flyers. Even now they are fine-tuning their instruments and acts in hopes of making the event, as well as the Youth Empowerment Project, a success.
All so we older folks will know what’s the matter, and what’s right, with kids today.
"Both Holly and I have a passion for wanting to hear what young people are thinking and feeling," Ms. Gilles-Weil says. "We really see them as such a valuable resource for this community and this world. We always try to cater our programs to bring that out, to invoke that kind of enthusiasm and energy.
"It keeps us young. It keeps us going," she says.
When she is reminded that she looks young enough to pass for a teen-ager herself, she says, "I’m young, too, but they keep me real."
The Youth Empowerment Project’s Talent Show will be held at the Peace Center, 102 W. Maple Ave., Langhorne, Pa., Jan. 11, 7 p.m. YEP meets the first and third Monday, 4-6 p.m. Finger foods and soda are provided. For information, call (215) 750-7220. On the Web: www.comcat.comßpeace